Daily Grammar – Week 3

DAILY GRAMMAR (DG) 17-03-2018

1. The poor is usually subservient to the rich. (No)

The poor are usually subservient to the rich. (Yes)

(Some adjectives that function as nouns attract plural verbs. They are preceded by “the” and may require no nouns after them. These include, “the old”, “the young”, “the hungry”, ” the homeless”, “the blind”, ” the sick”, “the deaf”, etc.)

2. I shall be looking forward to read your article. (No)

I shall be looking forward to reading your article. (Yes)

(When you use expressions like “with a view to…”, “be looking forward to…”, “(not) accustomed to…”, “I am used to…”, etc., the verbs that follow them should be in the continuous form (i.e. + ing))

3a. My teacher and friend are always interested in my progress. (No)

My teacher and friend is always interested in my progress. (Yes)

3b. The lecturer and the staff adviser is attending our programme today. (No)

The lecturer and the staff adviser are attending our programme today. (Yes)

(When two subjects are brought together by “and” but the two refer to a single entity, a singular verb is used and there is no modifier before the second subject as indicated in 3a. However, as shown in 3b, when two coordinate subjects refer to two different entities, a plural verb is used and the second subject is preceded by a modifier, e.g. an article, a possessive pronoun, etc. You may wish to read the examples again and give yours.)

Did You Know?

A “cumberground” is an utterly useless person who literally serves no other purpose than to take up space while “sermocination” is the proper word for posing a question and answering it yourself immediately.