Wrong tense and wrong word used

In June 1998, the government had hired a team of experts from all over the world to be gathered here for a research project to compliment the history studies that we undertook in our secondary school.

The above is a sentence extracted from an article circulated through email.

Note that "had hired" is in the past perfect or pluperfect tense which should not be used here as there is only one action done [vide my earlier posting on Monday, February 8, 2010 concerning The Past Perfect (Pluperfect) Tense] while "compliment" has the meaning of "to praise or congratulate" that obviously is not the intended meaning which needs to be expressed instead by the word "complement" having the meaning of "to complete".

Hence, the sentence should correctly be "In June 1998, the government hired a team of experts from all over the world to be gathered here for a research project to complement the history studies that we undertook in our secondary school."

'A couple' can take a singular or plural verb

Appearing in an online newspaper report is the sentence, "A couple who was reconciling their marriage was found dead in a hotel room."

'Couple' here is referring to two people, and like many other collective nouns, it may take either a singular or a plural verb though most commonly, it is construed as a plural.

The sentence in italics is taking it as a singular which is, however, not in harmony with the word 'reconciling' and the plural pronoun 'their'.

To be grammatically correct, the sentence needs to be recast as "A couple who were reconciling their marriage were found dead in a hotel room."

Simple sentences may cause problems

I first heard the explosion from my room at the hotel.

The above is the first sentence/paragraph in a news item of an online version of a national English daily.

The sentence is just a simple sentence, but it may not convey the meaning intended by the writer.

Owing to a misplaced modifier, the sentence is saying the writer first heard the explosion and the explosion was from the writer's room at the hotel.

After reading the whole story, any reader will know that the writer's intention should be "From my room at the hotel, I first heard the explosion."

Plural Nouns must be matched with Plural Verbs

Even if the company does not conduct any business or any transactions, its directors still have certain statutory duties to fulfil which includes filing the annual returns, and keeping proper accounts of the company.

The above sentence is taken from an article in the online version of a national English daily.

The sentence is ungrammatical in that it says "duties includes" matching a singular verb with a plural noun.

The sentence should have been - Even if the company does not conduct any business or any transactions, its directors still have certain statutory duties to fulfil which include filing the annual returns, and keeping proper accounts of the company.

Avoiding troublesome construction

A family of three was injured when their car collided with another car.

The above is a sentence quite commonly seen in newspapers.

'Family' can be regarded as singular when referred to as a group/unit. It can also be a plural noun when it is referring to members of the family.

The sentence in italics has a construction that treats 'family' as singular [as evidenced by the use of a singular (passive) verb 'was injured'] but as plural later with the use of a plural possessive adjective 'their'.

To avoid such irregularity, the sentence should have been A family of three were injured when their car collided with another car.