Two weeks ago, I called attention to this faulty sentence construction in the otherwise well-argued editorial of a leading Metro Manila broadsheet: “It is imperative that the Philippine government takes a firm stand against this violation of an international safety agreement and local laws.”

It’s obviously counterintuitive to say that something is grammatically wrong with that sentence. After all, the doer of the action, “the Philippine government,” is in the third-person singular, so following the subject-verb agreement rule, the verb phrase expressing its action should also be in the third-person singular, “takes a firm stand.” Right?