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你知道什么是 “主谓一致（subject-verb agreement）” 吗？主语 “you and me（你和我）” 应该搭配 “am”、“is” 和 “are” 中的哪个动词呢？本期 “你问我答” 节目举例讲解主谓一致在实际使用中的常见规则。

文字稿

（关于台词的备注: 请注意这不是广播节目的逐字稿件。本文稿可能没有体现录制、编辑过程中对节目做出的改变。）

Beth
Hello and welcome to Question and Answer of the Week, with me, Beth.

Buli
And me, Buli. 本期的 “你问我答” 节目中，我们要回答下面这个问题：

Question
Hi, can you explain some common rules for subject-verb agreement by providing some examples? Thank you!

Buli
这位听众想知道英语语法中的 “subject-verb agreement（主谓一致）” 有哪些常见规则。

Beth
Subject-verb agreement in English means the number of the subject needs to match the verb. Some examples of singular verb forms are 'is', 'has' and 'goes', and some examples of plural verb forms are 'are', 'have' and 'go'.

Buli
简单来说，主谓一致指的是 “句子的主语和谓语需要在单复数的形式上保持一致”。但在实际使用中，我们有时候并不容易区分某些名词作主语时的单复数形式。本期节目中我们就来讲解当遇到 “abstract nouns（抽象名词）” 等特殊名词，以及其他常见特殊情况时应该如何实现主谓一致。首先，当主语是名词的单数形式时，谓语动词需要使用第三人称单数。而当主语是名词的复数形式时，谓语动词需要使用复数形式。

Beth
If a subject is singular, just one, like 'she', or 'cat', the verb must be singular too. So, we say 'she is' not 'she are', or 'the cat has' not 'the cat have'. But it can be more complicated than this, so we're going to hear a short extract about maths, and then we'll use it to look at subject-verb agreement.

Buli
接下来我们将听到一段和数学相关的例句，来帮助我们理解主谓一致现象中较为复杂的情况。请注意例句中动词 “be” 的不同形式。

Example
Maths is one of my favourite subjects at school, and I actually take part in maths competitions. Friendship is a big part of my school team, as well as competition. In fact, one of my best friends is the maths champion for my city. A judge and my teacher were talking and said she's good enough to compete for the country, so my parents and I are hoping to go and watch her compete next year.
（数学是我在学校里最喜欢的科目，而且我还会参加数学竞赛。友谊和竞技都是我的校队的重要元素。其实，我一个最要好的朋友还是我们市里的数学比赛冠军。比赛的评委和我的老师在交流时说她足以代表国家参赛了，所以我和我的父母希望明年能去看她比赛。）

Buli
上面的例句中出现了多种不同的名词种类，我们来依次看看它们是如何判断单复数以及实现主谓一致的。首先，我们可以注意到，以 “s” 结尾的单词有时并不是复数，比如例句中的 “maths（数学）”。类似的单词还有 “crisis（危机）” 和 “athletics（田径运动）” 等等。

Example
Maths is one of my favourite subjects at school.
（数学是我在学校里最喜欢的科目。）

Beth
So, the verb is in the singular form 'is', because 'maths' is a singular noun that just happens to end in 's' in British English. Though, we should say that in American English, this subject is called 'math' without the 's'. But it still takes the singular form 'is' – 'Math is great!' 

Buli
接下来我们来看看 “abstract nouns（抽象名词）”。抽象名词是描述抽象概念的名词。比如 “friendship（友情）”、“happiness（快乐）” 和 “justice（正义）” 等等。让我们回顾一下例句。

Example
Friendship is a big part of my school team, as well as competition.
（友谊和竞技都是我的校队的重要元素。）

Beth
Abstract nouns are uncountable in English, so we use singular verbs. Here we had 'friendship is'. Of course, other verbs also take singular forms, so we could say 'friendship has' or 'friendship needs'.

Buli
是的。抽象名词都是不可数名词，所以在作主语时需要搭配动词的第三人称单数形式。除此之外，主语中包含 “one of” 的句子在搭配动词时也容易混淆单复数。让我们复习一下例句。

Example
One of my best friends is the maths champion for my city.
（我一个最要好的朋友是我们市里的冠军。）

Beth
That verb is singular. When we say 'one of' followed by a plural, like 'best friends', the verb is in the singular form. You can remember this by remembering that 'one' is singular.

Buli
在这个句子中，“be动词” 使用了单数形式 “is”。这是因为虽然主语中 “one of my best friends” 包含了复数名词 “friends”，但因为主语是以限定词 “one of（其中一个）” 引导的，所以主语依然是单数。我们在判断主谓一致时，需要注意限定词的使用。来听两个例句。

Examples
Only one of the team members is male – the rest are female.
（只有一名队员是男性，剩下的都是女性。）

One of the questions was completely impossible! I definitely couldn't answer it without a calculator.
（有一道题简直太难了！没有计算器的话我绝对答不出来。）

Buli
除了 “one of” 引导的主语，许多和 “one（一个）” 有关的代词都是单数，比如 “anyone（任何人）”、“everyone（每个人）” 和 “no-one（没有人）” 等等。这些词都需要搭配 “is”、“has” 等第三人称单数形式的谓语动词。

Beth
When two singular nouns are linked with 'and', we use the plural form of the verb. Let's listen to the previous example again.

Example
A judge and my teacher were talking and said she's good enough to compete for the country.
（比赛的评委和我的老师在交谈时说她足以代表国家参赛了。）

Buli
从上面的例句可以看出，当两个名词被 “and（和）” 连接时，它们通常共同作主语，搭配动词的复数形式。这不仅包括两个单数名词相连接，也包括单复数形式不同的名词相连接的情况。

Beth
That's right. When we have a singular noun plus a plural noun, we use the plural form of the verb again.

Example
My parents and I are hoping to go and watch her compete next year.
（我和我的父母希望明年能去看她参加国际比赛）

Buli
最后让我们来复习一下吧。主谓一致指的是 “在英语中句子的主语和谓语需要在单复数形式上保持一致”。其中，抽象名词作主语时，需要搭配谓语动词的第三人称单数形式。以 “one of” 引导的名词主语，或者 “anyone（任何人）” 和 “everyone（每个人）” 等指 “一个人” 的人称代词，也需要搭配谓语动词的第三人称单数。而以 “and（和）” 相连接的两个名词共同作主语时，不论两者的单复数形式，都需要搭配谓语动词的复数形式。

Beth
Remember, if you have a question about the English language you'd like to ask us, please send us an email. Our email address is: questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk

Buli
你也可以通过微博向我们提问。我们的微博账号是 “BBC英语教学”。Bye, everyone.

Beth
Bye!