4

As you will see, the use of color, different perspectives, and engaging plots can have an uplifting effect on your mind, body, and soul.

What is a subject: 'the use' alone? or the use of color(A), different perspectives(B), and engaging plots(C)—A+B+C?

ps. edit: the use of noun(1st), noun(2nd), and noun(3rd) (in this case the subject is 'the use' but if we regard 'the use of color' itself as an independent phrase, then 'the use of color', 'different perspectives', and 'engaging plots' are subjects 'individually' as well as 'as a whole'

gomadeng
  • 4,306
  • 13
  • 38
  • All three things combine to have the uplifting effect. – Kate Bunting Jun 20 '23 at 08:16
  • 1
    What do you think is a subject or are subjects? – gomadeng Jun 20 '23 at 08:39
  • The implication of my comment is that the use of color, different perspectives, and engaging plots is the subject. – Kate Bunting Jun 20 '23 at 08:45
  • My implication is the same as yours. And I just wonder what is more likely to be a subject or subjects. – gomadeng Jun 20 '23 at 08:54
  • I don't understand you. The implication of my comment = what I meant by it. I told you that the whole phrase is the subject of the sentence. – Kate Bunting Jun 20 '23 at 08:58
  • Kate, I edited my question. – gomadeng Jun 20 '23 at 09:20
  • I'd say it was a compound subject. – Kate Bunting Jun 20 '23 at 11:20
  • 2
    Replace "singular / plural agnostic" *can have an uplifting effect on...* by a non-degenerate verb that must reflect its plurality, such as *affects...* It should be easier to see that the singular subject *the use* would normally be reflected in the verb form. But it's not ridiculous for speakers to be influenced by the plural list of "things used", so at least some people will use the plural verb form. I think it's effectively a stylistic choice, though - not something pedants and "Grammar Nazis" should get worked up about. – FumbleFingers Jun 20 '23 at 11:39
  • 2
    @KateBunting: OR *The use of all three things combines to have the uplifting effect.* Same as *The use of salt and pepper enhances the flavour*. – FumbleFingers Jun 20 '23 at 11:42

2 Answers2

2

Most readers will grammatically parse the sentence as the subject to be singular ("the use of A, B, and C") to match the singular "an uplifting effect".

Semantically, it also makes sense that the subject is singular because "the use of color" doesn't quite match "different perspectives" and "engaging plots". The author must have meant "the use of color, the use of different perspectives, and the use of engaging plots" but drop the repetitive "the use of".

If the author wants to emphasize the unity of subject even further, then as @FumbleFingers noted, he/she could say something like:

As you will see, the use of all three things, color, different perspectives, and engaging plots, combines to have an uplifting effect on your mind, body, and soul.

But composition-wise, using too many noun forms is not advisable. I would rewrite it as follows:

As you will see, using color, different perspectives, and engaging plots can uplift your mind, body, and soul.

If the author DOES want to emphasize that there are 3 subjects, he/she could say something like:

As you will see, the use of color, the variety of different perspectives, and the craft of engaging plots can have uplifting effects on your mind, body, and soul.

or drop the "the use of" altogether and write "effects" instead of "an effect":

As you will see, colors, different perspectives, and engaging plots can have uplifting effects on your mind, body, and soul.

GratefulDisciple
  • 936
  • 4
  • 13
1

The complete subject is "the use of color, different perspectives, and engaging plots".

Depending on how you parse the sentence, "the use of color", "different perspectives", "engaging plots" are three elements of a compound subject, or the singular root of the subject is "use" which is the head of three phrases: "the use of color", "the use of different perspectives", and "the use of engaging plots".

gotube
  • 49,596
  • 7
  • 72
  • 154