Grammar in Context
You are editing a paragraph written by a non-native English speaker. The paragraph is: 'The company have decided to expand their operations. They is planning to open new offices in three countries. Each of the offices will requires additional staff. The manager, along with the team, are responsible for hiring.'
1. Identify and correct the grammatical errors in the paragraph.
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Errors: 1) 'The company have' should be 'The company has' (collective noun takes singular verb in American English). 2) 'They is planning' should be 'They are planning' (plural pronoun). 3) 'will requires' should be 'will require' (modal + base verb). 4) 'The manager, along with the team, are' should be 'is' (subject is manager, singular; phrase 'along with' does not change number). Corrected paragraph: 'The company has decided to expand its operations. They are planning to open new offices in three countries. Each of the offices will require additional staff. The manager, along with the team, is responsible for hiring.'
2. Explain the reasoning for each correction.
Read the worked answer
- 'Company' is a singular collective noun, so it takes 'has'. 2) 'They' refers to the company but is plural pronoun, so 'are'. 3) After modal 'will', use base form 'require'. 4) The subject is 'manager' (singular), and 'along with the team' is a parenthetical phrase, so verb is 'is'.