Thanks for the feedback, Lauren!
Question(s)
1. What do you mean re: scapegoat and plurality? Would that sentence need to be changed to: "The law had become a scapegoat..."?
Yes, or else you could say 'the existence of these laws is a scapegoat' or 'the proposal to introduce these laws is a scapegoat' since you need to match the plurality of the subject and the verb.
eg. The reporter argue
s that we should...
vs.
The reporter
s argue that we should...
NOT: The reporter argue that we should...
or
The reporter
s argue
s that we should...
^That's probably stuff you already intuitively know, but there's no shame in needing to consciously check your writing to make sure it matches - I have to do it a lot of the time in uni essays, esp. for very long/complex sentences.
2. Is scapegoat informal? Can I actually use in an LA essay?
Nope, it's not informal, though it may at times be more beneficial to spell out in what way something is a scapegoat rather than just using that word and moving on. The accompanying explanation you've got here is fine though
Good old "that". Didn't even realise I needed it. It sorta sounds funny with the that to me but that's just my internal grammar screwing up (as it does sometimes). So in general for sentences like "'The author verbs that this idea is true", should I always include a "that" after the verb irrespective of what the verb is?
It depends. Which is a very frustrating answer, but it's true
For some verbs, it's more necessary
eg.
The author believes that there should be more money invested in this project.
because without the 'that,' there, it sounds a bit more informal. It's fine aloud, but in written form, it can seem 'wrong' to some people:
eg.
The author believes there should be more money invested in this project.
For others, you can't have a 'that' without it being really weird:
eg.
The author undermines that the project was a success
The author magnifies that the importance of the project
For some, it's a bit more optional, though most people would prefer the 'that' being there
eg.
'The author suggests (that) the project was a failure.'
'The author implies (that) it was doomed from the start.'