Speak good English: Analysis of the sentences (2)
In the past few weeks, we have been looking at the sentences I gave out some weeks ago for you to determine whether they were correct or not.
I hope you were able to get what we have so far looked at correct, and that where you didn't get it correct, my subsequent explanation of the mistakes in the sentences has gone down well with you.
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Let's continue to look at the rest of the sentences.
8. A man and his wife live near us but none of them is friendly. This sentence is incorrect because of the use of the word none.
We learnt in last week's discussion that in English some words are used with specific numbers. The words none, like all, among, one another, etc are used strictly with three or more things or persons, never with two.
For two things or persons, we must use both, between, each other, either...or, neither...nor, etc.
In the sentence under discussion, only two people are mentioned — a man and his wife — and so instead of the word none, we must use the word neither.
So the correct sentence should be:
A man and his wife live near us but neither of them is friendly. Other examples are:
Neither of the twins knows my house. (NOT: None of the twins knows my house.)
Give the books to Esi and Aba, but neither of them should know the books are from me. (NOT: Give the books to Esi and Aba, but none of them should know the books are from me.)
Our teacher, together with his wife and all their children, are travelling abroad. This sentence too is incorrect. It is incorrect because of the use of the plural verb are.
In English, only the conjunction AND can join nouns to make them plural, for which reason the plural nouns can agree with plural verbs.
In the sentence under discussion, the noun teacher is joined to wife and children by the conjunction together with, which cannot make the nouns plural.
Therefore, we cannot use a plural verb. Indeed, as the sentence stands, we see only teacher as the subject, for which reason it must agree with the singular verb: is.
The correct sentence is, therefore: Our teacher, together with his wife and all their children, is travelling abroad.