Mauvais Agreement

Mauvais agreement is a grammatical error that often occurs when the subject and verb do not agree in number. The term “mauvais” comes from French, meaning “bad” or “incorrect,” and the term “agreement” refers to the number agreement between subjects and verbs.

This error is common among non-native speakers of English and can be challenging for them to identify. However, it is crucial to correct this mistake when editing any written content, as it affects the readability and clarity of the text. In addition, search engines such as Google may flag the content as having poor grammar, impacting its ranking.

Examples of mauvais agreement include:

– The dog, along with his puppies, were barking loudly.

– The group of friends is going to the beach.

– My family were all gathered together for dinner last night.

In each of these examples, the subject and verb do not agree in number, making the sentence grammatically incorrect. The correct versions would be:

– The dog, along with his puppies, was barking loudly.

– The group of friends are going to the beach.

– My family was all gathered together for dinner last night.

To avoid making this error, writers should make sure to identify the subject of the sentence and ensure that the verb agrees with it in number. If the subject is singular, the verb should also be singular. If the subject is plural, the verb should be plural. It is also important to pay attention to collective nouns, which can be singular or plural depending on the context.

In conclusion, mauvais agreement is a common grammatical error that affects the clarity and readability of written content. As a professional, it is essential to identify and correct this error to ensure the content is of high quality and ranked well by search engines. Writers can avoid this mistake by paying attention to subject-verb agreement and ensuring that they match in number.