By BOB PINGREE
For the Insider
I am seeing and hearing far too many instances lately of lack of agreement between subject and verb, which dictates that singular nouns are matched with singular verb forms, and plural with plural. To illustrate, most of us learn, before we even enter public schools, to say “Mommy works in an office” instead of “Mommy work in an office.” But it's “Mommy and Daddy cook together” rather than “Mommy and Daddy cooks together.”
However, just this week I heard a report on CNN telling me, “In that pool was spent fuel rods” and an NPR story informing me that “during the recession there was plenty of discounted airplane seats.” Shouldn't it be obvious that “rods” and “seats” need “were” as the verb?
The same kind of mistake showed up in the Insider last week in the cover story on the CSI Charter School – twice, in fact. The body of the article had: “The only requirements for the students, she said, is that they must attend at least six hours of class time per week and graduate by the age of 21, as mandated by state law.” Requirements, being plural, should be followed by are, not is. On the facing page, a photo caption said, “Siblings Brittany and Joseph Reed, 19 and 20, jokes around during class.” Two people joke around. Since the error the week before was also a matter of subject-verb agreement, perhaps this area needs special vigilance.
