Here begins a project I’ve worked on for years. On slips of paper I jot down usages – grammatical, lexical, phonological – that I hear, trying to give a one or two word description of the person uttering them. Several summers ago I organized them into categories. A recent post on flteach mentioning “attraction” caused me to delve into that folder to find an example and that decided me to write them all down. I hope this proves useful or enlightening to someone.
Subject/Verb Disagreement
…. where the refrigerator, sink and stove is…. – Ketzel Levine, radio commentator
The rate of lawsuits are up. – reporter
Each of us know ….. mayor of Glendale, AZ
I, like many other people, were amazed Phoenix art museum director 3/5/02, submitted by Brian Barabe
If the delivery of weapons of mass destruction are important…
Once that data are retrieved….. Richard Harris, NPR reporter (one of my favorites since the left side has it singular and the right side has it plural – cute, and demonstrating the absurdity of maintaining foreign plurals)
Everyone are intertwined -Old school English teacher
I believe those are all the examples I have of such disagreement between subject and verb.
Other types of solecisms to come.
Feb. 9 – Enrollment in foreign language classes are down.