Writing Tips
for clarity and concisenessArchive for plural
Neither-nor: singular or plural verb?
According to the Chicago Manual of Style, in a sentence with more than one subject, the subject that’s closest to the verb determines the form of the verb:
Neither Henry nor his sons have a Prius (sons is plural and is closer to the verb than Henry is)
BUT
Neither the boys nor Henry has a Prius (Henry is singular and is closer to the verb than boys is).
If you believe that have sounds better, Chicago suggests arranging the sentence so that a plural noun is closer to the verb than a singular noun (Neither Henry nor the boys have a Prius).
And of course, not everyone abides by the Chicago Manual of Style. Other authorities say to use the plural form of the verb when any subject in a sentence is plural. (Link provided by Ted Dorsey.)
Cheers,
Tara Treasurefield
Tara’s Writing Studio
Number Contest Winner
The winner is Dina Roberts. You can get to know her at her blog, Let Them Eat Corn. Congratulations, Dina!
Here is the sentence that needed work:
In his office, there was a fax machine, two four-drawer file cabinets, and an old tangerine-colored iMac.
And this is how Dina fixed it:
In his office, there were a fax machine, two four-drawer file cabinets, and an old tangerine-colored Mac.
Dina changed the singular verb was to the plural verb were, because the subject is plural (fax machine, two four-drawer file cabinets, and an old tangerine-colored iMac.
When the subject follows the verb in a sentence, and it’s difficult to see what’s what, reversing the order often helps:
A fax machine, two four-drawer file cabinets, and an old tangerine-colored Mac was in his office.
Sounds funny, doesn’t it? That’s because with the subject first, it’s glaringly obvious that it’s plural and needs a plural verb.
Dina also made another change:
I changed iMac to Mac because in the Mac world, Macs are already older than iMacs.
That’s fine, but I’d leave it alone. Specificity gives writing substance and creates a visual image–in this case, the very specific visual image of an old tangerine-colored iMac.
And if the only tangerine-colored Macs are iMacs, that’s all the more reason to let iMac stand.
Cheers,
Tara Treasurefield
Tara’s Writing Studio
Number Contest
Here’s the second of the two contests I promised yesterday. This one centers on number.
Do you see the problem with the sentence below, and do you have a solution? If so, let me know. I’ll post the winner’s name and other information in this blog.
[In his office], there was a fax machine, two four-drawer file cabinets, and an old tangerine-colored iMac.
Cheers,
Tara Treasurefield
Tara’s Writing Studio
