Grammar: agreement, inversion and proximity under exam conditions
In the grammar section of a Basque PAU English paper, candidates must rewrite three sentences so that they mean the same, with a maximum of five words changed. The mark scheme awards 1 point for a fully correct rewrite and 0.5 for a version that preserves meaning but contains a grammatical error; 0 for a change of meaning. A candidate submits: (1) 'The number of cyclists have risen sharply.' for 'The number of cyclists has risen sharply.' (2) 'Hardly I had entered the room when the meeting began.' for 'I had hardly entered the room when the meeting began.' (3) 'Neither the teacher nor the students was informed.' for 'Neither the teacher nor the students were informed.' The candidate argues that (1) is plural because 'cyclists' is plural, that (2) is correct because 'hardly' is at the front, and that (3) can be singular because 'neither' is singular. The examiner has to apply the scheme consistently.
1. Score each item under the stated scheme and justify each score with the relevant grammatical rule.
Read the worked answer
(1) 0.5: meaning is preserved, but the verb agrees with the wrong head. The subject is 'The number of cyclists', whose head is singular 'number'; 'of cyclists' is a prepositional phrase, not the subject. Correct: 'has risen'. (2) 0.5: meaning is preserved, but the structure is ungrammatical. Fronting the negative adverb 'hardly' triggers subject-auxiliary inversion: 'Hardly had I entered ...'. The candidate has fronted 'hardly' but kept declarative order. (3) 0.5: meaning is preserved, but the verb does not agree with the nearer subject. With 'neither ... nor', standard exam usage takes the verb form of the nearer noun phrase; 'students' is plural, so 'were' is required. All three earn half credit only because each contains a clear grammatical error while keeping the original meaning.
2. What single proofreading question would catch all three errors?
Read the worked answer
Ask: What is the grammatical subject or trigger, and what form must the verb or auxiliary take? In (1), the subject head is 'number', not 'cyclists'. In (2), the trigger is the fronted negative adverb 'hardly', which requires inversion, so the auxiliary must precede the subject. In (3), the trigger is the correlative 'neither ... nor', which makes the nearer noun phrase control agreement. The question forces the candidate to strip away distracting plural nouns and to check structure rather than surface word order.
3. The candidate says 'Hardly I had...' is correct because 'hardly' is first. Explain the missing step.
Read the worked answer
The missing step is that fronting a negative or restrictive adverb does not merely move the adverb; it changes the clause structure. English requires subject-auxiliary inversion after fronted 'hardly', 'never', 'rarely', 'no sooner' and similar items. The correct sequence is auxiliary + subject + main verb: 'Hardly had I entered ...'. The candidate has identified the trigger but not the grammatical consequence. A quick check is to form the question version: if the auxiliary would come before the subject in a question, it must also come before the subject after the negative fronting.