Watch Your Antecedents!

English has a fairly common error when someone makes the number (singular or plural) of a verb agree with the closest noun even when the verb doesn’t refer to that noun. This is called attraction. You can do this in Latin, I’m told, but not in English.

Here’s an example of incorrectly avoiding the habit of attraction:

Smart grids are a management system that use a combination of sensors and AI to distribute and conserve energy. 

https://www.morningbrew.com/emerging-tech for September 3, 2021

“Grids” is plural (hence “grids are”), and “use” is plural, but “use” doesn’t refer to “grids”! “Use” applies to “system,” which is singular. It should be “…system that uses…”

So this writer, normally alert enough to avoid this error of attraction, overdid their caution! So be alert, not just cautious.