Why did it take me so long to catch this?
After watching Ray watch The Incredibles for the umpteenth time, I realized that there is a MAJOR grammar blooper in a movie that will probably be influencing the way kids speak. When Mr. Incredible gets his first assignment from Mirage, she says, "We have something in common. According to the government, neither of us exist." I think it bugged me when I first saw it and maybe the second time, but I must have tuned it out the next 15 or 16 times it's been on the TV.
Yo, Disney/Pixar people!!! Your verb must agree with its subject. "Neither" is singular, and therefore the correct wording is "neither of us exists." Why did no one over there catch that? Is it in the script and Elizabeth Peña just didn't speak English too well and nobody bothered to correct her? I'm also a little shocked that there aren't any forums or blogs or any kind of commentary out in the great wide world of cyberspace about it either. Well, if no one else will speak up about it, I suppose I must.
Okay, I think I've seen this movie one too many times. I'm going to go do my taxes now...that should calm me down.
3 Comments:
Well, maren I sincerly hope that doing your taxes relaxes you (insert smirk here)
Andy (the other one)
Hello, I just came across your blog and read it, and I had to comment on this.
Actually, "neither" can be plural if the word "neither" is followed by "of" and a plural noun or pronoun. For example,
"Neither the turnip nor the mushrooms were ripe."
The singular version goes:
"Neither the turnip nor the mushroom was ripe."
In the case of "The Incredibles" lines, it is correct: because "us" is a plural pronoun, the plural verb is used.
Actually, your logic is a bit flawed. First of all, "of" is a preposition, and prepositions are ALWAYS followed by an indirect object. That makes "us" an indirect object, and the fact that it's a plural pronoun is completely irrelevant; only the subject of a sentence has an effect on the conjugation of the verb.
Your examples are correct, because the subjects of your sentences ("turnip" and "mushrooms") are NOT preceded by a preposition, and therefore DO have bearing on the verb. "Turnip" is singular and "mushrooms" is plural; in this case, you should put the plural noun last and use a plural verb.
For more on subject/verb agreement, go to http://www.grammarbook.com/grammar/subjectVerbAgree.asp
The missing (and implied) subject in this sentence is "one." What Mirage means to say is, "Neither one of us exists," since she is talking about only herself and Mr. Incredible. "One" is a singular noun and requires a singular verb.
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