Concord
As you are probably aware, our contemporary English content is now available through Lexico.com (https://www.lexico.com/en), and our old English dictionary site no longer exists.
As a result of this, this forum is now closed.
The English dictionary community team would like the opportunity to say a huge thanks to all of you who participated by posting questions and helping other community members.
We hope this forum was useful, and that you enjoyed being a part of it.
If you would like to get in touch with any OED-related queries, please write to
[email protected]
And if you would like to contribute suggestions to the OED, please do so by visiting: https://public.oed.com/contribute-to-the-oed/
Thank you very much indeed, and good bye!
The community team
As a result of this, this forum is now closed.
The English dictionary community team would like the opportunity to say a huge thanks to all of you who participated by posting questions and helping other community members.
We hope this forum was useful, and that you enjoyed being a part of it.
If you would like to get in touch with any OED-related queries, please write to
[email protected]
And if you would like to contribute suggestions to the OED, please do so by visiting: https://public.oed.com/contribute-to-the-oed/
Thank you very much indeed, and good bye!
The community team
Concord
"On the dark glass, in white capital letters, stand the words "MIRACLE POLISH"
All of a sudden I am in doubt whether it is "stand" or "stands". What is the subject to "stand". Hope a few grammar wizards can enlighten me.
Comments
@sbreum_bundgard51, the construction is known as INVERSION — meaning that the SUBJECT and the VERB change places.
So the SUBJECT is the words
and the VERB — with plural concord — is stand
The inversion is cause by moving the ADVERBIALS to the front of the sentence. The writer did this
Without this TOPICALISATION and INVERSION, the sentence would be
The words 'MIRACLE POLISH' stand on the dark glass, in white capital letters.
Thank you so much for your thorough explanation! I really appreciate your help!