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Confusion

by mad4gmat » Wed May 27, 2009 4:54 pm
Hi Guys,

I am new to this forum.
I have one doubt that sometimes if in a sentence we see
"and" then it is followed by are/were and sometimes it is followed
by is/was
Is the rule says below thing:-
* The x and y are/were
* The x and The y is/was
* x and y are/were

Please suggest if my above concept is correct?

Thanks
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by Stacey Koprince » Thu May 28, 2009 11:34 am
It's best to post the actual examples so that we can explain all of the different variations.

In general, if you have:
<subject> and <subject>, you will have a plural verb (eg, are)

The three examples you gave all follow the above convention and should all use "are":

The dog and cat are playing
The dog and the cat are playing
Susie and Bobby are playing

But there are all kinds of different ways to write sentences. For example:

Either the dog or the cat is playing
Neither the dog nor the cat is playing
The dog, along with the cat, is playing
Each dog is playing

There are tons of variations here, so when you find examples, come and post them here and we can discuss the specific details.
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by mad4gmat » Fri May 29, 2009 12:16 am
Hi Stacey,

On OG11,There is Q 41.
Its been also discussed in forum earlier
https://www.beatthegmat.com/cost-vs-costs-t8909.html
Can you please give your views on the "cost" vs "costs" issue.

Thanks.

Stacey Koprince wrote:It's best to post the actual examples so that we can explain all of the different variations.

In general, if you have:
<subject> and <subject>, you will have a plural verb (eg, are)

The three examples you gave all follow the above convention and should all use "are":

The dog and cat are playing
The dog and the cat are playing
Susie and Bobby are playing

But there are all kinds of different ways to write sentences. For example:

Either the dog or the cat is playing
Neither the dog nor the cat is playing
The dog, along with the cat, is playing
Each dog is playing

There are tons of variations here, so when you find examples, come and post them here and we can discuss the specific details.
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by Stacey Koprince » Fri May 29, 2009 8:08 am
I think Ron and Stuart have done a good job there, but I'll summarize:

The word "cost" (or "costs") can be either a noun or a verb.

When cost / costs is a noun, then "cost" is singular and "costS" is plural.

When cost / costs is a verb, then "costS" is singular and "cost" is plural.

So that's probably part of your confusion right there - you have to know first whether you're talking about a noun or a verb. (As a general rule, you add an "s" to make a noun plural, but you remove the "s" to make a verb plural.)

In the OG problem given in the other post, we have "the cost(s)," so the word is a noun. Therefore "cost" is singular and "costs" is plural. The verb that matches with this noun is "are," which is plural, so we need to use "the costs... are..."

In the example "this mistake cost him his job," as another poster pointed out in the other thread, "cost" is used in the past-tense here. The past-tense form is the same whether the noun is singular or plural:

Yesterday, a big mistake cost him his job.
Yesterday, several mistakes cost him his job.

If you want to re-write the sentence in present tense (which will sound kind of funny, so let's change it and pretend we're listening to the French Open tennis tournament on the radio right now and the commentators are giving a play-by-play):

Oh, he hits the ball into the net and that mistake costs him the match!
Oh, he keeps hitting the ball into the net and those mistakes cost him the match!
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by mad4gmat » Fri May 29, 2009 9:24 pm
Hi Stacey,
Appreciate your reply adn it was really helpful.
Do u have similar kinds of rules list so that it can be easy to
solve these kinds of problem by implementing that rules.

Thanks
Stacey Koprince wrote:I think Ron and Stuart have done a good job there, but I'll summarize:

The word "cost" (or "costs") can be either a noun or a verb.

When cost / costs is a noun, then "cost" is singular and "costS" is plural.

When cost / costs is a verb, then "costS" is singular and "cost" is plural.

So that's probably part of your confusion right there - you have to know first whether you're talking about a noun or a verb. (As a general rule, you add an "s" to make a noun plural, but you remove the "s" to make a verb plural.)

In the OG problem given in the other post, we have "the cost(s)," so the word is a noun. Therefore "cost" is singular and "costs" is plural. The verb that matches with this noun is "are," which is plural, so we need to use "the costs... are..."

In the example "this mistake cost him his job," as another poster pointed out in the other thread, "cost" is used in the past-tense here. The past-tense form is the same whether the noun is singular or plural:

Yesterday, a big mistake cost him his job.
Yesterday, several mistakes cost him his job.

If you want to re-write the sentence in present tense (which will sound kind of funny, so let's change it and pretend we're listening to the French Open tennis tournament on the radio right now and the commentators are giving a play-by-play):

Oh, he hits the ball into the net and that mistake costs him the match!
Oh, he keeps hitting the ball into the net and those mistakes cost him the match!
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by pratikgandhi » Sat May 30, 2009 6:24 am
Thanks Stacey. It cleared a big confusion that I previously had. :)
trying for a perfect score... 800..
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Lou Gehrig

by mad4gmat » Sat May 30, 2009 10:02 am
Stacey,Please give your views on this question:

The endurance and consistency of baseball star Lou Gehrig, known as “The Iron Horse,” are legendary.

(A) The endurance and consistency of baseball star Lou Gehrig, known as “The Iron Horse,” are legendary.

(B) The endurance and consistency of Lou Gehrig, a baseball star known as “The
Iron Horse,” is legendary.

(C) Known as “The Iron Horse,” the endurance and consistency of Lou Gehrig, the baseball star, is legendary.

(D) The reason baseball star Lou Gehrig is known as “The Iron Horse” is because of his legendary endurance and consistency.

(E) Known as “The Iron Horse,” baseball star Lou Gehrig’s endurance and consistency are legendary
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by Stacey Koprince » Mon Jun 01, 2009 11:17 am
Do u have similar kinds of rules list so that it can be easy to
solve these kinds of problem by implementing that rules.
Yes, we do - but it's not something I can post on the web. It's our entire SC book - the Sentence Correction Strategy Guide. :)

When the phrase "endurance and consistency" is used as the subject, we have to match it with a plural verb ("endurance and consistency" = a compound subject, which is always plural). Eliminate B and C.

When using an opening noun modifier (starting a sentence with some words that are not a complete sentence and are referring to some noun in the sentence), we have to put the noun in question right after that comma.

Known as a great typist, Joe got the job.

In choice E, we start with an opening noun modifier ("known as The Iron Horse") but the nouns following the comma are "endurance and consistency." No bood. "Lou Gehrig's" is not functioning as a noun in the sentence - it is a possessive, functioning as an adjective describing the nouns "endurance and consistency." Eliminate E.

D is problematic for two reasons. First, "the reason... is because of..." is awkward - you could even argue redundant. Second, we don't actually know that his "endurance and consistency" are the reason he is known as The Iron Horse. The original sentence does not say that - it just says his endurance and consistency are legendary, while adding that he was also known as The Iron Horse. Eliminate D.

That leaves us with A.
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