More or Less?

I've spent a large part of this week trying to revise various points of German grammar. One useful outcome came from reading about the valency (Valenz) of verbs. Valency is about the number and types of complements (Ergänzungen) a verb requires. Complements include subject, dative object, accusative object, genetive object, prepositional object and so on. Why was this useful? Because it began to make sense of how verbs are handled in dictionaries and when I looked at the Duden Stilwörterbuch I found everything clearly explained in an article preceding the alphabetic entries Zur Anlage des Buches - About the layout of the book. I really should have read that years ago!

More or Less? sums up my puzzlement about when to use verbs in plural and when in singular. For instance,  when oder binds two singular subjects then the  verb will be in the singular - Entweder du oder dein Kollege bringt ... However, if one of the subjects is plural then the verb definitely takes the plural form when the plural subject is next to the verb - Der Lehrer oder die Studenten können ... If the plural subject comes first it seems not to matter whether singular or plural is used - Die Eltern oder der Sohn bestellt/bestellen ...

What is more difficult is using an indication of quantity (Mengenangabe) - Menge, Anzahl, Reihe, usw. No problem when the following noun is also singular but when the noun is plural then the verb might still be singular. Everything depends on whether the subject is seen as a collection of related things (in which case singular) or as referring to unrelated things. I found a discussion about this online This was reiner Zufall as they discuss the very examples I was working with. If I come across examples where the verb is in the plural then I shall give them some thought but I'm not going to spend time worrying about it if I'm speaking or writing. I shall use the singular and be very surprised if I am ever challenged.

Grammar

I seem to be passing on information from other blogs this evening. This one comes from http://deutschlernen-blog.de/ and points to the grammar theory available on http://www.deutsche-grammatik.ch/ Individual sections are available for download or print and the quickest way in is to go to the contents page Inhaltsverzeichnis zum Theoriebuch

Exercises from Finland

I've just work with some exercises on Michis Übungs-Site and realised I was not as good as I should be with some of the exercises on verbs. It shows I haven't put in enough practice but the really useful thing is it shows some areas where I need to do some revision. If your results in an exercise are a little disappointing don't lose heart but use your mistakes as an incentive for revision or further learning. There's no point in beating yourself up, the whole point about correction is learning to be correct.

The site I was using as a reasonable range of grammatical exercises. Many take the form of supplying the missing word or words in a sentence (Lückentext) but there are also some where you have to put words in the correct order (Zuordung) and others take the form of a simple quiz (Kurzantwort-Quiz). Under the heading Sprache you'll find some exercises on writing letters and on invitations and how to reply. Wortschatz has some thematically organised exercises to test general vocabulary and a useful set on Redewendungen - colloquial expressions.