Subject-verb disagreements in newspaper

Writings conforming to grammatical rules can easily be understood globally.






Survival hopes for missing 100 fades.

The above is a newspaper headline having a subject-verb disagreement.

'Survival' in the sentence is an adjective qualifying the noun 'hopes' which is plural in form while 'for missing 100' is an enlargement of the same plural noun 'hopes'. Taking away these adjective and enlargement will leave the sentence as "Hopes fades". It will then be easily seen as an error in subject-verb agreement.

The headline should have been "Survival hopes for missing 100 fade."

A similar case has also been shown by the same newspaper on the same day - Noble values, including abhorrence to corruption, has been incorporated into the school curriculum to create awareness among students. Here the subject is 'values' and not 'corruption'. As such, 'has been incorporated' should have been 'have been incorporated'.

The sentence below is the third sentence picked from the same newspaper on the same day.

Starring in a movie about poverty-stricken slums has propelled one Indian to the highest and hottest levels of global celebrity.

This third one is seemingly the same case as the first two but is not. The subject of this sentence is 'starring' which is a singular noun and correctly matched by the singular verb 'has propelled' (in the present perfect tense) that follows.

Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.
-- Charles W. Eliot