mommylawyer Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 My daughter (13) and a friend are having a debate involving sentence construction. My daughter wrote this sentence: Years of Writing with Skill have made it easy. Her friend says that she should use "has" and not "have." I told my daughter she is correct - the simple subject and verb agree in her sentence; also, the object of a preposition is not what is used for verb agreement. I will note, not that it matters, that I don't know if her friend knows that "Writing with Skill" is the title of a book. Please help by weighing in! Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 "Years" = plural, so the verb is "have" 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fralala Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 I'd ask the girls to think of another sentence with "years" as the subject. Years were passing... The years have really changed you... (To prove your daughter right, of course.) I often get this wrong when speaking, but when writing we have time to think it through! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 My daughter (13) and a friend are having a debate involving sentence construction. My daughter wrote this sentence: Years of Writing with Skill have made it easy. Her friend says that she should use "has" and not "have." I told my daughter she is correct - the simple subject and verb agree in her sentence; also, the object of a preposition is not what is used for verb agreement. I will note, not that it matters, that I don't know if her friend knows that "Writing with Skill" is the title of a book. Please help by weighing in! Thanks in advance! This is where the Easy Grammar method comes in handy: cross out the prepositional phrase "of Writing With Skills" and you have the subject and verb: Years have made it easy. :D 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 "Have" is correct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.