大学英语语法之主谓一致

1．集体名词作主语时,谓语动词的数取决于主语所表达的意义。当主语表示整体时,谓语动词用单数;当主语强调集体中的个体时，谓语动词用复数。

The family is the basic unit of the society. 家庭是社会的基本单位。

The family have agreed among themselves to spend their vacation in Italy.

一家人都同意去意大利度假。

The government have broken all their promises.

政府违背了全部诺言。(指政府中的各部门或成员) The council are of two opinions.委员会成员意见分歧。

The United States is a country advanced in science and technology.

美国是一个科学技术发达的国家。(美国是由许多州构成的单一国家).这类集体名词有:

people,army,audience,cattle,class,club,committee,crowd,family,government,

group, majority, minority, party, police, public, staff, team等,

其中people, cattle, police常用复数。

2．就近原则：当or, either…or, neither…nor, not only…but also连接一个单数主语和一个复数主语时,或者当一个句子是由there或here引导，谓语动词的数取决于它邻近的主语的数。

Here is a pen, a few envelopes and some paper in the drawer.

抽屉里有一支钢笔,几个信封和一些纸。

Neither the prices nor the quality has changed. 价格与质量都没变。

Neither the quality nor the prices have changed. 价格与质量都没变。

Neither she nor I am wet. 她和我都没有被淋湿。

3．不定式、动名词短语或名词性从句作主语时。

To become actresses is their ambition.作演员是她们的雄心。

Nodding often means you say "yes”.点头常常意味着你表示同意。

What I did was give her a book.我所做的就是给她一本书。

4．事件、国名、机构名称、作品名称用作主语时

The United States is a country advanced in science and technology.

美国是一个科学技术发达的国家。

The United Nations was founded in 1945.联合国成立于1945年。

The Thirty-Nine Steps is an interesting novel.

《三十九级台阶》是一本很有意思的小说。

5．one，every，everyone，everybody，each, one of,many a,either, neither，no one，nobody，anyone someone，somebody用作主语或修饰主语时；例如: Many a student d oesn’t like having to do their homework.

多学生都不喜欢被迫做作业。

One of the teachers is absent today.有位教师今天未到。

Every boy and girl is treated in the same way.

每个男孩和女孩都受到同样待遇。

Neither of the two girls is at home.两个女孩都不在家。

6．表示时间、距离、金钱、体积、数字等的词语用作主语表示总量时, Fifteen years represents a long period of his life.

15年代表他一生中一个很长的时期。

One hundred miles is too far to travel on foot.

100英里太远了,徒步旅行难以到达。

Ten thousand dollars is a large sum of money .

10000美元是一大笔钱。

7．单数词作主语,虽然后接由including，as well as，together with，in addition to， accompanied by等词连接的其它词，谓语动词仍用单数。例: Gold，as well as silver，has recently risen in price.

最近金银的价格上涨了。

The factory, with all its equipment, has been burned.

这家工厂连同设备一起被烧毁了。

8．a portion of, a series of, a kind/variety of等词语修饰主语肘,谓语动词一般根据语法一致的原则用单数。例如:

A series of pre-recorded tapes has been prepared for language lab use.

已准备好一系列预先录制的磁带供语言实验室使用。

9．一些表示数量的词,如a lot of, any of,most of, half of,two-thirds of, ninety percent of, part of, the rest of, some of, none of all of与名词连用时, 谓语

动词的数取决于名词的数。名词用单数，谓语动词也用单数, 名词用复

数，谓语动词也用复数。例如:

A lot of the equipment was made in China.这些设备中很多是中国制造的。

A lot of my friends are here to celebrate my birthday.

我的很多朋友来这里庆贺我的生日。

Most of the book is interesting.这本书大部分很有意思。

Most of the books are informative though a little dull.

这些书尽管有点枯燥,但大多数是有知识内容的.

[注意]:当a number of修饰主语时, 谓语动词用复数,而当the number of与名词连用作主语时, 谓语动词用单数。例如:

A number of students were late for school owing to the storm.

一些学生因暴风雨而迟到。

The number of errors was surprising.错误的数量让人吃惊。