Answers to Questions About Subject-Verb Agreement

Answers to Questions About Subject-Verb Agreement Answers to Questions About Subject-Verb Agreement Answers to Questions About Subject-Verb Agreement By Mark Nichol The agreement in number between subjects and verbs is often straightforward, but exceptions abound. Here are some readers’ questions about subject-verb agreement, and my responses and explanations. 1. Which verb form is correct singular or plural when using an optional plural: â€Å"The attached form(s) is provided for you to list the accounts you wish to establish† or â€Å"The attached form(s) are provided for you to list the accounts you wish to establish†? There’s no standard I know of, nor any easy solution that comes to mind, for noun-verb agreement in this case. This solution, for example, is logical but awkward: â€Å"The attached form(s) is/are provided for you to list the accounts you wish to establish.† This revision is better but still unsatisfactory: â€Å"The attached form (or forms) is provided for you to list the accounts you wish to establish.† But here’s an end run around the obstacle: â€Å"Please use the attached form(s) to list the accounts you wish to establish.† 2. I’m in the scientific field and have repeatedly run into writing something like â€Å"ten liters of water† and then asking myself whether it is correct to continue with a singular or a plural verb. I’m not sure whether the verb refers to liters or to water. The context should make clear whether the verb refers to the unit of measurement or to the substance measured; generally, in scientific content, it will be the substance. For example, in â€Å"Ten liters of water is/are left in the tank,† the quantity (not the number of units of a given quantity) is important. The tank contains water, not liters, so â€Å"Ten liters of water is left in the tank† is correct. However, consider whether an active construction (for example, â€Å"The tank now contains ten liters of water†) is more effective. 3. Why is it correct to write â€Å"There is only Tom and John there†? This is a case of an expletive sentence, one beginning with an expletive, or a filler word, such as there, which is not the subject. The subject of this sentence is â€Å"Tom and John,† but the context of the sentence is that a set of people is at a given location, so â€Å"Tom and John† is a single entity. However, for clarity, Tom and John should be considered separate entities: â€Å"There are only Tom and John there.† Better yet, revise the sentence to â€Å"Only Tom and John are there.† (The original sentence you posed is likely to be used in spontaneous conversation, but in writing, unless you’re conveying casual dialogue, I advise using the careful revision.) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:5 Uses of InfinitivesBody Parts as Tools of MeasurementGrammar Review #1: Particles and Phrasal Verbs

Tragic flaw Essays

Tragic flaw Essays Tragic flaw Paper Tragic flaw Paper To what extent is the Summer Song sequence, sung by the narrator, a watershed in the play Blood Brothers? The three main themes of Willy Russells Blood Brothers are superstition, fate and class divides. These themes are overtly represented throughout the play. Because the play opens with a scene of the two dead boys there is a constant dramatic irony to all actions in the play; this inevitable tragedy undermines all the happiness in an ironic way. Near the start of the play, the deaths are only suggestions in the boys futures, but as the play develops the themes become more evident, eventually Summer Song is the turning point, the point of no return, the point where everything is as good as it gets. Russell gives the play a very clear and simple structure. The audience knows they are to sympathise with Mrs Johnstone. Not only is she a single mother, she is poor and working class too. Her character is the most developed and given more stage time and songs. Foreshadowing is a very important component of the plays structure. During the childrens game with toy guns, Mickey says, I dont want to die. He is subconsciously appealing to the devil to change his fate. We begin to pity Mickey because he is so defenceless and weak. The narrator creates tension and a feeling of inevitability by using phrases such as hes gonna find y' He is often depicted as Fate, appearing before and after important events, sometimes during, as if to pinpoint the moment, such as when Mrs Johnstone must swear on the bible that she will give away her baby. His snide and often ironic comments about the mothers are generally ambiguous and could apply to either mother (An did y never hear of the mother so cruel. ) The audience is told to come to their own decisions about the mothers (come judge for yourselves. ) The narrator creates tension, always hovering in the background, almost omnipresent, even wearing funeral clothes. He is like a vulture circling above the twins, waiting for their inevitable deaths. His constant presence on stage and in the script keeps the ominous tones going. As they get older, he appears more often, worrying and reminding you that the twins death is coming closer. The Summer Song is when the boys pass the middle of their lives, the peak of the mountain, and begin to accelerate downwards with an unstoppable chain of events leading to their certain deaths. The boys envy each other, I wish I was a bit like That guy, and events occurring to either of them are usually echoed or mirrored by the other. As children, Mickey is seen as the lucky one in the game of life, while Edward seems destined to watch from the sidelines. However, after the Summer Song, once the boys are adults, there is no time for laughter, the game has ended, and Mickey can no longer play and must now work. Edwards lifestyle becomes the ideal, which angers Mickey. Blood Brothers is structured like a Greek tragedy, using death as a spectacle, one main plot and a sad ending. It has a clear time frame, songs and music and, most importantly, a tragic hero (Mickey), someone who falls from grace due to their tragic flaw. Most events are mirrored, for example the childrens game with toy guns(I shot y), to Sammys air rifle(he produces an air rifle), to the gun at the fair, to the gun Sammy uses to shoot someone(an explosion from the gun), to the gun Mickey kills Edward with (the gun explodes and blows Edward apart). Before the Summer Song the guns are either imaginary or toys, safe and harmless. However, afterwards, they are still used as freely as the pretend guns, but take real lives. References to Marilyn Monroe are constant. Like bright young things, like Marilyn Monroe. Dreams all night of girls that look like Marilyn Monroe. In the first song (Marilyn Monroe) Marilyn Monroe is a symbol of youth and beauty, but throughout she changes into one of tragedy, referring to her drug taking and consequential death, which coincides with Mickeys addiction to his anti-depressants. Sexier than Marilyn Monroe to off the rails, treats his ills with daily pills, he was dead, Like Marilyn Monroe The childrens game is echoed after the Summer Song. In the first half I got y, I shot y, An y bloody know I did, And in the second, You shot him, you shot him. I know I bloody did. This is a conversation between Mickey and Sammy, his older brother.

Staffing Handbook of Global Communications Incorporation Assignment

Staffing Handbook of Global Communications Incorporation - Assignment Example It requires talented human resources from different segments to man various positions in the company, and the availability of sufficient manpower is crucial to the operational success of the company. The company’s vision is to become a world-renowned provider of communication service to a global community and attain the position of the leader in this industry. It currently plans to expand its operation to South America and African nations. Its mission is to provide excellent communication services to the global community, with a specific focus on after-sales services. It also aspires to become the best corporate to the employees by providing them best competitive remuneration and working conditions apart from being a socially responsible organization. The company also lays emphasis on best ethical practices and exemplary leadership qualities. Companies need to adopt appropriate strategies to staff their organization with suitable human resources in order to ensure the execution of relevant tasks in time so as to enable them to run their operations smoothly. Strategic staffing can be understood as a â€Å"process of identifying and addressing† the implications of staffing on various strategies and plans that the organization implements in their day to day functioning (Bechet, 2002, p.7). Global Communications Inc perceives strategic staffing as a process of understanding staffing implications on the operations being conducted at various levels in the organization as well as in providing a seamless flow of after-sales services. Being involved in the area of communications, which is a major element in the modern world, our organizations need to maintain a high level of quality and service in our employees for attaining overall efficiency. Being in the service sector we also need to make sure of the availability of sk illed human resources at all levels.