Agreement to Contrary Meaning: Understanding What it Means for Your Writing
As a copy editor, you may come across the term “agreement to contrary meaning” when reviewing a piece of content. This term refers to a type of grammatical error that occurs when a writer uses incorrect verb agreement in a sentence that leads to a meaning that is opposite of what they intended.
For instance, consider the following sentence:
“The team of players were not showing up for practice.”
In this sentence, the subject is “team,” which is a collective noun that refers to a group of individuals. However, the verb used in the sentence is “were,” which is plural. This creates a grammatical error known as “agreement to contrary meaning.” The writer intended to say that the team is not showing up for practice, but the use of “were” suggests that each individual on the team is not showing up. Therefore, the meaning of the sentence is opposite of what the writer intended.
Why is this important for SEO?
Agreement to contrary meaning can negatively impact the search engine optimization (SEO) of a website. When search engines crawl and index a website, they use algorithms that analyze the quality of the content. If the content is filled with grammatical errors and confusing sentence structures, it can negatively impact the website’s search ranking. Additionally, readers are more likely to leave a website that is filled with errors, which can also harm the site’s SEO.
How to avoid agreement to contrary meaning in your writing:
1. Understand the subject-verb agreement rule.
The subject-verb agreement rule states that the verb in a sentence must agree in number with its subject. In other words, if the subject is singular, the verb must be singular, and if the subject is plural, the verb must be plural.
2. Check for collective nouns.
Collective nouns are words that refer to groups of individuals, such as “team,” “audience,” or “committee.” Understanding how collective nouns work and using the appropriate verb agreement is key to avoiding agreement to contrary meaning.
3. Read your writing aloud.
One of the best ways to identify agreement to contrary meaning in your writing is to read your content aloud. This can help you identify any awkward sentence structures or errors in grammar.
4. Use online tools.
There are several online tools that can help you identify grammatical errors in your writing. Grammarly and Hemingway are two popular options that can help you catch and correct any agreement to contrary meaning errors.
Final thoughts:
Agreement to contrary meaning is a common grammatical error that can negatively impact the SEO of your website. As a copy editor, it’s important to understand how this error occurs and how to avoid it in your writing. By checking your writing for subject-verb agreement, understanding collective nouns, reading your content aloud, and using online tools, you can ensure that your writing is clear, concise, and error-free.