TRICKY GRAMMAR!

Many pupils in Singapore will be taking their mid-year examinations the following week.


Although we have gone through the revision with pupils in class already, I know that some would not remember all the various questions that we have covered. Thus I would like to use this post to serve as a reminder to the pupils some of the grammatical items we have gone through in class.

1. What is the difference between 'a number' and 'the number'?



'A number' means several and is plural.

Example: There were a number of students working in the classroom when the Principal visited an hour ago.



'The number' refers to a fixed number and hence it is singular.

Example: The number of pupils who are allowed to go on the learning journey to Europe is fixed so you should apply early if you do not want to be disappointed.



2. Are relative pronouns singular or plural?

Relative pronouns are pronouns that join two sentences together. Examples of relative pronouns include:

• who
• whose
• whom
• which

The million-dollar question is: Are relative pronouns singular or plural?

The answer varies, depending on the noun that the relative pronoun refers to.

Relative pronouns usually refer to the nouns that are right in front of them.

Examples:

1. John who is my neighbour is studying in Chongfu Primary School.

In this case, the relative pronoun 'who' is referring to John and is hence singular.

2. Freddy was one of the boys who were seen loitering at the void deck before the robbery.
The relative pronoun 'who' refers to 'boys' and is plural in this example.



3. Subject and Object in Grammar

In English grammar, the subject is the noun that does the action. Hence the verb is dependent upon the subject in the sense that if the subject is singular, the verb also has to be singular. Likewise, if the subject is plural, the verb would have to be plural.


The object is the noun that receives the action.


Example: Tom kicks the ball.

• Tom - subject, so the verb 'kicks' is in the singular form
• ball - object

Example: Ali and Wenming kick the ball.

• Ali and Wenming - subject so the verb 'kick' is in the plural form
• ball - object

So far so good. This is the easy bit.


Now comes the tricky part.


Are you aware that there are personal pronouns for subjects and objects?

PERSONAL PRNOUNS

Subject I you he she it we they

Object me you him her it us them

This knowledge is needed for the following questions:

Example: Sharon, my classmate, runs faster than me or I?

The answer is: Sharon, my classmate runs faster than I.

The reason is because 'I' am a subject in the sentence. 'I' am a noun that is doing the action (to run).

In fact the sentence can be extended to read:

Sharon, my classmate, runs faster than I run.

This is a point of confusion even for many grown-ups.

So do remember when you are asked to choose a personal pronoun for an answer, think carefully before you select the answer. One way to help to derive the answer is to see if you can extend the answer with the missing verb.

All the best for SA1!