Post Verbal Subjects and Agreement in Brazilian Portuguese

2.3 Copular Sentences
The third environment where the variant agreement pattern occurs is certain copular
sentences:
(36) O perigo nessa estrada e/ sao os bandidos.
rhe danger in-this road is/ are the bandits
‘The danger in this road are the bandits.’
(37) O importante pra ela e/ sao as boas maneiras.
the important for her is/are the good manners.
‘The important thing for her are good manners.’
(38) A causa da briga foi/ foram as fotos das meninas.
the cause of-the fight was/ were the pictures of-the girls
‘The cause of the fight was/were the girls.’
As seen in section 1, the variant agreement pattern is restricted to a
particular word order (for example, where as meninas in (38) is post verbal).
Changing the order leads to obligatory agreement:
(39) Os bandidos sao/ *e o perigo nessa estrada.
the bandits are/ is the danger in-this road.
‘The bandits are the danger in this road.’
(40) As boas maneiras sao/ *e o importante pra ela.
the good manners are/ is the important for her.
‘Good manners are important for her.’
(41) As fotos das meninas foram/ *foi a causa da briga.
the pictures of-the girls were/ was the cause of-the fight
‘The girls were the cause of the fight.’
As it was the case with unaccusatives, the choice of verb is essential in
determining the agreement pattern. Variant agreement does not arise every time as
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