Saturday, May 08, 2004

From was to were

From was to were

CJR's language column for May/June is posted online. It's on auxiliary-verb omission when you switch from singular to plural. In English, it's why this sentence has an error: "The field was set and post positions drawn."

The field was set, and the post positions were drawn. You can't make was work for post positions.

Read the entire article. It's short and sweet.