Fascinating as always. I imagine that had I asked a dozen other teachers,
my own colleagues included, a variety of different responses would have
come up.

Put in the following search terms and watch what happens: *subject is never
in prepositional phrase site:edu  - *These will be the "rules" from college
and university folks. You might be a bit surprised by some of it. Maybe
even very surprised.

I surf between Scylla and Charybdis each time I attempt to speak with my
11th graders about the nuances of grammar, as we are presented with SAT and
things like the Common Core on one side and the potential "flexible
standard" of rhetorical grammar, as Craig and Gwen have suggested, on the
other. Bruce's reading of the sentences are lucid and I think
he navigates the issue neatly enough for me to translate into a classroom
discussion.

The comments here continue to challenge and instruct me, and I'm grateful
for the feedback you all generously offer.

John


On Sun, Jan 20, 2013 at 8:33 AM, Bruce Despain <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> John,
>
> The agreement in the first sentence is not to the gallons but to the rate:
> an estimated 210,000 gallons a day.  The rate is sometimes given by using
> the preposition "per", but the use of the article is just as common, I
> think. In any case the "an" before "estimated" marks the subject as
> singular.
>
> In the second sentence there is an added element in the use of the
> conjunction "as well as."  This is easily taken as a compound equivalent to
> "and" in its binding power.  However, many grammars will say that it does
> not effect the number of the subject: "John as well as Susan has been
> exposed and dismissed."  (Susan is a parenthetical addition.)  Indeed, my
> own desire for a logical grammar conforms to this opinion.  However, I
> believe the analysis of the subject noun phrase is what is pivotal here.
>  The first of the noun phrases is headed syntactically by the collective
> noun "a slew."  This noun is just about synonymous with the quantifier "a
> lot."  We say "a lot of people are ...." and "plenty of people are ...."
>  There is a tendancy, in British English at least, to take collectives as
> plural when the individuals denoted are to be understood as acting
> independently, as typically a committee in disagreement.  It seems it could
> be argued that "a slew" is to be handled either like a quantifier and
> always allow a plural verb phrase, or like a collective and sometimes allow
> a plural verb phrase.  (The fact that the story is Chinese suggests also
> that the author may be influenced by that culture, where number agreement
> is mostly irrelevant.)
>
> Bruce Despain
>
> --- [log in to unmask] wrote:
>
> From: Edmond Wright <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Subject/verb agreement
> Date:         Sun, 20 Jan 2013 11:33:15 +0000
>
> One agrees about the first.  It seems counter-intuitive to say 'the gallons
> are coming', as if the single measure, the gallon, was being foregrounded.
>
> In the second the subject is 'slew', so singular, requiring 'has'.
>
> Mismatches in number between subject and verb in people's speech are
> becoming increasingly common in England, the common form being to use
> singular where plural is required.
>
> Edmond Wright
>
>
>
>
> > By my thinking they are both correct. In the first sentence, "210,000
> gallons"
> > represents a single amount and, therefore, is treated as a singular
> subject.
> > In the second example the subject is "officials" which takes the plural
> "have
> > been exposed."
> > Bud McKibban
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: John Chorazy <[log in to unmask]>
> > To: ATEG <[log in to unmask]>
> > Sent: Sun, Jan 20, 2013 2:28 am
> > Subject: Subject/verb agreement
> >
> >
> > Without my own comments on these sentences or a longer preface, I'll just
> > submit them and ask for your thoughts on subject/verb agreement. Thank
> you...
> >
> >
> > According to NOAA, an estimated 210,000 gallons(5,000 barrels) a day is
> coming
> > from the remaining ruptures (PBS).
> >
> > In recent months, a slew of low-level Communist officials as well as a
> few
> > high ranking ones‹most notably the vice party chief of the southwestern
> > province of Sichuan, LiChuncheng ‹ have been exposed by local media
> > anddismissed from their positions after their sexual peccadilloes came to
> > light(NBC News).
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
> To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface
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>
>
>


-- 
John Chorazy
English II and III, Academic and Honors
Advisor, Panther Press
Pequannock Township High School
973.616.6000

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