My boss (who is a judge, by the way, thus the legalese) says that the following sentence is correct:

“A conclusion that none of Plaintiff’s damages was caused by the fall is not reasonable, so the jury’s verdict must have been founded on a lack of negligence.”

I say that “was” should be “were” because, well, it just SOUNDS better.He says “was” is correct because it goes with “conclusion,” which is singular, and that you can take out the parenthetical phrase “of Plaintiff’s” and the sentence would still make sense.I call shenanigans.What say you?

LG

Dear LG,

You’re both incorrect, to my mind.Your boss is right that “was” is correct, but it’s correct because the subject of that clause is neither “conclusion” nor “damages” — it’s “none,” which is a singular pronoun.”Was” is indicated.

Share!