Extra Verb

Why two? One is enough!







What right has the newly elected Mentri Besar or Chief Minister have to dispense such generosity at the expense of the tax/rate payers?

The sentence/question is taken from a letter in VIEWS of SUNDAY STAR of March 23 under the caption of No authorisation for fines-waiver policy.

If you are asked verbally the above question, you may not find anything wrong with it; but if you examine it again carefully, you will find that the sentence/question is not grammatically correct.

The long subject, "the newly elected Mentri Besar or Chief Minister" (which may obscure your detection of the mistake), is a singular subject which requires a singular verb "has". The other verb "have" is, therefore, redundant.