<p>So I'm prepping for the writing section with the barron writing workbook and I come across this:</p>
<p>"Compound Subjects thought of as a unit need singular verbs</p>
<p>Green eggs and ham (compound subject as a unit) is (singular verb) Sam's favorite breakfast"</p>
<p>How do you know when the author is referring to a plural subject or a singular compound subject??</p>
<p>THANKS! :D</p>
<p>Well, if you are an american, you will easily realize them(compound subjects). Otherwise, there is no ‘‘certain’’ rule that will help you to ‘‘find’’ them. You just have to understand them as a single subject or to look for clues in the sentence.</p>
<p>Example: Bread and jam is my favorite meal. Notice that the predicate nominative is ‘‘meal’’ ,which is singular;thus, you must automatically realize that ‘‘bread and jam’’ is a singular subject.</p>
<p>Green eggs and ham is Sam’s favorite breakfast. Notice that ‘‘breakfast’’ here is also singular.</p>
<p>Hope my explanation helped you…:D:D:D
Good luck in getting a 2400.</p>
<p>lol, yes I’m american. But it’s just, when I’m in “SAT grammar mood” I realize that most “and” requires plural. And when I saw this, I was so confused!</p>
<p>And so, I just have to look at the singular word like “breakfast” or “meal” kind of thing?</p>
<p>^ Yes, you have to look for a clue. Like singular ‘‘breakfast’’ or ‘‘meal’’.</p>
<p>Another clue:</p>
<p>I ate jam and bread for breakfast, but they tasted bad.Notice ‘‘they’’.</p>
<p>Green eggs and ham is my favorite breakfast, so I ate them at the morning.(wrong sentence) Guess why?</p>
<p>I ate Green eggs and ham at the morning because I loved it.(Is Green and eggs here plural???)
:D:D:D</p>
<p>I cannot see the SAT testing this concept (and I’ve never seen it tested yet). There is too much room for controversy, and an argument can be made for both singular and plural.</p>
<p>The SAT probably won’t test this. Testing this (which contradicts subject-verb agreement) would be too confusing because the SAT regularly tests subject-verb agreement.</p>
<p>
No, realityisadream is wrong. You do not look at the object to determine whether the verb is singular or plural. You only look at the subject. For example, it would be correct to say These men are a group of chauvinists even though *are<a href=“the%20verb”>/i</a> is plural and *a group of chauvinists<a href=“the%20object”>/i</a> is singular. So the verb and the object don’t necessarily correspond.</p>
<p>If you say Green eggs and ham is Sam’s favorite breakfast, you are using a singular verb (“is”) for a plural subject (“green eggs and ham”) NOT because “breakfast” (the object) is singular. You are using a singular verb because the subject (“green eggs and ham”) is being treated as a single unit, as a meal.</p>
<p>^ You have a point, but ,in the case of ‘‘group’’, many people can be in one group;however, in the case ‘‘green ham and eggs’’ it can only be one breakfast or breakfasts, depending on the meaning.</p>
<p>Green ham and eggs are my favorite breakfasts. HERE ‘‘Green ham and eggs’’ are plural(which means I love Green ham and eggs as SEPERATE meals), but, in ‘‘These men are a group of chauvinists’’( I think group is a collective plural noun in this context), ‘‘men’’ is ALWAYS plural.</p>
<p>I agree with you that looking at an object(predicate nominative is a better name than object, if not the only correct name) is not ‘‘the best way’’ , but it is a way.</p>
<p>For example:Green eggs and ham is Sam’s favorite breakfast.
If ‘‘is’’ was underlined on the SAT, you cant use it as a reference; you can only use breakfast in this case which is a predicate nominative that refers to Green eggs and ham, so you know that this sentence is correct.</p>
<p>All in all, I agree that this question is way too provocative to appear in the SAT and also that using ‘‘predicate nominative’’ is not a perfect way(I stated this in some of my examples above), but IF it appears in the SAT, sometimes(if ever), this might be the only way .</p>