Ian here, back again with another round of our tips and tricks for writing right. The Sack Lunch team loves to debate over constructive, creative ideas, and as a design agency, we always have cool projects on our agendas that spark discussion. Recently, one of our discussions turned to grammar, and I had an unpopular (but correct!) stance on the matter. Lucky for me, I write our grammar blogs, so I get the last word on any argument to do with language rules!
The conversation was to do with subject-verb agreement, which means simply that the subject – the word that is doing something– agrees in number with the verb – the word that tells what the subject is doing. They both need to be singular or they both need to be plural. There are many times that saying something that technically isn’t grammatically correct sounds better than forcing the correct grammar into the statement: saying “me and you” or ending a sentence with a preposition are two great examples. However, this is never the case with subject-verb agreement. Having the wrong conjugation of a verb will always sound weird.
However, sometimes your ears can trick you, as happened with some of my team members. Here’s a general reconstruction of the delinquent sentence:
“Taco Tuesdays at the food stand starts with tortillas and end with tequila.”
You might see the problem already, but there are actually two issues with this sentence, and both can be tricky to catch because of the way the sentence is arranged. The verb “starts” might seem like it’s being conjugated by “food stand” because the two words are right next to each other. But it’s really “Taco Tuesday.” Now look at the next verb, “end.” If the sentence didn’t sound weird to you to begin with, this verb should have tipped you off, because it’s conjugated differently than “starts” even though both words have the same subject. So, the sentence should read like this:
“Taco Tuesday at the food stand start with tortillas and end with tequila.”
How can you avoid this error and always tell your subject and verb agree? Break down the sentence so that that the subject and the verb are closer to each other:
“Taco Tuesdays … starts … and end.”
When you break it up like this, it’s much clearer that this is a mistake. Even if you rearranged the words in the sentence, “starts” and “ends” will always have to agree in number with “Taco Tuesdays.” Like I said, it will always sound weird. You could always rewrite the sentence in a clearer way so that other people don’t make the same mistake:
“At the food stand, Taco Tuesdays always start with tortillas and end with tequila.”
Carefully constructing your sentences in the clearest possible way will you to avoid this issue, should you run across it again.
There ya go, guys, told you it sounded weird! That we get to have these daily discussions over creative matters is only part of what makes us the best little agency in Delray Beach. Contact us today for a free consultation on your next advertising project.
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