Split infinitives

The infinitive of a verb is purely its most basic form and the one that can be found in the dictionary with no subject indicated. In English it always follows the word to e.g. to do, to play, to sing etc. A split infinitive is an infinitive in which the word to is separated from its verb by other words e.g. instead of saying I decided never to work we say I decided to never work. Traditionally spilt infinitives have been fought by linguists for centuries and considered grammatically incorrect but today most of them have agreed split infinitives are allowed in both writing and speech. Hurray! No need to go through writing some oddly shaped sentences in order to avoid the split. There was no rational basis and no justification for anyone to forbid splitting infinitives since not only in spoken language but sometimes even in written English it is so much clearer and natural to do so. Bear in mind, however, split infinitives should be avoided in formal writing unless the alternative seems too awkward. Normally we move the offending word so that it comes either before or after the infinitive.

My mum told me to quickly open the window.

My mum told me to open the window quickly.

You used to secretly message me.

You used to message me secretly.

In some cases, it is extremely odd to avoid splitting the infinitive and it’s much better to stick to the version with the split. In fact there are a few writers who have stated that in certain cases avoiding the split infinitive is impossible and that some modifiers must separate the to from the verb e.g. That was the only way to more than double his salary. 

Agreement between subject and verb

Listen up, it really is that simple! If a sentence has a singular subject it is followed by a singular verb and if it has a plural subject it is followed by a plural verb. Verb and subject must agree.

She likes animals. She like animals.

  They like animals.  They likes animals.

Sometimes the subject of the sentence is more complex but even then the following verb still must agree with the main noun within the subject. Look at the following example:

A few participants of the course have arrived early. A few participants of the course has arrived early.

The words there and here are never subjects themselves therefore with those constructions (expletive constructions), the subject always follows the verb and determines the number of the verb.

There are many kids in my neighbourhood.  There is many kids in my neighbourhood.

There is an apple on the table.  There are an apple on the table.

If a subject is a clause, we usually use a singular verb unless it’s a clause starting with ‘what’ as a subject, then we use a singular verb if the following main noun is singular and either a singular or plural verb if the main noun is plural (although plural is usually preferred, especially in formal texts). Look at the following examples:

What makes me happy is your smile. What makes me happy are your smile.

What is required are application forms. What is required is application forms.

Collective nouns (nouns with singular form but referring to groups such as team) can be used with either a singular or plural form of the verb., however, it is preferred to use singular verb (in academic writing anyway). Only sometimes a plural form of the verb is required and this will always depend on the context. Compare:

A group of kids have raised their hands.  A group of kids has raised its hand.

Coordinated noun is usually followed by a plural verb:

Jean and Tom are sitting at the table.  Jean and Tom is sitting at the table.

This is except when the two items are making up a single item:

Fish and chips is a British dish.  Fish and chips are a British dish.

When names and titles end in –s we refer to them as a single unit and use a singular verb.

Netherlands has granted US Military use of its islands in the Caribbean.  Netherlands have granted US Military use of its islands in the Caribbean.

A number of + noun is followed by a plural verb since the expression is used to indicate more than one of something whereas the number of + noun is followed by a singular verb because the expression is used to refer to the exact number that makes up a group.

A number of people have answered our emails. A number of people has answered our emails.

The number of answers we got was great.  The number of answers we got were great.