Proximity Principle

In my earlier posting of September 7, 2009 (Diction), I touched upon proximity principle (or verb agreement must be with the closest noun).

Now, let us look at the following sentence taken from the same newspaper:-

In Malaysia, 73% agree that experiencing orgasms impact on overall sexual wellbeing.

'Impact' above is used as a verb. Apparently, the writer has applied the proximity principle and based on 'orgasms' as the noun (which is a plural one) to use the plural verb 'impact'; but this is not the case as the actual noun is 'experiencing' which is a gerund (or verbal noun) singular in nature.

Hence, the sentence should be 'In Malaysia, 73% agree that experiencing orgasms impacts on overall sexual wellbeing.'