What’s the us(ag)e?

 8. Proximity, continued, with a twist (and sex, too)

Unfortunately, there is another problem in addition to proximity that makes subject – verb agreement difficult. Parenthetical information added to the subject causes agreement problems. Parenthetical information is information that is not necessary but is often helpful for a fuller understanding of the subject. And we often signal parenthetical information by phrases such as: “as well as,” “in addition to,” and “along with.”

            Some examples:

John, as well as Jerry, throws the ball over the fence.

John, in addition to Jerry, throws the ball over the fence.

John, along with Jerry, throws the ball over the fence.

But if you make the subject compound by using “and” we change the verb form:

John and Jerry throw the ball over the fence.

John and Jerry are ball players.

And, of course, there is the singular form of the verb used with “either / or” and “neither / nor.”

Neither John nor Jerry is a skater.

Those two examples are easy enough. But what about these?

“None of the boys is a skater” or “None of the boys are skaters”?

“None” is the singular subject of the sentence; therefore, the correct sentence is:

None of the boys is a skater.

Here the proximity of “boys” to the verb does not change the verb form.

“None is a skater” and “None of the boys is a skater” are both correct.

Closeness of the subject to the verb doesn’t matter with parenthetical expressions. John can be close to Jerry. They can be very very close. It just doesn’t matter.

But what about sex? Does that matter? Of course it does. Language and sex is for a later lesson.

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