Which is gramatically correct...???

[battleknight24]

I am going to submit a 'mistake' for the movie Unbreakable (with Bruce Willis) to the web site www.movie-mistakes.com ...

...but I want to make sure...

SPOILER ALERT

At the very end, when it is revealed that Samuel Jackson is a terrorist, the text says "... acts of terrorism was found" ... it should be "acts of terrorism were found" ... right?

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

1. Right. n/t

[junker]

2. Correct. Acts were found. Whether terrorism, or lewdness, or chivalry,

it was the plural of act which was found and plural object demands plural verb. So acts of terrorism were found.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

3. Yes, the word ACTS is related to the verb not the word terrorism

People no longer seem to remember how to diagram sentences.

[rwenos]

4. Agreement of Subject and Verb

Correct. The noun "acts of terrorism" is plural. Thus, the verb must agree in number -- in this case, "were" instead of "was."

Riddle me this: Why does the King James version say "the wages of sin is death?"

Well, maybe it was okay in 1612. It ain't now.

[NewHampshireDem]

9. I'll accept that challenge, Riddler ...

Because the word "wages" in this case is not the plural of "wage," meaning payment for work, labor, etc. Rather, it means "recompense" or "fitting return." So the "wages" that is the plural of "wage" ("The wages of my labor are slight.") is a different word than the "wages" that come from sin.

It's kind of like "hanged" and "hung" both being the past tense of "hang," because "hang" has two different meanings. (I know that isn't exactly the same, but you get the idea."

Anyway, you can call me Batman :)

[WildClarySage]

10. Yes, but after taxes

you're left with just a tired feeling.

[Kipper58]

11. You're right,but -----

Sin IS the wages of death!!

[Turbineguy]

5. You are correct, but maybe

the President of the United States of America wrote the libretto, in which case YOU are the terrorist and should immediately report for incarceration at the Dog Pound.

[rwenos]

7. Libretto

Well, maybe Bushie Boy wrote the libretto . . . but aren't you assuming without factual basis that he even knows what "libretto" means?!

"They misunderestimated me."

[Turbineguy]

8. Curses, foiled again,

You got me.

[NewHampshireDem]

6. Before you go too far ...

What is the rest of the sentence?

For example, if it reads "Evidence of acts of terrorism was found ..." then it is correct. We really need to whole sentence to be sure.

[Deja Q]

12. Acts is plural, but on the other hand...

the correct answer is "were".

"terrorism" describes "acts".

A singular meaning would be "an act of terrorism was found".

Plural is "acts of terrorism were found."

The phrase, either way, is poorly constructed. "...found acts of terrorism" is more appropriate, but still seems wrong.

Of course, people are not always grammatically correct. Jackson's character need not be perfect either. It's not some sort of star trek spinoff ripoff, which means people can be people, bad grammar and all.

[SendTheGOPPacking]

13. You are correct

The verb refers to the plural subject "acts" of terrorism.