Reese Witherspoon has criticized Jessica Simpson for acting as if being stupid were cute. Reese said that she would like to "throw daggers" at people who undermine the efforts that her grandmother, as well as other pioneering feminists, have made to promote a positive image of women.
The second sentence contains a common error in subject/verb agreement. In the adjective clause that includes "that her grandmother, as well as other pioneering feminists, have made," the subject "grandmother" is singular, but the verb "have made" is plural. The confusion arises from the presence of the intervening phrase "as well as other pioneering feminists," which would seem to create a plural subject. However, an intervening phrase is not part of the subject and should not affect the number of the verb. Intervening phrases should be ignored when determining the agreement between a subject and a verb. It is sometimes useful to draw a line through the intervening phrase so that it does not draw attention away from the actual subject of the sentence or clause.
Reese said that she would like to "throw daggers" at people who undermine the efforts that her grandmother,
as well as other pioneering feminists, has made to promote a positive image of women.
Another way to correct the sentence is to change the original subject and the intervening phrase to a compound subject that would be plural and therefore would agree with the plural verb.
Reese said that she would like to "throw daggers" at people who undermine the efforts that her grandmother and other pioneering feminists have made to promote a positive image of women.
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