Five Real Errors and Three Style Choices
A Grade 12 class is peer-editing a 120-word paragraph for the school magazine about a Clean-Up Drive. The teacher has flagged eight items but tells the class that only five are genuine errors; three are acceptable variants that depend on meaning or register. The flagged items are: (1) 'Each of the forty-two volunteers have been given a badge.' (2) 'The team, along with its teacher, were photographed.' (3) 'None of the collected bottles was sent to the landfill.' (4) 'The principal said that the drive had exceeded our target.' (5) 'A honest mistake was made by the organisers.' (6) 'If the rain would have stopped, we would have finished.' (7) 'The number of participants were higher than last year.' (8) 'We request all students to bring their own gloves.' Mina is asked to correct the paragraph but is unsure whether item (3) is wrong, because her friend says 'none' is always singular.
1. Identify which two flagged items are most clearly acceptable variants rather than errors, and explain the reasoning. Then name two items that are genuine errors and state the correction.
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Acceptable variants
- (3) 'None of the collected bottles was sent…' This is acceptable formal usage. 'None' can take a singular verb when it means 'not one.' It can also take a plural verb when it means 'not any.' Both are defensible; the singular is not an error.
- (8) 'We request all students to bring their own gloves.' This is common and understandable in South Asian English, though many formal editors prefer 'We ask all students to bring…' or 'We request that all students bring….' It is a register/style choice, not a grammatical breakdown.
Genuine errors
- (1) 'Each … have' should be 'Each … has.' 'Each' is singular.
- (5) 'A honest' should be 'An honest' because 'honest' begins with a vowel sound.
Other clear errors include (6), which should be 'If the rain had stopped,' and (7), which should be 'The number … was higher.' Item (4) is correct reported speech with backshift. Item (2) is best corrected to 'was photographed' because the team is treated as a unit, though a plural verb is possible if the members are emphasised individually.
2. For item (4), explain why the past perfect 'had exceeded' is appropriate. Then explain what would change if the principal's statement is still true today and the writer wants to show that.
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Why backshift is appropriate
Direct speech would be: The principal said, 'The drive has exceeded our target.' When the reporting verb is past ('said'), standard reported speech often shifts the present perfect back to the past perfect: 'had exceeded.' This makes it clear that the exceeding happened before or by the time of the principal's statement. In a magazine report written after the event, that sequence is natural.
If the statement is still true now
Backshift is not an absolute law. If the target is still exceeded at the time of writing and the writer wants to emphasise present relevance, the present perfect can be kept: 'The principal said that the drive has exceeded our target.' This is defensible when the reported fact remains true and the report is current.
Judgement rule
- Use 'had exceeded' when the report treats the statement as a past event in a completed sequence.
- Use 'has exceeded' when the writer wants to stress that the result still stands.
The choice depends on time frame and emphasis, not on a mechanical rule.
3. Mina's friend says 'none' is always singular. Evaluate that claim and advise Mina on how to choose between 'was' and 'were' in item (3).
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Evaluate the claim
The claim is too strong. 'None' is often singular in formal writing-'None of the bottles was sent'-especially when it means 'not one.' But plural agreement is also widely accepted, particularly when 'none' refers to a group: 'None of the bottles were sent.' Many usage authorities treat both as acceptable. The friend's rule is a preference, not an absolute rule.
How Mina should choose
- Meaning: If she means 'not a single bottle,' the singular 'was' is precise. If she means 'no bottles at all were sent,' the plural 'were' is natural.
- Register: In a formal magazine paragraph, the singular may sound more careful, but the plural is not wrong.
- Consistency: She should not mix singular and plural treatments of 'none' in the same paragraph without reason.
Advice
Keep 'was' in item (3) if the sentence means 'not one bottle.' Do not mark it as an error. Spend the correction time on items (1), (5), (6), and (7), which are clear errors.