Grammar – 26 Verb, won’t you agree? Quiz

I sometimes wonder why I point them out. But it’s good to know the rules before you trample them underfoot. You need to know your enemy, right?
Some time ago, I did a workshop for teachers in a prominent school in Chennai. We took up Subject-Verb agreement and I wrote this sentence on the board.
The Gulmohar is one of the trees that _____ all over India. What will you fill the blank with? Grow or grows? I asked.
That’s when I discovered there was disagreement between the teachers and me. They all (except their French teacher) said “grows” and I said “grow”.
“It is ‘one of the trees’, so it should take the singular verb (grows),” they said.
“Sorry”, I said and went on to explain.
There are two parts to this sentence. The Gulmohar is one of the trees / that _____ all over India. The word “that” is a pronoun and connects the two parts. Now, “that” (pronoun) stands for which noun? The nearest of course. Which is “trees”. If “that” stands for the noun”trees”, it is plural. Therefore the second part of the sentence should take the plural verb “grow”. The Gulmohar is one of the trees that _grow_ all over India. It is the same as “Richard is a boy, he goes to school.”
That is the technical explanation.
Now look at the meaning of the sentence. It says there are many trees that grow all over India. The Gulmohar is one of them. Here is how you check if your choice is right or not when you have a similar sentence – with “one of the” and a plural followed by a “that” or another pronoun.
Recast the sentence. Start it with “Of”.
Of the trees that grow all over India, the Gulmohar is one. Right?

In spite of the French teacher (?) siding with me, I didn’t cut any ice with the class. In true Indian style, they “staged a walk-out” shouting they didn’t want me to darken their doors again. Fine.
Now apply that rule and correct these sentences. I found them in newspapers. As usual.
[1] Apax was one of the private equity firms that sold its ownership to Pune-based Suzlon Energy.
[2] It is one of the few government-run schools that has consistently produced good results.
[3] The speaker is one of the senators from Minnesota who was elected last year.
Clue: (a) The relative pronouns (who, whom, which, and that) are either singular or plural, depending on the words they refer to.
(b) Begin with “Of”. You can’t go wrong.

Bollywoood is everywhere!

I remember the time when the bump and grind of Bollywoood movies was the preferred masala for a lot of wisecracks for movie pundits all over the world. Those movie mavens may not approve of the “escapism” still, but they can no longer affford to ignore its popularity, if they want a large, educated, paper-reading public in the west to pay attention to them. Thanks to the homesick desis, movie houses screening Bollywood potboilers set the cash registers ringing, and the sound and colour of money is as hard to resist as the Bollywood song-and-dance routines. Now local papers in the west carry reviews of Bollywood films. Not that any adverse comment can keep the diaspora away from the multiplexes with Hindi movie posters; talking about them is a must.
This week, Shah Rukh Khan was anointed successor of the Big B when he occupied the host’s chair in the Kaun Banega Crorepati (the Indian, but a far more colourful, drama-filled version of Who Wants to be a Milionaire) programme and it’s one event Comedy Central could ill-afford to by-pass. Read on and watch the report.

About the host: What The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is to evening news, The Colbert Report is to personality-driven pundit shows. Colbert brings his sarcastic charm to a half-hour report, tackling the important issues of the day and telling his guests why their opinions are just plain wrong.
It’s fun and don’t miss the crack about Preity Zinta!
Clip from Colbert Report…times have changed..
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5itvvHGrmw