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Old 02-03-2012, 01:35 PM   #1
Penforhire
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Is or are?

I usually put my own two cents into answering grammar questions here but I'm curious about an example I stumbled over. Does this have a regional basis, is the text incorrect, or am I incorrect?

Here is the sentence which has me scratching my head -- "A good example are labels, a type of meta-data you can use to assign a colour to a piece of your draft."

I noticed this in section 2.1 of the user manual of the Windows version of Scrivener. I am thinking "are" in that sentence refers to the singular word "example" and therefore should be "is."

I know the author is from the U.K., as if "colour" wasn't enough of a hint. Is there some U.K. usage that is different from how I understand this grammar?

TIA
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Old 02-03-2012, 01:46 PM   #2
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Originally Posted by Penforhire View Post
I usually put my own two cents into answering grammar questions here but I'm curious about an example I stumbled over. Does this have a regional basis, is the text incorrect, or am I incorrect?

Here is the sentence which has me scratching my head -- "A good example are labels, a type of meta-data you can use to assign a colour to a piece of your draft."

I noticed this in section 2.1 of the user manual of the Windows version of Scrivener. I am thinking "are" in that sentence refers to the singular word "example" and therefore should be "is."

I know the author is from the U.K., as if "colour" wasn't enough of a hint. Is there some U.K. usage that is different from how I understand this grammar?

TIA
I am not a native speaker, but if you change the words in your sentence around, you would come up with: "Labels are a good example ... ". So to me "are" is referring to "labels" and therefore should be plural.
But hopefully somebody with more knowledge about grammar will be around soon and can explain.
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Old 02-03-2012, 02:09 PM   #3
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Since the subject and object are being identified through use of the copular verb "to be", the two of them should agree in number. They do not, which is what makes this sentence sound awkward.

Examples of proper ways to rewrite the sentence:

"Good examples are labels, ..."

"A good example is a label, ..."

You could, of course, also reconstruct the sentence in other ways to avoid the problem.
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Old 02-03-2012, 03:01 PM   #4
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"A good example is" is correct, regardless of what comes after. The verb should agree with the noun.

If you turn the sentence around, so that it reads "Labels are a good example", then the verb has to agree with labels, which are plural.

It's one of those sentences where the correct version sounds odd, so it's often used incorrectly.
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Old 02-03-2012, 04:58 PM   #5
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That's what I figured. Glad I'm not just going crazy.

Lila and Efindel, I agree the sentence is awkwardly constructed but it isn't mine to rearrange.
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Old 02-06-2012, 01:17 PM   #6
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Originally Posted by Penforhire View Post
That's what I figured. Glad I'm not just going crazy.

Lila and Efindel, I agree the sentence is awkwardly constructed but it isn't mine to rearrange.
I realize that, but I thought the examples might be of help to someone else someday. :-)
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Old 02-07-2012, 03:54 AM   #7
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Originally Posted by Penforhire View Post

I know the author is from the U.K., as if "colour" wasn't enough of a hint. Is there some U.K. usage that is different from how I understand this grammar?

TIA
No, it's got nothing to do with U.K. usage. I'm English born though I live in Australia, and that sentence immediately looked wrong to me.
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Old 02-10-2012, 06:52 AM   #8
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Originally Posted by EileenG View Post
"A good example is" is correct, regardless of what comes after. The verb should agree with the noun.

If you turn the sentence around, so that it reads "Labels are a good example", then the verb has to agree with labels, which are plural.

It's one of those sentences where the correct version sounds odd, so it's often used incorrectly.
Yep.
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