QT 5 – Video Transcript and Bonus Info
Welcome to 2-Minute Tuesday and Cate’s take on all things writing.
Time today to settle a grammar dispute between a husband and wife. Not long ago, a friend sent me a text saying, “Hey, quick grammar question. I’m creating a website and my husband says it should read one way, and I think it should read the other. Which of us is right?”
Here’s the sentence:
“Typically, a series of 3 to 6 treatments, spaced between 2 to 4 weeks apart, are/is recommended
for best results.“
Who determines the form of the verb anyway?
Is this marriage on the rocks?
Are they going to file?
Before we choose the right verb, we need to find the subject. If you picked “are,” then your subject would need to be either “treatments” or “weeks.” If you picked “is,” then your subject would have to be “[a] series.”
How do we know what the subject is? Let’s start with what it isn’t—or rather where it isn’t. A subject can never be in a prepositional phrase. That means we need to mentally delete any prepositional phrases, like this:
“Typically, a series (of 3) (to 6 treatments), spaced (between 2) (to 4 weeks apart), are/is
recommended (for best results).”
The only noun left is “series,” so it is the subject of the sentence. As a singular subject, it requires a singular verb. “A series is recommended….”
So who do you think was correct, the husband or the wife? That is not the same question, of course, as who was right. After all, as all smart husbands know, a happy wife is a happy life.
The rest of the story:
First, are you wondering what the word “spaced” is in the sentence analysis we did during the video? It is a verb acting as an adjective modifying “series.” As such, it is called a participle.
Second, the trick to ensuring that subjects and verbs agree in number is to first find and mentally delete prepositional phrases. As we are typing, we often slap down the verb that matches the nearest noun. Yet very often that noun is not the subject of the sentence but rather the object of the preposition. The key to avoiding being tripped up by prepositional phrases is to know your prepositions!
I’ll discuss prepositions in a future QuickTake, but for now, here is a short definition from Merriam-Webster. Prepositions are words that “show direction, location, or time, or introduce an object. They are usually followed by an object—a noun, noun phrase, or pronoun. The most common prepositions are little and very common: at, by, for, from, in, of, on, to, with.“
Do you see the error in this news caption?
“Team of retired U.S. Navy Seals are saving teenagers from human trafficking.”
Is the verb “are” correct? Why or why not?