Verb tense help please.?

"There (was/were) a peanuts cartoon and a few mother goose ryhmes pinned to the bulletin board."

Could anybody tell me how to correct the sentence above and explain why you corrected it.

thank you so much.

oh could anybody tell me also what is verb tense consistency and some example.

Verb tense help please.?

verb-subject agreement

the verb form (whether singular or plural) should follow the subject. in your example: there WAS a Peanuts cartoon and a few Mother Goose rhymes pinned to the bulletin board.

subject is cartoon - singular so use the singular verb form - was

this sentence actually has 2 subjects; the other is "mother goose rhymes"....in cases like this, the verb form follows the subject closest to it - cartoon

grammatically, it is better to say -

There was a Peanuts cartoon and a few Mother Goose rhymes pinned to the bulletin board.

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nena is VERY sure of her answer...here's the rule

When the parts of a compound subject are joined by

"or, but, either ... or, neither ... nor, not only ... but also"

the verb must agree with the subject nearest to the verb.

Examples:

Neither the Oregon players nor the coach was overconfident.

Neither the Oregon coach nor the players were intimidated by Arizona.

very easy to follow - when in doubt

http://www.grammarbook.com/grammar/subje...

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last correction: 2nd subject of your sentence is "few" - which is singular so the verb form "was" is really correct. now, nena can sleep soundly

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back again: I will just email it to you.

Verb tense help please.?

thanks for the 2 BAs (incl. the one in the homework section)...if you need more assistance, please just e-mail me...nena will always try to help you Report It

Verb tense help please.?

I would put

There WAS a peanut carton because there is only one peanut carton and the verb is pertaining to that

but i cant guarantee anything its just a guess

Verb tense help please.?

WAS.

Reference is to a cartoon (singular). What tends to confuse is "peanuts" which is, per se, plural. But "peanuts" in this case refers to the cartoon series called "Peanuts" (which, if memory serves me right, was created by Schulz).

Verb tense help please.?

Ahm I believe the sentence would be better if written this way:

There were a few Mother Goose rhymes and a Peanuts cartoon pinned to the bulletin board.

Why?

Because this sentence obviously points out to two things. It has two subjects-- the Peanuts cartoons and the Mother Goose rhymes. We cannot say these two are of the same theme though.

Nena's rule if read carefully pertains to the rule about OR and NOR but does not cover the rule for AND which is a separate one.

If two subjects that cannot be taken as one are joined by and, then the verb should be plural as it pertains to a plural subject.

i.e.

The CPU and the monitor were both taken to the technician for repairs.

A singular verb would then just be used if the subjects joined by and can be taken as one.

i.e.

Bacon and eggs is my favorite breakfast.

(Note: In here, bacon and eggs are taken as one-- being a food for breakfast.)

There was confusion in your sentence as to how it was constructed. People get confused with the subject Peanuts cartoons. Because it is singular, people tend to put a singular verb as well. But take note of the two subjects.

I hope this helps.

Verb tense help please.?

hello there...i read every single answer to every link you posted and here is the correct way of saying it and i'll show you how i ended up with it:

first, remove the proper nouns so you don't confuse yourself. (Peanuts and Mother Goose)...you would have:

There (was/were) a cartoon and a few rhymes pinned to the bulletin board.

if you choose "was"...... There was a cartoon and a few rhymes pinned to the bulletin board......technically, that is incorrect because you have two subjects in the sentence: "cartoon and rhymes" which would be plural.

if you choose "were".....There were a cartoon and a few rhymes pinned to the bulletin board.....that is awkward because of the use of "a" before the word "cartoon".

it can get confusing but remember this: you should ALWAYS be able to flip the subjects in your sentence and still use the same verb tense to know it is correct.

the proper way to write this sentence is:

There were "cartoon and rhymes" pinned to the bulletin board.

"There were Peanuts cartoon and a few Mother Goose rhymes pinned to the bulletin board." or "There were a few Mother Goose rhymes and Peanuts cartoon pinned to the bulletin board".

Verb tense help please.?

The correct word is "were". According to the "Harbrace College Handbook":

"Two or more antecedents joined by 'and' are referred to by a plural pronoun; two or more singular antecedents joined by 'or' or 'nor' are referred to by a singular pronoun."

That means you would say - Solde and Joe WERE walking down the street.

The same way you would say after simplification - There were cartoon and rhymes (or rhymes and cartoon), or you could say 'cartoon and rhymes were'.

Verb tense help please.?

Your answer should be:

"There were a Peanuts cartoon and a few Mother Goose rhymes pinned to the bulletin board."

Your sentence refers to plural subjects: the Peanuts cartoon and a few Mother Goose rhymes.

I also took the liberty of correcting "peanuts" to "Peanuts" (proper name of a cartoon strip) and "mother goose" to "Mother Goose" (proper name of a character). I also corrected your spelling of "ryhmes" to "rhymes" in case you are also expected to correct spellings.

The rule on VERB TENSE CONSISTENCY is this: if you are writing in the present tense, do not shift to the past tense, or vice-versa unless it is absolutely necessarily.

For instance, don't write: "Suddenly I FEEL (present) in need of a little reassurance. I TURNED (past) around and quickly SCAN (present) the rows of guests, looking for Luke's face."

But write: ""Suddenly I FEEL (present) in need of a little reassurance. I TURN (present) around and quickly SCAN (present) the rows of guests, looking for Luke's face."

Verb tense help please.?

I can't help but notice, that you accuse some other player in one of your answers of steeling your question, are you really this dumb?