Agreement--Today's "Gotcha" Grammar Glitch

There is a longstanding rule in English grammar: SUBJECT MUST AGREE WITH VERB. Or, stated another way, IF THE SUBJECT IS SINGULAR, THE VERB SHOULD BE SINGULAR. IF THE SUBJECT IS PLURAL, THE VERB SHOULD BE PLURAL.

Sometimes, if the subject and verb are not close to each other, it's difficult to make the determination.

Such was the problem for a writer in the "Money" section of USA TODAY this morning. He wrote:

"Fresh research by top leadership gurus suggest that if great leaders have something in common, it could be this: a knack for escaping lapses of bad judgment."

In the sentence above, the subject of the main idea is RESEARCH. The verb should therefore be SUGGESTS. The intervening phrase "by top leadership gurus" does not affect the relationship of RESEARCH SUGGESTS.

Therefore, good judgment for this sentence would make it read correctly as follows:

"Fresh research by top leadership gurus suggests that if great leaders have something in common, it could be this: a knack for escaping lapses of bad judgment."

Here's hoping all of you escape bad judgment today when it comes to agreement of subject and verb!