2007英语六级考试综合改错题训练(七)

五、主谓语前后不一致     主谓语前后不一致错误是CET6综合改错题内容之一，主要表现为主语名词与谓语动词间隔较长，首尾不能相接，造成视觉上的混淆或者谓语动词和主语在人称以及数上不能保持一致性。

    主谓语前后不一致错误的主要类型有三种：一是句子的主语往往被一个或者几个复杂的修饰成分隔得很远；二是定语从句中的谓语动词和前面的先行词未在数上保持一致；三是按照语法规定，有些代词或表达时所跟的谓语动词必须使用单数或者复数形式，而这些错误恰恰就是违反了这些规则，譬如，either和neither作主语时，谓语必须用单数，many a + 可数名词时，其谓语也应该用单数形式，另外还有些情况如有时某些名词可以不用复数，但是在特定的句子中由于前面有明确的量词修饰，例如many，several，a number of，a variety of等等，就要变成复数形式.

例 1

The president of the company, together with the

workers, are planning a conference for the purpose                         1.__________

of solving financial problems.

 

在此句中，主语的主词实际上为单数名词“ president ”，介词短语“ together with the workers ”与主语无关，是插入成分，故谓语动词应用单词 is ，从而与前文保持一致。

 

例 2

There are many stories about this temple, but

behind it lies two myths.                                                               1.__________

 

该句后半部分实际上是一个倒装句，正常顺序为“ two myths lie behind it ”，谓语动词的形式应该与 myths 看齐，而非与介宾短语 it 一致，故应该把 lies 改为 lie 。

 

例 3

…perhaps; one in every seven deaths in Europe’s

crowded cities were caused by the disease.                                     1.__________

 

该句的主语实际上为 one ，而非 crowed cities ，也不是 every seven deaths ，后面均为其修饰成分，故谓语动词应该改为 was 。此句的难点在于介词短语又多又长，容易干扰答题者的语法观念。

 

例 4

The class is listening to the teacher, taking notes.                           1.__________

 

该句中主语为“ the class ”， class 本身为单数，但是此时表示“构成班集体的全体学生成员”，实际上为复数，所以谓语动词应该使用复数形式与之对应，故应该将 is 改为 are ，类似的单词还有 audience ， family ， crew ， government ， pubic ， team 等。

 

练习题

1 Understanding the cultural habits of another nation,

especially one containing so many diversified subcultures

as the UnitedState, are a complex, bewildering task.                       1.__________

 

2 The ideals and practices of child rearing vary from

culture to culture. In general, the more rural the

community, the more uniform is the customs of child                       2.__________

upbringing.

 

3 Early upbringing in the home is naturally affected

both by the cultural pattern of the community and by

the parent’s capabilities and their aims and depend not                    3.__________

only on upbringing and education but also on the

innate abilities of the child.

 

4 Among the animals that wandered through the

world of long ago are some which has now entirely                          4.__________

died out; but sometimes the bones of an ancient

animal that are dug out in the earth excite the

enquiring scientists.

 

5 “ Generation gap ” used to be a fashionable topic

among people. This so-called gap was actually

nothing but a difference in the attitudes of the old

and young. Old people complained that the young

was so ignorant of the past and had gone too far                           5.__________

from the traditions, while young people protested

that they never had to follow the path their parents

once took.

 

6 The latter was no less justified in their                                        6.__________

protests than the former in their complaints.

 

7 The math exam we have just had is far more

difficult than the one we had last month. Only the

first few questions are easy, the rest is very difficult.                       7.__________

 

8 The small college, therefore, generally provides

a limited number of courses and specializations but

offer a better student-faculty ratio, thus permitting                         8.__________

individualized attention to students.

 

9 Fifty yuan a week for rent are not too expensive,                         9.__________

however, I still can not afford it.

 

10 Three-fourths of the earth surface are covered by                     10.__________

water.

 

答案解析：

1.本题中应该将are改为is。该句虽然较长，看似复杂，其实主语为动名词语“Understanding the cultural habits of another nation”，后面为其修饰成分，所以谓语必须使用单数形式。这是典型的主谓不一致错误，其实根据后面“a complex, bewildering task”也可判断出谓语动词为单数。

2.本题中应该将is改为are。该句中主语成分为“the customs of child upbringing”，为倒装句，表语前置，正常语序为“the more uniform the customs of child of upbringing are”，故谓语动词应该使用复数形式。

3.本题中应该将depend改为depends。该句中主语成分为前文中的“Early upbringing”，“depends”和前面的“is”为并列结构，故应该使用单数形式。

4.本题中应该将has改为have。该句中定语从句引导词which指代some，即some animals，故该处从句中谓语动词应该使用复数形式。

5.本题中应该将was改为were。形容词前面加上定冠词the指某一类事物或者人，一般被看成复数概念。句中“the young”指“年轻人”这个群体，故谓语动词应该使用复数形式。类似词组如：the disable(残疾人)，the educated(受过教育的人)，the homeless（无家可归的人）等。

6.本题中应该将was改为were。此句中根据后面物主代词their可知“the latter”指代前文中的复数名词，故此处谓语动词应该使用复数形式。

7.本题中应该将is改为are。根据前文中“the first few question”可知，“the rest”实际上是“the rest questions”的省略，故谓语动词应该使用复数形式。

8.本题中应该将offer改为offers。该句中，主语成分为“the small college”，offer和provide为并列短语，由连词but连接在一起，故应该使用单数形式。

9.本题中应该将are改为is。该句中“Fifty yuan”作为整体使用时，作为单数，故谓语动词应该为单数形式。

10.本题中应该将are改为is。该句中“three-fourths”后面所接名词为不可数名词，所以该谓语动词应该为单数形式。