<p>Barron's Writing Workbook for the New SAT, page 154:
(Noun-verb agreement), locate the error and correct it</p>
<p>4) Either Don or you is going to lead the class discussion on Tuesday.</p>
<p>The book said the sentence is correct, but I thought the verb should be "are" instead of " is " since "you" is next to the the verb.
Can you guys clarify on this?</p>
<p>3) At the end of the season, the team, regardless of whether they win the championship, are splitting up.</p>
<p>The book said it should be 'the team......is splitting up".
I am confused, if the team members are splitting up, then the team is not acting as a collective unit right? But here it is considered as a single unit. I thought the verb will become plural. Please help me to understand this question</p>
<p>4) You're right; Barrons screwed up. Unless there's some super-obscure rule I have never encountered in my years of teaching and writing, which states that the pronoun "you" should be treated like a third-person pronoun if and only if it's paired with a noun or a third-person pronoun. That seems pretty unlikely to me, though.</p>
<p>3) In real life (as opposed to SAT-land :) ) this question is a little ambiguous for just the reason you mentioned. Generally speaking, the rule is that collective nouns like "team" can take plural verbs when the word "team" is really referring to all of the members of the team separately rather than a collective unit. In the case of this sentence, though, you could make an argument either way. An individual team can split up just like a single boat can split up if it hits a rock.</p>
<p>The real lesson here, though, is that issues like this are almost always subjective in real life, and you will never be asked to make this kind of judgment on the SAT. On the SAT, you can forget the rule that you just mentioned (although good for you for knowing it!). On the SAT, singular nouns take singular verbs; plural nouns take plural verbs. The College Board seems to avoid putting questions like the "team/is splitting" one on the test--those that even experts might disagree about. So I don't really think you will see a problem like this on the real test. If you do, though, you should pick the singular verb.</p>
<p>I think this is a case of you being more on the ball than Barrons. (Or, technically, I should write, "I think this is a case of your being more on the ball than Barrons." :) )</p>
<p>hey im glad im not the only person who noticed problems with barrons. I think one question was like One has to.....so you</p>
<p>Basically they changed the pronoun from one to you, but they said the error was some word (it was a wrong word in the sentence or something? Like principle and principal.</p>
<p>Barron did not screw up. When all the elements in an either … or construction (or a neither … nor construction) used as the subject of a sentence are singular, the verb is singular:</p>
<p>The question is not whether the verb is singular, but which singular verb should be used. </p>
<p>Here is the present tense conjugation of the verb "to be":</p>
<p>.....Sg.............................Pl
1..I am........................We are
2..You are....................You (pl) are
3..He is.......................They are</p>
<p>Both "is" and "are" in this case are singular verbs. One is a second-person singular; one is a third-person singular. </p>
<p>In this case it seems to me that you should use the second-person singular because the second-person pronoun is closer to the verb than the third-person pronoun, and usually--in a case like this, where the verb can only agree with one item or the other of an either/or construction--the rule is that the verb should agree with the item that is closer to the verb.</p>
<p>If, in fact, you should always use the third-person singular in a case like this, then you would be right. And it's possible that such a rule exists. But I've never seen it, and I'm a bit of a grammar hound. And I'm confident that you won't be tested on it on the SAT.</p>
<p>Yes you are correct. IF there are two subjects in an either . . . or or neither . . . nor construction, we must locate the subject closest to the verb and make the verb agree with it. My belief is that in this case, You, in the second person could be used in singular. (although it could also be plural) Please correct me If I am wrong.</p>
<p>And thanks, xitammarg, for backing me up :) and adding your input. I trust my opinion more knowing that you agree with me.</p>
<p>Also, 8parks11: the thing is that in this case, "are" <em>can</em> be a singular verb, as xitammarg pointed out. It's the appropiate singular verb for the pronoun "you." When you are talking to just one of your friends, you say, "Hey, you <em>are</em> going to the movies, right?" It's the same idea here. </p>
<p>So you are absolutely right that the second person could be used in the singular. But the singular verb would, then, be "are". . . again, as xitammarg said (more concisely than I did).</p>