| 词组 | agreement, subject-verb: the principle of proximity |
| 释义 | agreement, subject-verb: the principle of proximity Quirk et al. 1985 describes the principle of proximity (also called attraction and blind agreement) as the tendency of a verb to agree with a closely preceding noun or noun phrase rather than with the subject. Quirk further observes: • Conflict between grammatical concord and attraction through proximity tends to increase with the distance between the noun phrase head of the subject and the verb, for example when the postmodifier is lengthy or when an adverbial or a parenthesis intervenes between the subject and the verb. Proximity concord occurs mainly in unplanned discourse. In writing it will be corrected to grammatical concord if it is noticed. A couple of instances collected from the 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings in Pyles 1979 will serve as examples: • The filing of the false, fraudulent charges are a complete contradiction —Joseph McCarthy • ... as far as coddling Communists are concerned — Roy Cohn And more recently: • The reaction that I have taken to these steps are appropriate —Jimmy Carter, quoted in N. Y. Times, 14 Feb. 1980 Our evidence for proximity agreement suggests that Quirk's observations are correct; we find it operating mostly in unplanned discourse, such as speech or personal letters. Instances do, however, sneak past the eyes of copy editors and proofreaders and reach print. Bernstein 1962 and Simon 1980 cite a few examples. We have even found a few in the works of those who write on usage: • ... the word regards have no Nominative —Baker 1770 • His system of citing examples of the best authorities, of indicating etymology, and pronunciation, are still followed by lexicographers —Howard 1984 It should be noted that proximity does not always influence a singular verb to be plural; sometimes the proximate noun is singular and the subject plural: • And the words that close the last story in the book has the music of a requiem —Padraic Colum, Introduction to James Joyce, Dubliners (Modern Library edition), 1926 • You, the educated consumer, is our best customer — advt., cited in Bernstein 1977 Proximity agreement may pass in speech and other forms of unplanned discourse; in print it will be considered an error. And it is one that is probably easier to fall into than you might expect—let the examples above be a warning. |
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