Questions Answered

Singular or plural?

COULD you tell me whether a singular or plural verb is called for in the sentence below? An English lecturer had this on her presentation slide and I disagreed with her use of the singular verb.

“Employees may suppress information even when communication and recovery process exists”.

Shouldn’t we use “exist” instead of “exists”? The English lecturer explained that both the words “communication” and “recovery process” were uncount nouns and this warrants a singular verb.

If the verb depends on whether nouns are count or uncount ones, what about the following phrases:

Air and water are essential for life

OR

Air and water is essential for life.

Bread and butter are her only food.

OR

Bread and butter is her only food.

Answer:

Although an uncountable n oun (as subject of a clause) is used with a singular verb, two or more uncountable nouns in a coordinated subject (linked by “and”) are used with a plural verb, as in your first example, “Air and water are essential for life.”

However, when the nouns in the coordinated subject are usually treated as a unit or a single idea, like “bread and butter” in your second example, they take a singular verb. Thus, we say “Bread and butter is her only food.”

The sentence written by the English lecturer has a coordinated subject in which the two nouns, i.e. “communication” and “process”, are not usually treated as a unit or a single idea. So the verb ought to be plural, i.e. “exist”.

I would also like to point out that “process” is not an uncountable noun, although this does not affect the subject-verb agreement. We can say “a process” or “processes”. In addition, an article is needed before “recovery process”, so that the sentence would read:

“Employees may suppress information even when communication and a recovery process exist”.

Use of ‘subject to’

I AM confused about the usage of “subject to” and “subjected to”. Please explain the sentence below:

Service is subject to availability and technical testing.

Can “subject to” be replaced with “subjected to”? If not, please explain how we can use “subjected to”.

Answer:

“Subject to” means “conditional upon”. “Subject” there is an adjective. I don’t know the context of the sentence you quoted. But if it appears in a document or on a notice board of a car service station, it probably means that a car is only serviced there on condition that someone is available to perform the service, and that the car is first tested to find out what mechanical faults it has.

No. “Subjected to” has a very different meaning from “subject to”. It is the passive form of the verb “subject (someone) to” and means “be made to undergo an unpleasant experience”. Here are some examples of its use:

“Black football players in Europe are occasionally subjected to racist insults by spectators.”

“Some prisoners of war were subjected to torture, which is against the Geneva Convention.”

Open and close an umbrella

ARE these correct?

1) How time flies. It’s already 10 years since we last saw each other.

2) You must open the umbrella when it rains. Close it when the rain stops. (How about “fold”?)

3) He always broke his pencil when he was six. (Can we use “always” for a past event?)

4) I saw many people took part in the protest. (“Taking”?)

5) Just round the corner OR Just around the corner.

6) He fell onto the floor. OR He fell on the floor.

Answer:

1) “How time flies!” is a common expression used when someone feels that time has passed more quickly than he realises. The simple present tense is usually used, instead of the present perfect “How time has flown!”, even when we are referring to a period of time, because it is a general statement.

2) It is correct to use the verbs “open and close” for an umbrella. Here is a quotation from the website of a company that sells umbrellas in the UK:

“Quite simply ingenious. Fashion umbrellas that can be both opened AND CLOSED with one hand at the touch of a button in a compact fold away version.”

“Folding” is what we do to some cloth umbrellas after we’ve closed it.

3) There is nothing wrong in using “always” for a past event. “Always” usually means “at all times” or “on every occasion”, and these can refer to all times and every occasion in the past.

However, in the sentence you gave me, “always” means “very often” and that requires the use of a past continuous tense rather than a simple past tense, and so the sentence should read:

“He was always breaking his pencil when he was six.”

4) No, “took” is not correct there! The past has already been conveyed in the verb of perception “saw”. The sentence should read: “I saw many people take/taking part in the protest.”

5) Both “round” and “around” are correct in that context. “Around” is slightly more formal.

6) “He fell onto the floor.” and “He fell on the floor.” are both correct, but they differ slightly in meaning.

“He fell onto the floor” means he fell from another place or position (e.g. a bed or a ladder) and landed on the floor.

“He fell on the floor” means he was standing on the floor and then something made him fall down on it. Maybe someone punched him, or he fainted.