Wednesday, 5 January 2011

Back to Basics

You can't say it often enough, apparently - the noun and the verb in a sentence have to agree. A singular noun goes with a singular verb; a plural noun goes with a plural verb.

Come on Sydney Morning Herald, it's 2011 now - surely someone in there made some kind of New Year's resolution? And yet, somehow, this crept onto your pages yesterday:


"...its plans ... does not"?
Posted by zmkc at 16:10

7 comments:

  1. Gadjo Dilo5 January 2011 at 17:07

    Never mind "...its plans ... does not", I've always wondered whether "Quantas" is grammatically correct: surely that's the vocative when the ablative (indicating motion away from something, in this case an airport) is called for.

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  2. zmkc6 January 2011 at 18:47

    Happy New Year, Gadjo, if I haven't already said that. It's actually Qantas, without a 'u' and due to laws regarding social minorities and not hurting their feelings I'm not allowed to tell you what it stands for, except that the last two words are: 'are stewards.'

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  3. Gadjo Dilo7 January 2011 at 17:19

    Happy New Year yerself, zedders! I hope that it's a good one for you, the continued proliferation of gramatical errors notwithstanding. (What are the other words before 'are stewards'??)

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  4. zmkc8 January 2011 at 21:32

    I'll tell you when we meet up one day in Budapest. You can spend the cold winter evenings in the meantime tryig to figure it out for yourself. Nothing like homemade entertainment.

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  5. Gadjo Dilo9 January 2011 at 17:45

    "Queer Australians Normally Train as Airline Stewards"? It has to be that. Are you coming to Budapest (or 'Budapestu', as Romanians call it, thus rightfully reclaiming it as the Carpato-Dacian shepherd's hut it undoubtedly once was before the evil Asiatic Magyar hoards..... etc, etc) anytime soon? I'd love an excuse to visit the old place.

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  6. zmkc11 January 2011 at 13:08

    Some time between March and June I'm hoping to.

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  7. Gadjo Dilo12 January 2011 at 17:12

    Maybe see you then, then.

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