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vittalgmat
- Legendary Member
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Hi Folks,
I would like to know more on the following "rule"
I am assuming this rule is correct. If so, then I am looking for more examples and explanations of those examples.
Here is the excerpt from Amateur's notes:
When "of" is preceded by a singular noun and followed by a plural one, the rule is to conjugate the following verb with the plural noun if the latter can perform the action conveyed. Otherwise, conjugate it with the singular noun preceding "of".
E.g.: The swarm of flies was very dense.
As you can see, the flies cannot be dense. However, the "swarm" is singular. Hence, "was" is singular.
E.g.: He is one of the students who believe math is boring.
In the above, since "students" can perform the action of believing, the verb is conjugated with the plural noun "students". This is an example similar to the original question. An exception applies in the case of "one of":
E.g.: One of the students believes that math is boring.
In the above, it is actually not an exception; it is about logic. Ask yourself: Do the students believe that math is boring? No. Only that one student believes so. Hence, "believes" should be third person singular.
Thanks
I would like to know more on the following "rule"
I am assuming this rule is correct. If so, then I am looking for more examples and explanations of those examples.
Here is the excerpt from Amateur's notes:
When "of" is preceded by a singular noun and followed by a plural one, the rule is to conjugate the following verb with the plural noun if the latter can perform the action conveyed. Otherwise, conjugate it with the singular noun preceding "of".
E.g.: The swarm of flies was very dense.
As you can see, the flies cannot be dense. However, the "swarm" is singular. Hence, "was" is singular.
E.g.: He is one of the students who believe math is boring.
In the above, since "students" can perform the action of believing, the verb is conjugated with the plural noun "students". This is an example similar to the original question. An exception applies in the case of "one of":
E.g.: One of the students believes that math is boring.
In the above, it is actually not an exception; it is about logic. Ask yourself: Do the students believe that math is boring? No. Only that one student believes so. Hence, "believes" should be third person singular.
Thanks
You can't reasonably re-write that as "He hated his colleague's desk's computer, which beeped annoyingly..." so you just have to live with the short prepositional phrase separating "computer" and "which."
