verb agreement

606 Words2 Pages

Closely related to co-ordinate verbs and verb phrases is the construction of co-ordinate predicate. A co-ordinate predicate can be defined as a predicate which consists of two or more verbs or verb phrases connected by a co-ordinator. Each of them adds important information to the subject (Alsina, Bresnan, and Sells 25).

The verbs share the same subject (i.e. there is one subject only in a co-ordinate predicate). This co-ordinate predicate is the part of the sentence that tells two (at least) or more things about the subject by usually telling what the subject is doing, or what is happening to the subject but without repeating the subject (Alsina, Bresnan, and Sells 26), as in:

(131) Albert stole my wallet, maxed out my credit cards, and emptied my bank account.
(132) The telegram was late but contained exciting news.
(133) Jan jumped on her bike and rode around the block.

(134) Rangers explore and protect the forest.

Consequently, in a sentence such as Renata waxed her car, and she parked it in the garage, the two verbs waxed and parked are not compoun...

Open Document