yes, an interesting case indeed, one dealing with the contrast between
grammatical plurality and semantic plurality. GRAMMATICALLY, the subject is
plural, and we tend to follow strict grammatical agreement. But notionally,
the various 'that' clauses add up to one envisioned state.
Quirk and Greenbaum refer to this as "notional concord." Discussing the
sentence
" Your fairness and impartiality (has/have) been much appreciated."
They observe that "invoking the principle of notional concord, we may use
either singular or plural, depending on whether unity or separateness is
uppermost in the mind."
Further examples they offer are
The hammer and sickle was flying from the flagpole
Danish bacon and eggs makes a good solid English breakfast.
The Bat and Ball sells good beer
"where despite coordination, the subject names a single flag, a single meal,
and a single pub respectively."
(A Grammar of contemporary English, p. 362. section 7.26, and note b).
i find such sentences very interesting indeed, and note that our society, (and
copy editors) go for the literal, grammatical concord typically, over the
notional one.
cheers,
rebecca
Johanna Rubba wrote:
> I was sent a query today. Here it is:
>
> >''That I am late, that I
> > am cold, that I am hungry MAKES/MAKE no difference.'' Is this a compound
> > subject requiring a plural verb, or is this essentially three separate
> > single subjects, each requiring a singlular verb with two of them
> > ''understood''?
>
> I know from my gut intuitions about English that 'makes' is the correct
> verb form, but that seems illogical. Can anyone tell me what's going on
> with this sentence? Even doing some twists doesn't change the agreement:
>
> 'That I am late, and that I am cold, and that I am hungry MAKES no
> difference.' ('make' sounds bad to me here)
> 'The fact that I am late, the fact that I am cold, and the fact that I
> am hungry MAKES no difference ..'
>
> 'All of _this_ makes no difference.' seems the suitable paraphrase, not
> 'All of these make no difference'
>
> But: 'These three facts MAKE no difference.'
>
> ?
>
> Johanna
>
> p.s. Re: the long grammar discussion ... I'm listening. Can you doubt
> that, sooner or later, I will put my two cents (or, as usual, two
> dollars) in? :)
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Johanna Rubba Assistant Professor, Linguistics
> English Department, California Polytechnic State University
> One Grand Avenue • San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
> Tel. (805)-756-2184 • Fax: (805)-756-6374 • Dept. Phone. 756-259
> • E-mail: [log in to unmask] • Home page: http://www.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
> **
> "Understanding is a lot like sex; it's got a practical purpose,
> but that's not why people do it normally" - Frank Oppenheimer
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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