English For Today (September 14, 2018) by Ganiu Abisoye Bamgbose (GAB)

Some more rules?

Rice, beans, dodo and beef is my favourite meal (not, are). Complementary nouns take singular verbs. Another instance is: Two plus two is four (not, are).

One of our students is here (not, are). The focus is on one, not students so one controls the verb. This also applies to “each” and “none”: None of them likes rice (not like).

Many a grammarian is a polyglot (not, are). When “many a” is used in the subject position of a sentence, it takes a singular noun and a singular verb. Now, I’m sure many a person is surprised at this rule.

Ganiu Abisoye Bamgbose
Academic Advisor, Distance Learning Centre, University of Ibadan;
&
Doctoral Student of English, University of Ibadan.

English For Today (September 14, 2018) by Ganiu Abisoye Bamgbose (GAB)