Sometimes It’s Right to Write Wrong

I started yesterday’s post with “A pair of grandfathers are…”

I knew it was wrong when I did it, but I couldn’t help myself. It all comes down to proximity, and how the sentence sounds when read/spoken aloud.

I know that the subject of the sentence was pair which, even though it indicates more than one, is a singular noun. Grandfathers, as used in this sentence, is the object of a preposition and the verb should match the subject.

In a sentence like “A flock of sheep is…” it’s easy enough to do, since sheep could be singular or plural, but “A flock of blackbirds” screams for a plural verb - it’s almost impossible to write is instead of are.

I know all this because of my fifth grade teacher,  Winnie Simpson. I was in her first elementary school class after her years as a college English professor. I couldn’t tell you what else I learned that year but By God, we learned English. She had us diagramming compound and complex sentences, and we all knew the difference between objective, subjective and subjunctive.

I still write “I was” and “If I were” because of her influence, and I know which verb is correct in cases like those mentioned above. I just can’t force myself to write something that sounds so wrong.