a question on agreement

[hooootdog]

Hi, guys

i have a minor question about the agreement. look at the sentence "On New Year's Eve, every door in the house, and even windows, have to be open to allow the old year out"

i think the subject here is every door, not windows, so the verb should be "has" instead of "have". but i'm not sure of it. anybody tell me?

 

[SanMar]

Hi, guys

i have a minor question about the agreement. look at the sentence "On New Year's Eve, every door in the house, and even windows, have to be open to allow the old year out"

i think the subject here is every door, not windows, so the verb should be "has" instead of "have". but i'm not sure of it. anybody tell me?

I understand the sentence as :

[STRIKE]"On New Year's Eve[/STRIKE], every door[STRIKE] in the house[/STRIKE], and even windows, have to be open to allow the old year out"

But I could be wrong! Perhaps others will comment.

Not a teacher

 

[5jj]

Hi, guys
e?

Grammatically speaking it has to be: "...every door... and (every) window has to be...".

 

[SanMar]

Grammatically speaking it has to be: "...every door... and (every) window has to be...".

Over looking the actual meaning of sentence is not a good idea!

Are both door and window the subject of the sentence?
I'm inclined to say yes but.....


Not a teacher.

 

[5jj]

Are both door and window the subject of the sentence?
I'm inclined to say yes but.....

Interesting point. I'll evade the problem of it by changing my answer to : Every [door and window] has to...

 

[Soup]

Grammatically speaking it has to be: "...every door... and (every) window has to be...".

Nonsense. The sentence stands grammatically correct as is. It's the commas that are the problem:

• On New Year's Eve, every door in the house and even windows have to be open to allow the old year out.
  • They (both doors and windows) have to be open to allow the old year out.

 

[Raymott]

Hi, guys

i have a minor question about the agreement. look at the sentence "On New Year's Eve, every door in the house, and even windows, have to be open to allow the old year out"

i think the subject here is every door, not windows, so the verb should be "has" instead of "have". but i'm not sure of it. anybody tell me?

Problems like this can usually be solved by rewriting.
"On New Year's Eve, all the doors in the house, and even the windows, have to be open to allow the old year out."

 

[5jj]

Sorry, hooootdog. Ignore my posts. For some reason I read your 'and even windows' as 'and every windows'. It's time I had my eyes tested.

 

[TheParser]

Hi, guys

i have a minor question about the agreement. look at the sentence "On New Year's Eve, every door in the house, and even windows, have to be open to allow the old year out"

i think the subject here is every door, not windows, so the verb should be "has" instead of "have". but i'm not sure of it. anybody tell me?

***** A NON-TEACHER's OPINION *****


(1) I may have found a "rule" that explains why "has" is the

"correct" answer.

(2) It comes from my 1985 edition of Professor Quirk's A Grammar of

the English Language (page 762):

If an adverbial [such as "even"?] is attached to a second noun
phrase linked to the [first] noun phrase by and, the construction is considered parenthetic [extra], and grammatical concord ... requires the verb to agree in number with the first noun phrase.

Dr. Quirk's example:

The ambassador -- and perhaps his wife too [adverbial?] -- is likely to be present.

(3) Your humble servant is wondering if your sentence could thus

be analyzed something like:

Every door -- and even [all the] windows -- has to be open.

Every door (and even all the windows) has to be open.

Every door, and even all the windows, has to be open.

Respectfully yours,

James

 

[konungursvia]

Hi, guys

i have a minor question about the agreement. look at the sentence "On New Year's Eve, every door in the house, and even windows, have to be open to allow the old year out"

i think the subject here is every door, not windows, so the verb should be "has" instead of "have". but i'm not sure of it. anybody tell me?

I agree with you, as the parenthetical phrase "and even windows" is enclosed in commas.

 

[hooootdog]

***** A NON-TEACHER's OPINION *****


(1) I may have found a "rule" that explains why "has" is the

"correct" answer.

(2) It comes from my 1985 edition of Professor Quirk's A Grammar of

the English Language (page 762):

If an adverbial [such as "even"?] is attached to a second noun
phrase linked to the [first] noun phrase by and, the construction is considered parenthetic [extra], and grammatical concord ... requires the verb to agree in number with the first noun phrase.

Dr. Quirk's example:

The ambassador -- and perhaps his wife too [adverbial?] -- is likely to be present.

(3) Your humble servant is wondering if your sentence could thus

be analyzed something like:

Every door -- and even [all the] windows -- has to be open.

Every door (and even all the windows) has to be open.

Every door, and even all the windows, has to be open.

Respectfully yours,

James

my heartfelt thanks, love you!

 

[Leandro-Z]

It`s additional information (since it`s between commas), so the best would be to mantain the number pattern of the sentence.