Sample 1: “From north to west and all across the country charcoal production and selling is the order of the day. Many logs are felled in droves for the production of charcoal in commercial quantity but none is planted in replacement. SinaFadare who visited some of the villages report that danger is looming as forests are becoming empty and vegetation are getting thinner…Today, he searches all the nooks and crannies of the villages in his surrounding and even goes as far as Niger State to produce charcoal. In Kwara, Niger, Oyo and Benue states some of the trees used for charcoal production includesAayan tree…and iroko tree. It was also gathered that there are other species of trees used for this purpose in the country…These include prosobis Africana…which are popular and most frequently used among the inhabitants as fuel woods…Karim regretted that both the producers and exporters of charcoal paid about four different levies to the state, the local government and the forest guides, which they claimed was revenue to the government before charcoal could be transported from any of the villages.”(Nigeria Forests…Going, Going and Going, The Nation, Sunday, December 3, 2017)
Please note the verb includes, especially its final s, which occurs in the following context: “the trees used for charcoal production includes…” Is it grammatically appropriate to have the verbinclude in a form that contains a final s as we do in the context under consideration?
Please read the following sentences: 1a) The box contains firearms. 1b) Theboxes contain firearms. 2a) Thepayment includes your honorarium. 2b) Thepayments include your honorarium. 3a) The sack contains big lumps of sugar. 3b) Thesacks contain big lumps of sugar. 4a) Theassignment involvesspending a lot of time and money. 4b) Theassignments involve spending a lot of time and money. 5a) Thecommittee comprises five men and two women. 5a) Thecommittees comprise ten men and five women. 6a) Theroad induces speed. 6b) Theroads induce speed. 7a) Love inspires friendship. 7b) Love and faith inspire friendship. 8a) Absolute power corrupts absolutely. 8b) Absolute power and paranoia corrupt more than absolutely. 9a) Thecar carries five passengers. 9b) Thetwo cars together carry ten passengers. 10a)Thecar belongs to us. 10b) Thecars belong to us.
It should be clear from those sentences that a singular subject/noun characteristically attracts a verb that carries s: contains, includes, belongs, comprises, inspires, induces, etc; a plural subject/noun attracts the verb in its basic, uninflected form: involve, include, belong, comprise, corrupt, etc.
This provides a precious opportunity for us to revise our lesson on the principles of grammatical agreement. We have rehashed it several times in this place before now, but we find consolation in the fact that reiteration is an invaluable principle of teaching.
Consider the following sentences: 1) I go to school every day. 2) We go to school every day. 3) They go to school every day. 4) You go to school every day. 5) He/Shegoes to school every day.
In each of those five sentences, the verb to go is in its present simple form. There is a correlation between the form of the subject and the form of the verb. In the first sentence, the subject is in its first person singular form. The assumption here is that there is a speaker who uses the pronoun I. The speaker is regarded as the first person. Since the speaker is only one person, the pronoun I is said to be a singular one. A first person singular pronoun I takes the form go when the tense is present simple.
The subject in sentence (2) is a first person plural pronoun, we. Since it is assumed that two or more persons are speaking, we say that the pronoun is in the plural form. As it is with the pronoun I, the verb-form that goes with this pronoun is go when the verb is in its everyday form.
In sentence (3), the pronoun they, which is the subject, is in the plural form. Besides, it is the third person form. What do we mean by the third person? A first person—say I—speaks to a person directly about another person. That other person is a third person. In our case, the third person is plural—they. The verb-form that goes with the third person plural subject isgo.
The subject of sentence (4) is you, a word that can either be singular or plural. In English, it is only the context that shows whether the pronoun you is intended as singular or plural as the following sentences illustrate: (6)(a) You are a fool. (6)(b) You are fools. In those two sentences, it is the complement that indicates the number. In (a), youis singular; in (b), it is plural.
Now we come back to sentence (4). Whenever the pronoun you occurs, whether as singular or plural, the verb-form it takes is go. Youis a second person. A first person–I—speaks to a second person—you—about a third person.
Sentence (5) hashe (or she) as its subject. This form is a singular one and it is a third person. A first person—I—speaks to a second person—you—about a third person—he. The third person singular number– represented as he—invariably takes the verb-form goes. Of all the persons and numbers we have considered so far, it is only the third person singular number—he—that takes the verb-form that ends in s or es as the case may be. All other persons and numbers take the verb go—without the s or es. This distinction is very crucial and a failure to understand it has resulted in many users writing ungrammatical sentences. The distinction is a very clear one and you should make effort to grasp this elementary detail before you go on.
The other point we need to make is that the verb go has been used only as an illustration to avoid confusion. Any other verb in English behaves in exactly the same way as go, relative to the persons and numbers discussed so far.
The following sentences illustrate the point: 7) Hespeaks good English. 8) He writes a lot. 9) Sheloves the man. 10) He deceives most people. 11) It wags its tail. 12) He drives dangerously. 13) She possesses a balanced mind. 14) She sings beautifully. 15) She works round the clock. 16) It surprises me—this sudden change of mind. 17) Hecomes from a wealthy family.
Unlike the third person singular number (he, she, it), all other persons and numbers take the form of the verb without the s or es: 18) They speak good English. 19) We love each other. 20) Youwrite a lot. 21) I work round the clock. 22) They possess balanced minds. 23) You drive dangerously. 24) We sing beautifully. 25) Theysurprise us. 26) You come from a wealthy family. 27) They deceive their friends. 28) They wag their tails.
Before we make the next point about the subjects of these constructions and their relationship to their verbs, we want to introduce another verb-form, have. For the purpose of our discussion, we recognize three forms of the verb have. These are: have, has, and had. For the moment, we are interested in the distinction between have and has: 29) I have some books. 30) We have some books. 31) They have some books. 32) You have some books. 33) He has some books.
From sentences (29)-(33), we can see that all the persons and numbers except the third person singular number (he) take have. The third person singular takes has. It is now obvious that the form goes and similar forms such as: speaks, reads, writes, etcare related in concord to the third person singular subjects. Notice that in sentences (29)-(33), the verb-forms have and has have been used as main verbs and not as auxiliaries. When they are used as auxiliaries in perfect tenses, they behave in exactly the same way in relation to the persons and numbers of the subjects.
Consider the following sentences: 34) I have bought some books. 35) We have bought some books. 36) They have bought some books. 37) Youhave bought some books. 38) He has bought some books.
Again, notice that has is used only in sentence (38) in which the subject is a third person singular pronoun.
At any rate the sentence should read: “the trees used for charcoal production include…
and then