Monday morning, I've had two cups of coffee, and then AP gives this:

“CONCORD, Calif. – A swarm of aggressive bees have been attacking a town in Northern California.”

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/swarm-of-aggressive-bees-attack-california-town/ar-BBt5rrP?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=HPCDHP

Nope, nope. Swarm is the subject of the sentence. Swarm is singular. A singular subject requires a singular verb, “has” in this case. “(0)f aggressive bees” is a prepositional modifier explaining “swarm.” Bees is not the subject of the sentence.

Confusion with tense has always been part of grammar. The confusion was exacerbated when gender police proclaimed sexist the longtime rule of using “he” or “his” with gender-neutral subjects. Thought/gender police demanded use of variations of “them” and “they” with gender-free subjects. Those variations are plural.

Whoever controls language controls society and politics. The grammatical tense rule is not self-correcting, but those of us who battle death of grammar will continue the fight.


And then: The all-seeing, all-knowing!

“This 1974 Bronco Woody may be the only one of its kind because we certainly haven’t seen one before.”

http://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/enthusiasts/this-1974-ford-bronco-woody-is-a-4x4-the-beach-boys-would-drive/ar-BBt4AHT?li=BBnbfcL&ocid=HPCDHP

(I mean, we literally haven’t seen one before.)