Kaye Manro SF Romance Author

If time is irrelevant, how come it can either fly or go by slowly? Good question. I had to be away for over a week and it seems I've been gone for months! But I'm back now and hope to catch up with everyone. Is that making up for lost time? And if time is lost, how do you make it up? Later on I must do a post on time, since I love time travel!

In the meantime, (pun) I have an interesting perception to share on a more serious note. I don't know if you've heard of newspaperman Jeff Rubin, NPD, but he believes people need to learn more about the importance of proper punctuation for communicating clearly. In his words, "Punctuation has been devalued by a generation of computer wizards who ask, 'What's the point? Nobody writes in complete sentences anymore.' But the rules of proper punctuation haven't changed just because of computers... Careless punctuation mistakes cost time, money, and productivity."

He's right, you know, and that, of course goes double for writers. Today, I've decided to share some basic grammar rules. I know we all can benefit from this kind of review, so here goes.

Subject-Verb Agreement

Agreement is a basic concept of English grammar. Some of the culprits of subject-verb agreement errors will be familiar to you: the indefinite pronoun, the collective noun and alternate and compound subjects.

The following sentences illustrate how closely related these two issues are:

Bucky tends his father's cows. The brothers tend their father's cows.

Note that both the pronoun and the verb change when the noun changes from singular to plural. "Bucky" is a singular noun. It takes the singular form of the verb—"tends"—and the singular pronoun "his." "Brothers" is a plural noun, taking the plural form of the verb—"tend"—and the plural pronoun "their."

Let's review these two grammatical rules. The pronoun must agree in number with its antecedent. The verb must agree in number and person with its subject.

Indefinite Pronouns

These pronouns, no matter how plural they may seem (everybody, everyone, etc.), are in fact singular and, therefore, always take a singular verb.

Collective nouns

These nouns refer to a group of things as a unit (team, band, and committee). It is usually preferable to use singular forms of the verb for such nouns. However, when you think of a group as a collection of individuals each acting individually, you must use the plural.

See, simple basic stuff.

Okay, now that I've bored you enough, I think I'll stop for now. What is it about grammar that stumps you? Do you have a grammar rule that gets you every time and if so, what is it?

Kaye