Last week we ended our discussion with some objective questions. Let's see how you fared as far as finding the correct answers is concerned.
First there was this question:
The boy and --- are friends.
a) we b) us c) ourself d) ourselves
The correct answer is we (a) because we understand the subject of the sentence to be the boy and we (since we is in the subject case).
Note that if you do away with the first part of the subject, the boy, we can say or write: We are friends, not Us are friends or Ourself are friends or Ourselves are friends.
I'm sure you are aware that there is no English word like ourself.
Now let's look at the other questions.
1. Rice from China and Vietnam --- cheap.
a) sell b) sells c) are sold d) are
The correct answer is sells (b) because the subject of the sentence is rice (singular), which must agree with the singular verb sells, not the plural verbs sell and are.
In fact, if you chose answer a or d, it means you were deceived by the adverb phrase China and Vietnam, which cannot and should not determine the verb to be used in the sentence.
2. Neither the driver nor you --- to blame.
a) is b) have c) are d) has
The correct answer is are (c) because if we apply proximity concord, it is the pronoun you that must determine the verb, not the noun driver, and since we say or write You are, not You is or You has, the sentence should read:
Neither the driver nor you are to blame.
3. Either the teacher or the students --- late to class.
a) is b) was c) is going to be d) are
The correct answer is are (d). Since the two items mentioned -- teacher and students -- are of different numbers, singular and plural, we apply proximity concord, which says the item closer to the verb determines whether the verb should be singular or plural.
Since the plural item students is closer to the verb, the verb should be plural, hence the correct answer are.
Note that if we were to change the places of the two items to make the singular item teacher come closer to the verb, we would have:
Either the students or the teacher is late to class.
To be continued
