1. The jury of peers ends its deliberations today. *Jury” is the subject, and a collective noun.
2. Faulkner, Eliot, and Joyce is the best law firm in town. * Even though its name includes several surnames, a law firm is a singular subject.
This K-pop band is a huge phenomenon on social media. “Band” is singular, therefore both the verb and “phenomenon” should agree with it.
Several art media are used in the mural. *However, some artists do use “mediums” to mean not psychics, but different art media.
Astrophysics is the most exciting field of science today.
What’s Your Story?
Awaken your creative powers with this new online workshop!
Experienced teachers and faculty developers Eleanor Pierre (PhD) and John Oughton (MA) lead you through some exercises and prompts that open your creative mind by writing short fiction.
This 90-minute Zoom workshop takes place on Thursday, August 21, starting at 3:00 PM Toronto time.
To register, email ejpcomm2@gmail.com.
Special Inaugural Price: $50 CAN. Register by August 14 for this discounted rate.
Audience: Anyone interested in expression of thoughts, writing, story telling or creativity. No previous experience necessary.
Takeaway Skills You Will Develop
Creative idea generation using brainstorming and mind mapping
Story outlining and narrative structuring
Character development and dialogue writing
Application of key storytelling elements (plot, setting, conflict, resolution)
Use of creative thinking techniques to enhance writing.
Workshop Facilitators: Dr. Eleanor Pierre works through EJP Communications, and has taught and led workshops at many colleges and universities. She has a PhD (Curriculum Studies and International and Comparative Education from OISE/UT. John Oughton (MA) retired as the first Professor of Learning and Teaching at Centennial College, where he taught English courses and then led faculty development. He is the author of eight books and many articles, reviews, short stories and poems. The article they co-wrote on the affective domain in higher education has now been cited in almost 200 other papers.
Twas interesting to read about subject-verb agreement. My mother, the daughter of an English teacher, learned all of the grammar rules backwards and forwards. My mother often corrected my grammar. I'm sorry I do not know all the rules as well as she did. Not only would she correct me but she would tell me what rule I had violated. For whatever reason the one I remember hearing most often was "subject-verb agreement". I likely made many other mistakes. I may have made a few in writing this reply. Sometimes when writing I will have the feeling something I have written isn't grammatically correct but I don't know what rule I may or may not have violated. I tend to have some sense that something sounds right or doesn't sound right but without knowing with certainty.
There are some grammar mistakes I do recognize and they do annoy me a little. One I have noticed several times lately (and many times over the years), is when people write "I could of gone to the store" when what they meant to write was "I could have" or "I could've". I can see how the latter is probably the source of the written mistake. People hear the contraction and think of it as "could of" and then write it that way. What is that mistake called?