Subject Verb Agreement
Although you are probably already familiar with basic subject-verb agreement, this chapter begins with a quick review of basic agreement rules. Subjects and verbs must AGREE with one another in number (singular or plural). Thus, if a subject is singular, its verb must also be singular; if a subject is plural, its verb must also be plural.
LET’S TRY TO LEARN SOME IMPORTANT RULES of SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT.
1. If the subject is singular (one person, one thing), the verb must be singular.
Ex. A good student does his homework.*
* In the present tense a singular verb ends with an/a, s/es.
2. If the subject is plural (more than one person or thing), the verb must be plural.
Ex. All good students do their homework.*
*Notice that the verb do does not have an s!
3. If words or phrases come between the subject and the verb, first isolate the subject and then decide on the correct verb form. Prepositional phrases can be real trouble makers, so if you don’t remember how to identify them, stop now and ask for a learning packet.
Ex. The designs on Indian pottery (fascinates, fascinate) me.
(The subject, designs, is plural; therefore, the verb must be plural. The plural verb is fascinate.)
4.Some words that are often used as subjects are always singular. Memorize them!!
(each, one, either, neither, no one, everyone, anyone, someone, anybody, somebody, everybody, nobody, everything.)
Ex. Everybody wants to make good grades.
5. Some words that are often used as subjects are always plural. Memorize them!!
(Several, few, both, many)
Ex. Several of the staff understand the idea of an attendance policy.
6. Some words may be either singular or plural, depending on how they are used.
(some, any, all, most)
Ex. Some of the fruit is rotten. (Some fruit is rotten.)
Some of the apples are rotten. (Some apples are rotten.)
All of this apple is rotten. (The entire apple is rotten.)
All of these apples are rotten. (All apples are rotten.)
7. If the sentence has compound subjects (more than one subject) joined by and, the verb is usually plural.
Ex. Ellis and John are twins.
The beginning of the story (and) the end of the story were exciting.
8. When compound subjects are joined by or or nor, the verb must agree with the nearer subject.
Ex. Either the old men or the young man was responsible for the lovely music.
Neither the teacher nor the students are in class this morning.
9. When a sentence begins with either there or here, the subject comes behind the verb.
Ex. There is going to be just one student representative on the board.
Download Power point Subject Verb agreement by Ahmad Nawawi,S.Pd
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