Abstract
<h3>To the Editor.</h3> —The only thing more insufferable than a pedant is an incorrect pedant. In his attempt to correct Robert A. Day's review of Dr King's book on expository writing,<sup>1</sup>Dr Goldblatt makes the error of considering the prepositional phrase as the subject in the following sentence: "<i>Very</i>is one of the words that contributes to flabby writing."<sup>2</sup>He erroneously concludes that the antecedent of "that" is "words," thereby requiring the plural verb "contribute." However, the subject of the sentence determines the form of the verb, and in this case the subject is the word "very," not "words," which is the object of the prepositional phrase describing "one." When I learned grammar in high school, we were taught that one could eliminate or ignore a prepositional phrase without changing the meaning of a sentence in order to reveal its basic structure. Thus, the sentence becomes: "Very is
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
