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form of the verb

 
 
Ifkins
 
Reply Fri 28 Jan, 2011 03:19 am
Hello!I'd like to ask which form of the verb or which version is correct.

My parents and I are getting on well.
My parents and me are getting on well.
My parents and me is getting on well.

Then , I'd like to ask if this rule is true - "When a noun in singular precedes a verb , the verb is in 3rd person of singular as well. However, when it's a plural noun then the verb is in plural ,too."

Thanks
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Setanta
 
  2  
Reply Fri 28 Jan, 2011 04:42 am
I've never heard of such a rule, but it works for me.

Number one is correct. First, in using "I" because it is the subjective form which is needed to indicate who takes the action. Second, because "my parents and I" is a plural subject, and therefore "are," the plural of to be, is required in such an instance.
Ifkins
 
  1  
Reply Fri 28 Jan, 2011 12:22 pm
@Setanta,
Ok,thanks Smile

Well,we have just had an argument with my friend about the following sentence.Could you tell me which one is correct?

But my true interest and passion ARE for xxxxxx, which has brought me to the UK.
But my true interest and passion IS for xxxxxx, which has brought me to the UK.

I would use the 1st version ..however,my friend is trying to apply that rule which I mentioned above.
Setanta
 
  1  
Reply Fri 28 Jan, 2011 12:23 pm
The first sentence is correct.
0 Replies
 
PUNKEY
 
  1  
Reply Fri 28 Jan, 2011 12:25 pm
Depends on what your XXXX are:

But my true interest and passion ARE for candies, which has brought me to the UK.

But my true interest and passion IS for candy, which has brought me to the UK.

Setanta
 
  1  
Reply Fri 28 Jan, 2011 12:26 pm
@PUNKEY,
You're wrong. The subject of the sentence is: "interest and passion." That's plural, and requires the plural form of to be.
0 Replies
 
PUNKEY
 
  1  
Reply Fri 28 Jan, 2011 12:41 pm
(That "But" conjunction must refer back to previous sentence to make sense of what is being said)

I see "interest and passion" as a collective noun, kind of like bacon and eggs.

Bacon and eggs is my favorite breakfast.
Setanta
 
  1  
Reply Fri 28 Jan, 2011 01:10 pm
@PUNKEY,
Your example is false. My favortie breakfast is bacon and eggs. Breakfast is the subject, not bacon and eggs.
0 Replies
 
McTag
 
  1  
Reply Fri 28 Jan, 2011 02:21 pm
@Ifkins,

Best explained by examples:

I am getting on well.

So,

My parents and I are getting on well.
0 Replies
 
McTag
 
  1  
Reply Fri 28 Jan, 2011 02:24 pm
@Ifkins,
Quote:
But my true interest and passion ARE for xxxxxx, which has brought me to the UK.
But my true interest and passion IS for xxxxxx, which has brought me to the UK.


I prefer the second, because "interest and passion" are so similar. They are almost treatable as one noun, in that example, and I believe I would think of them in that way.
0 Replies
 
JTT
 
  1  
Reply Fri 28 Jan, 2011 03:01 pm
@Ifkins,
Quote:
Hello!I'd like to ask which form of the verb or which version is correct.

My parents and I are getting on well.
My parents and me are getting on well.
My parents and me is getting on well.


This is much more complicated than it seems. 'correct' is not a good choice of words when it comes to how language is used, Ifkins.

Both the first and the second are correct [and maybe the third] Just considering the first two for now, number one is what is used in Standard Written/Formal English, while the second one is something that you often hear in Nonstandard English.

The kicker is that Standard English is not the measure of correctness. Much/most of spoken English has little resemblance to SWE/SFW and the notion that we speak incorrectly most/much of the time is ludicrous.

Quote:

Grammar Puss

Steven Pinker

...

Turning to the Democrats, Safire gets on Bill Clinton's case, as he puts it, for asking voters to "give Al Gore and I a chance to bring America back." No one would say [give I a break], because the indirect object of [give] must have objective case. So it should be [give Al Gore and me a chance.]

Probably no "grammatical error" has received as much scorn as "misuse" of pronoun case inside conjunctions (phrases with two parts joined by [and] or [or]). What teenager has not been corrected for saying [Me and Jennifer are going to the mall]? The standard story is that the object pronoun [me] does not belong in subject position -- no one would say [Me is going to the mall] -- so it should be [Jennifer and I]. People tend to misremember the advice as "When in doubt, say 'so-and-so and I', not 'so-and-so and me'," so they unthinkingly overapply it, resulting in hyper-corrected solecisms like [give Al Gore and I a chance] and the even more despised [between you and I].

But if the person on the street is so good at avoiding [Me is going] and [Give I a break], and even former Rhodes Scholars and Ivy League professors can't seem to avoid [Me and Jennifer are going] and [Give Al and I a chance], might it not be the mavens that misunderstand English grammar, not the speakers? The mavens' case about case rests on one assumption: if an entire conjunction phrase has a grammatical feature like subject case, every word inside that phrase has to have that grammatical feature, too. But that is just false.

[Jennifer] is singular; you say [Jennifer is], not [Jennifer are]. The pronoun [She] is singular; you say [She is], not [She are]. But the conjunction [She and Jennifer] is not singular, it's plural; you say [She and Jennifer are], not [She and Jennifer is.] So a conjunction can have a different grammatical number from the pronouns inside it. Why, then, must it have the same grammatical [case] as the pronouns inside it? The answer is that it need not. A conjunction is just not grammatically equivalent to any of its parts. If John and Marsha met, it does not mean that John met and that Marsha met. If voters give Clinton and Gore a chance, they are not giving Gore his own chance, added on to the chance they are giving Clinton; they are giving the entire ticket a chance. So just because [Al Gore and I] is an object that requires object case, it does not mean that is an object that requires object case. By the logic of grammar, the pronoun is free to have any case it wants.

http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/articles/media/1994_01_24_thenewrepublic.html






McTag
 
  1  
Reply Fri 28 Jan, 2011 04:40 pm

I think of Stephen Pinker as an intelligent man who has no common sense. And one who over-complicates well beyond the point of absurdity.
JTT
 
  1  
Reply Fri 28 Jan, 2011 04:44 pm
@McTag,
You've said nothing that addresses the language issue, McTag.
McTag
 
  1  
Reply Sat 29 Jan, 2011 05:06 pm
@JTT,

I answered the question, above. My answer was brief, pithy, and correct. And helpful.

Would that some others could say the same.
laughoutlood
 
  1  
Reply Sat 29 Jan, 2011 05:55 pm
@JTT,
Thank you JTT, very informative.
0 Replies
 
JTT
 
  1  
Reply Sun 30 Jan, 2011 11:53 am
@McTag,
Quote:
Best explained by examples:

I am getting on well.

So,

My parents and I are getting on well.


Quote:
I answered the question, above. My answer was brief, pithy, and correct. And helpful.

Would that some others could say the same.


You simply repeat the same old nonsense. How do you consider that that is correct? When something is presented that doesn't jive with your simplistic "pithy" replies, you're frequently up a stump.

McTag
 
  1  
Reply Tue 1 Feb, 2011 03:35 am
@JTT,

I certainly consider people who have a different opinion from me to be, ipso facto, wrong.

Wink
0 Replies
 
PUNKEY
 
  1  
Reply Tue 1 Feb, 2011 08:30 am
quand meme . . .
0 Replies
 
 

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