11. Agreement of the predicate with phrasal and homogeneous subjects.

Agreement between the subject and the predicate verb refers to the way the verb has a form appropriate to the number and person of the subject. So the first step is to identify the subject of the sentence.

PHRASAL SUBJECTS

1. Subjects expressed by quotations, names or titles usually take a singular predicate verb.

'Fathers and Sons' is the most popular of Turgenev's novels.

2. Numerical expressions of addition, subtraction, division as a rule take a singular predicate.

Two and four is six.

3. If a phrasal subject contains expressions of quantity the basic rule holds true — agreement with the head word. Some of the children were bored.

4. With the expressions of time, money, weight, distance denoting measurements, amounts, quantities or after per cent (also percent or %) used without a noun headword — the predicate verb is singular. Ten years is_ a long period of time.

However, in phrases where percent is used with an of— phrase the basic rule is applied — agreement with the noun head word. An inflation rate of 4 percent makes a big difference to

exports.

5. When the subject contains the number one, a singular verb should be used.

One of the stolen cars was recovered. One in every five learns French.

In patterns one in, one out of + numeral, plural concord is also current in modern speech:

One in five were scared of other prisoners.

HOMOGENEOUS SUBJECTS

Another tricky case is the agreement of the predicate with a group of homogeneous subjects, i.e. subjects naming two or more items.

1. When a subject has two or more items joined by and or both ... and the plural verb is used.

Jean and David are moving back to Australia.

2. When homogeneous subjects are joined by or, either ...or, neither ... nor, not only ... but also, the verb agrees with the last item (the one which is closer to the verb). This is known as a proximity rule. Compare: Neither you nor I am right. Neither I nor you are right.

3. The proximity rule holds true for sentences with inversion, when the subject follows the predicate. The predicator verb agrees with the item which comes first (the one which is closest

to the verb). Compare: There is a table and some chairs in the room. —There are_ some chairs and a table in the room.

4. Homogeneous subjects joined by as well as, as much as, rather than, more than are followed by the predicate verb which agrees with the item that comes first. Compare:

My sister as well as my parents is a teacher. My parents as well as my sister are teachers.

12. The case of noun. The use of the genitive case.

Case is the form of the noun which shows the relation of the noun to other words in the sentence. English nouns have a two-case system: the unmarked common case and the marked genitive case. The genitive case is formed by means of the suffix —'s or an apostrophe (—') alone. The simplest rule to remember is: add ~'s to any personal noun unless it is in the form of a plural ending -s, in which case, just add an apostrophe (—‘)

In addition to its use with regular plurals, the zero genitive occurs:

• with Greek names of more than one syllable: Archimedes' Law, Achilles’ heel

• with many other names ending in [z] where, in speech, zero is a variant of the regular iz genitive:. Burn’s\Burns, Dickens’s/ Dickens’

• with fixed expressions of the form for…sake: for goodness’ sake, for old times’ sake. The spelling without the apostrophe is preferable in for goodness sake.

Compound nouns have ~’s added to the final component: my sister-in-law’s property

Depending on the relation between the head word and its modifier in the genitive case, we can distinguish the following kinds of genitive:

1. dependent 1. Specifying a) possessive genitive my son's wife — my son has a wife b) subjective genitive the boy’s application - the boy applied c) objective genitive The boy’s release- released the boy d) genitive of origin The girl’s story — the girl told the story 2. Classifying a) descriptive genitive A women’s college-a college for women b) genitive of measure Ten days’ absence- the absence lasted ten days c) set expressions: at a snail`s pace

2. independent (3) double genitive a book of my mother`s

The genitive case is used: with personal names: Mary’s house; with personal nouns: the little girl’s doll ; with collective nouns: the committee’s decision ; with the names of higher animals: a cat’s tail ; with geographical names: London’s biggest cinema ; with the names of newspapers ; with temporal or distance nouns: a day’s work, an hour’s delay ; set expressions: a stone’s throw away(рукой подать ; to avoid repetition: Your coat is more fashionable than Ann’s. ; to denote places where business is conducted(the hairdresser’s, the baker’s)

Sometimes ~’s can be combined with of-phrase in a construction called the double genitive: an old friend of my father’s.