Subject Verb agreement

[musicgold]

Hi All,

Is there a subject-verb agreement in the following sentence?

"Their taxable income was already in excess of whatever tax pools they had."

Here 'Their' is a group of corporations. I feel that since we are talking about 'taxable income' of multiple compnaies, 'income' should be followed by a 'were'.

Please give your comments.

Thanks,

MG.

[angliholic]

1. The kids' classroom is over there.
2. Our house is very beautiful.
3. Our country is very beautiful.

Hi, friend, Are they all plural? What do you think?

[musicgold]

Hi Angliholic,

Thanks. But your examples are not similar to my sentence. These companies are not putting together their income. Each company has its own income which is higher than its tax pool.

[mykwyner]

The subject of your sentenced is income, a singular noun that takes the singular verb was.

The income was excessive.
The taxes were paid


Angliholic:

Your subjects are 1. classroom, 2. house, 3. country, all singular.

[angliholic]

Originally Posted by musicgold

Hi Angliholic,

Thanks. But your examples are not similar to my sentence. These companies are not putting together their income. Each company has its own income which is higher than its tax pool.

OK, I know what you mean. Here is another example that is similar to yours:

In this school, every pupil has a pretty uniform; therefore we could say that:

Their uniform is beautiful.

And also, if they all wear a hat,

Their hat is stylish.

[angliholic]

Originally Posted by mykwyner

Angliholic:

Your subjects are 1. classroom, 2. house, 3. country, all singular.

Thanks, mykwyner.