verb-object agreement

Just as his quarterback wasn’t connecting with his receivers, his verbs weren’t connecting with his objects. Times are tough for Vikings coach Brad Childress.

He decided to replace QB Tarvaris Jackson with veteran Gus Frerotte. His grammar still needs to be reformed. In describing the athletic change, Childress said, “I know there’s many other plays, there’s a lot of other people that have to step up.”

When we use contractions — two words meshed into one, with an apostrophe that marks the missing word or words — sometimes we forget what the contraction stands for and the verbs they require. Childress meant to say there are many other plays — the plural verb needed for multiple plays — but the contraction he used stands for there is. The same goes for the second statement, that there are a lot of people who have to step up. (A simpler wording is possible: “Many other people have to step up.” Brief is better, especially when the brevity allows you to avoid weak verbs like is and are.)

Childress’ choice replacement, Frerotte, hasn’t inspired much confidence among the Grammar Guard. He said, “We’re 0-2 right now, and the key thing, probably one of the reasons Coach made the decision, was maybe because we need to get something to get us over the hump to get us a win.

Someone needs to get him some help!