Subject and Verb

[jack]

What is the subject and what is the verb for these?
http://lifestyle.sympatico.msn.ca/Re...first+site.htm
1. According to Laura Davimes, aromatherapy expert, and owner of Herban Avenues, "Wearing cinnamon/vanilla blends increases the presence of pheromone-like substances and dramatically increases attraction." (Should 'increases' be 'increase' ?)

http://www.quepublishing.com/article...e.asp?p=364262
2. A few high-profile lawsuits have shown recently just what can happen when information you didn't realize was in your documents shows up to bite you. (How come 'shows' is not 'show' ?)


Thanks.

[Tdol]

Wearing cinnamon/vanilla- this is the subject, singular because it is 'wearing'that controls the phrase
2- information is the subject, so it is singualr- information shows up.

[jack]

Are these correct? If not, why? What's the subject and verb here?
1. Hard drives are becoming larger and larger nowadays, that means more platters and that means more moveable parts which translates to the chances of it breaking down to be more likely. (Are 'means', 'means', and 'translates' correct here? If they are, how? I'm okay with the other ones but what about 'translates' How do we look at the subject for that?)

2. He is using slang words and that make it hard to read. (If this is okay, do we look at this as subject and verb agreement?)
3. He is using slang words and that makes it hard to read. (If this is okay, do we look at 'slang words' as one idea?)

Thanks.

[jack]

Could someone help me out with the post above? Thanks.

http://www.canada.com/national/story...4-b447ef808f61

1. I would like to express my condolences to the families of the officers who were killed. (What is 'were' referring to? Is it 'families' or 'officers' ? I'm pretty sure it is officers becase they were killed. But what if I didn't know? How would I figure it out?)

Thanks.

[Casiopea]

"that" is a pronoun, and it refers to the underlined portion. "that" functions as a subject and its verb is "means". As for "which", it's also a pronoun, and its verb is "translates". Both "that" and "which" are singular, hence the verb is singular.

1. Hard drives are becoming larger and larger nowadays, that means more platters and that means more moveable parts which translates to the chances of it breaking down to be more likely.

2. He is using slang words and that *make it hard to read.
3. He is using slang words and that makes it hard to read. ("that" is singular, so "makes" is singular)

[Casiopea]

I would like to express my condolences to the families of the officers who were killed.

The officers were killed.
?The families were killed.

"who" modifies the closest noun, Jack.

[jack]

What is the subject and what is the verb?
1. Can someone who thinks that displacement doesn't matter, explain to me why a lot of braking power and a lot of engine power is not relevant to an accident when the rider presumably panics before they crash? (Is 'is' correct here? Or should it be 'are'? It sounds right with 'is' but I'm talking about 'braking power' and 'engine power', so should it be 'are' ?)

2. Can someone who thinks that displacement doesn't matter, explain to me why a lot of braking power and a lot of engine power is not relevant to an accident when the rider presumably panics before they crash? (Is 'they' correct here? If not, what should I change it to?)
Thanks.

[Casiopea]

Try looking at it this way,

Explain why each of these is not relevant to an accident when the rider presumably panics before they crash?

Note, there are two they's in today's English. "they", the plural subject pronoun, which agrees in plural number with the verb (e.g, They are fun), and "they", a gender-neutral singular pronoun, which is used in place of the phrases, he or she, she or he, and the combined form, s/he.

1. the rider panics before he or she crashes
2. the rider panics before she or he crashes
3. the rider panics before s/he crashes
4. the rider panics before they crash ('they' = s/he, she or he, he or she)
5. the riders panic before they crash

Note, given the singular nature of "they", it's expected the verb be singular as well, but it's not, yet. The validity of singular "they", or gender-nuetral "they" is still being debated, so rephrasing the sentence works best,

6. the rider panics before crashing.

[jack]

Try looking at it this way,

Explain why each of these is not relevant to an accident when the rider presumably panics before they crash?

So you are saying this is fine:

1. Can someone who thinks that displacement doesn't matter, explain to me why a lot of braking power and a lot of engine power is not relevant to an accident when the rider presumably panics before they crash? (I can use 'is' here? If I use 'are' will it still work? What's is the differene in meaning when I use 'is' versus 'are'? I don't don't get how I can use 'is', could you show me in another way please? Like rearrange my sentence with everything in it?)

Thanks.

[Casiopea]

Fill in the blank
1. Explain why a lot of braking power (,) and a lot of engine power ____ [is, are] not relevant to an accident.

Key
A. Explain why each of these is not relevant to an accident.
B. Explain why both of these are not relevant to an accident.

Both "is" and "are" are acceptable. "is" refers to each separately, whereas "are" refers to both together.

Note, the comma is optional, but preferred for reading A. for the sake of clarity.