<p>What's wrong with this sentence:</p>
<p>"Planning a surprise party and keeping it secret is always a difficult endeavor, particularly if the guest of honor is already suspicious and continually asks questions about the event."</p>
<p>IS there anything wrong? If so, what and why?</p>
<p>Hmm..."Planning...and keeping...."</p>
<p>Two verbs with "and" conjugation. I'm saying it should be "are always difficult endeavors"?</p>
<p>That's EXACTLY what I thought! Thanks!</p>
<p>No problem.</p>
<p>Actually, planning and keeping are nouns (gerunds), so and is fine.</p>
<p>My bad. I'm guessing it's still changed to "are always difficult endeavors," though, yes?</p>
<p>Yes, I agree. But and can link verbs: I eat and sleep.</p>
<p>Actually, the grammar of your question is a little ambiguous. This is a step-by-step explanation: the whole thing will be clear at the end. Sorry for the length of this post; you asked a hard question. :)</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Gerunds (-ing nouns) are typically treated as singular subjects, as you know: "Running IS fun," etc.</p></li>
<li><p>When two gerunds are used together to form a subject (running and swimming), they are treated as a plural subject IF they refer to clearly separate activities. If we write, "running and swimming are both fun activities," for instance, we use the plural verb "are," because "running" is not the same thing as "swimming."</p></li>
<li><p>However--and this is where it gets a little weird--if we are using two gerunds to describe the SAME activity, we use a singular verb, even if the subject is a compound gerund (that is, even if the two -ing nouns in the subject are linked by a conjunction like "and"). So, for instance, we write, "Making a list and checking it twice IS hardly a fun way to spend a winter evening" because here making the list and checking the list are not separate activities; instead, the phrases "making a list" and "checking it twice" are here used to describe two parts of a single activity. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>So, to answer your question, I think you could make an argument for either "is" or "are" in your sentence. However, I would probably use "is" here because the sentence does not really treat "planning the surprise party" and "keeping it secret" as separate subjects. Instead, the sentence means that it's hard to BOTH plan a party AND keep it secret, so the gerunds in the subject refer to a single activity, meaning that "is" is technically correct here.</p>
<p>If memory serves, having looked at something like 30 College Board SATs and 6 College Board PSATs, I have seen this rule tested exactly once, and in my opinion it was a fluke. This is not generally the kind of obscure thing you have to know to aced a standardized exam.</p>
<p>hmm...thanks lotf! I was actually working through a sparknotes book and this question came up as an identifying sentence error question. </p>
<p>I'm just curious, where do you get your College Board SATs to look at? and the PSATs?</p>
<p>"the phrases "making a list" and "checking it twice" are here used to describe two parts of a single activity"</p>
<p>I wonder if the point of the original sentence is to call attention to the difference between the two activities, which might serve to make them plural, according to the rule. I sure don't know.</p>
<p>At any rate, it seems to me to be an inappropriate question for such a test, since a very good student of grammar might argue either way. Or would professors of English, in fact, agree on the correctness the original sentence?</p>
<p>I agree it isn't a good question at all. I ran into a similar question in the same test:</p>
<p>"The efficiency and global utilization of modern computer technology explain its indispensability for today's business."</p>
<p>Is "explain" plural or singular? I can see it going either way. The answer says it should be plural.</p>
<p>Hannah, as far as the tests, I've been an SAT tutor for five years, so I've developed quite a stockpile. Here's what I know to be available:</p>
<p>The 8 tests in the Blue Book
The 6 additional tests available through the College Board online tutorial</p>
<p>Useful for CR but not Writing:</p>
<p>The so-called Red Book (10 Real SATs, now out of print), 3d edition
The Red Book, 1st edition, which contains two or three SATs not in the 3d edition.</p>
<p>Finally, there's a White Book, the very earliest edition of real SATs, but I believe that all the tests in the White Book are also in the first edition of the Red book.</p>
<p>In addition to all this material, I've seen every QAS packet released for the New SATs, but that's illegal to discuss on this forum, I b'lieve. :) I will say that if you are diligent about getting copies of all the legal but possibly out of print material listed above, you don't need to use pirated material. The fourteen tests available from the CB are more than enough practice for most people.</p>
<p>Copies of many PSATs (at least six) are available from the CB directly: if you do a search for "PSAT ordering," I believe it will come up.</p>
<p>I don't see a problem with using so-called "pirated" material. I'd buy the tests if I could, but since CB doesn't give me an option, I just go ahead and borrow other people's QAS booklets (which they don't use anyway).</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure you are all trying to make this too difficult. SAT and ACT don't focus on this kind of thing (gerunds). They DO focus major on verb tense agreement and "asks" does not agree witih planning and keeping.</p>
<p>Yeah, Arachnotron; it's just that not everybody can get their hands on the pirated stuff, and there's often anxiety that people with QAS packets, etc., have an advantage over those who don't. I just meant that if you don't have access to past new SATs or whatever, there's no reason to stress: there's plenty of other material out there that you can get easily that will still help you out.</p>
<p>Also, SparkNotes qeustions are sometimes squirrelly, yes.</p>
<p>Lotf, what test prep book would you say is the closest to the real thing?</p>
<p>Euuhhh...I guess Princeton Review, but I usually try to avoid fake tests whenever possible. In addition to the real tests I listed, I have SAT students do real PSATs (if their scores are below 680 or so) or even real GREs and LSATs (if their scores are in the 700s). </p>
<p>One another thing about PR: while the tests are worthwhile practice (in that the questions are not usually arbitrary), the scoring is unreliable. So if you use PR, don't worry much about your scores; just try to work through the questions and learn as much as you can.</p>
<p>Flaky as the SAT and GRE can be, they are at least subject to the Fairness in Testing Act. Fake tests can definitely help raise scores, but they should be a last resort.</p>
<p>"They DO focus major on verb tense agreement and "asks" does not agree witih planning and keeping."</p>
<p>"the guest ... asks" is correct.</p>