Copy of subject verb agreement (1)

Subject-Verb Agreement

• Subjects and verbs must agree innumber.  Singular nouns take singular verbs; Plural nouns take plural verbs.

• Don’t get confused by the words thatcome between the subject and verb.  The dog, that is chewing on my jeans, is usually very playful.  The students who participated in the Science week celebration were too tired to do their PeTas.

• Prepositional phrases between thesubject and verb usually do not affectagreement.  The paintings in the gallery are so expensive.

• When sentences start with ―there‖ or―here,‖ the subject will always be placedafter the verb.  There is something wrong with his outfit.  Here are the letters you gave me for the past months.

• Subjects joined by and typically require aplural verb form.  My sister and I love to swim.  Cellular phone, wallet and keys are the things that I always bring.

• The verb is singular if the two subjects separated by and are taken as one.  Peanut butter and jelly is my favorite spread.  Red beans and rice is the cafeteria’s meal of the day.

• Each, everyone, every one, everybody,anyone, anybody, someone, no one andsomebody are singular and require singularverbs  Each of the girls sings well.  Every one of the cakes is gone.

• If one subject is singular and one plural and the words are connected by the words or, nor, neither/nor, either/or, and not only/but also, use the verb form of the subject that is nearest the verb.

 Not only Kenzo but also Kereen want/wants to visit grandma. Not only Marvin but also all of the grandchildren want/wants to visit grandma. Neither Miss Kim nor Jesy writes/write on the blackboard. Neither the teacher nor the students writes/write on the blackboard.

• When either and neither are subjects, theyalways take singular verbs.  Neither of them is available to speak right now.

• Percent, fraction, part, majority, some,none, remainder, and so forth —look at thenoun in your of phrase to determinewhether to use a singular or plural verb. Theexpression "more than one" (oddly enough)takes a singular verb: "More than onestudent has tried this."  None of the garbage was picked up.  One third of the city is unemployed.

• Few, many, several, both, all, and somealways take the plural form.  Some people in my office are very annoying.  Few mountain climbers have successfully reached the peak of Mt. Everest.

• If two infinitives are separatedby and they take the plural form of theverb.  To swim and to run require great skill.

• Collective nouns like herd, senate, class,crowd, group, team etc. usually take a singularverb form.•In very few cases, the plural verb is used if theindividuals in the group are though of andspecifically referred to.

• Titles of books, movies, novels, etc. aretreated as singular and take a singularverb.  The last of the Mohicans is a nice movie.

Final Rule – Remember, onlythe subject affects the verb!

Directions: Choose correct verbs in the text below.(Rx1)Adolescence 1. (brings, bring) with it a multiplicity of change inevery aspect of a child’s life. There 2. (is, are) a great expansionand intensification of the emotional life as the adolescence 3.(reaches, reach) out for new experience and understanding butat the same time 4. (adopts, adopt) a defensive stance againstpossible consequences. It 5. (is, are) normally a period of hopesand ideals, of longings often divorced from reality and ofpassion over matters those older persons often 6.(sees, see) asbeing of little consequence. Emotions 7.(does, do) tend to showgreater fluctuations during adolescence than in the periodsthat 8. (precedes, precede) and 9. (follows, follow) it. Periodsof great enthusiasm and attempt at high achievement 10. (is,are) allowed by morbid self analysis. Emotions can lead toviolence attachments to members of the opposite sex andintense friendship characterized by pledges and vows.

Copy of subject verb agreement (1)

by Paulo Caasi

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