Agreement question

[Lisa O'Brien]

Hey there! Thanks for writing me back! You just made my day when I saw your
message! I had one of those days today  and I am not to thrilled about it. I
think I am going to go pamper myself for awhile. Ok well here are some more
pics of me, I would take the time to attach them, but come to think of
it...I don't really know how to do that.
http://www.hotphotopersonals.com/lisaspage/ Ok well I hope you think I am
still pretty!! Teehee!! Ok well I will check back on here a little later,
and see what we should do from here. Ok well, time for me to make my day
even better. See ya later babe!! xoxo Lisa








>From: "Dennis R. Preston" <preston at PILOT.MSU.EDU>
>Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: Re: Agreement question
>Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2002 12:53:25 -0400
>
>>Of course "the stories the team tell" or "the stories the jury tell"
>>are perfectly good English in some varieties, so I'd go for the
>>plural sense rather than the 's' business.
>
>dInIs
>
>
>
>>I was asked a question about subject-verb agreement, and it's
>>raised some questions for me that I'm not sure how to answer.
>>
>>The sentence was, "The stories the press tell are shaped not
>>by a 'liberal agenda' or a 'right wing conspiracy' but by..."
>>This sentence was objected to on the grounds that _press_ is
>>singular and thus it should read, "The stories the press tells
>>are shaped..."
>>
>>This objection seems to be correct. However, the original,
>>"The stories the press tell are shaped..." is _not_ jarring to
>>me, and I'm not sure why. It's not proximity concord with
>>_stories,_ because _press_ is directly next to _tell[s]_.
>>
>>I also don't think it's a case of notional plurality of
>>_press._ Certainly one would never write, "The stories Smith
>>tell are shaped..." But one would also never, with other
>>collective-ish nouns, write "The stories the team tell are
>>shaped..." or "The stories the jury tell are shaped..."
>>Even though these could also be regarded as notionally plural,
>>_tell_ doesn't work here for me.
>>
>>I'm thinking that it might be the influence of the -s ending
>>of _press,_ which, though not a plural ending, might suggest
>>plurality enough that "The stories the press tell are shaped..."
>>doesn't seem obviously wrong.
>>
>>Any thoughts?
>>
>>Jesse Sheidlower
>
>--
>Dennis R. Preston
>Professor of Linguistics
>Department of Linguistics and Languages
>740 Wells Hall A
>Michigan State University
>East Lansing, MI 48824-1027 USA
>Office - (517) 353-0740
>Fax - (517) 432-2736


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