SVA.pdf

UCS1173
ENGLISH FOR
GENERAL PURPOSES
English 102: Beginners’ Development of the English Language
---
The Treaty of Modern English (1485 – 1550)
I do not own any of the media used in this presentation. Credits to original owners.

Introduction
In the English Language, there are multiple types of words
that are used. As many other languages, these words have
their own specification. For English, they are known as:-
Word Class
or
Parts of Speech
Monday, February 24, 2020 Muhammad Syafiq Bin Shahril Azmi Ng 2

Word Class / Parts of Speech
• Open / Major (lexical/form)
i. Nouns
ii. Verbs
iii. Adjectives
iv. Adverbs
• Closed / Minor
(grammatical/function)
i. Pronouns
ii. Preposition
iii. Determiner
iv. Conjunction
v. Interjection

Open / Major
1. Nouns
Names of objects, persons,
animals, places, or ideas.
Table, Door, Ali, Abu, Cat, Dog,
Selangor, London, Hope, Love,
etc.
2. Verbs
Actions or state of being.
Go, Cook, Run, Speak, Live, Kick,
Is, Been, etc.
3. Adjectives
Describe (give more
information) about nouns.
Pretty, Cold, Happy, Young,
Three, Fun, etc.
4. Adverbs
Describe (give more
information) about verbs.
Slowly, Quickly, Very, Always,
Well, Too, etc.

Closed / Minor
1. Pronouns
Used in place of nouns to avoid
repetition.
I, You, He, She, They, Them, We,
Us, etc.
2. Preposition
Show relationship of nouns to
other words.
On, Beside, Under, Above, From,
For, etc.
3. Determiner
Show the reference/specificity
of nouns.
A, An, The, etc.
4. Conjunction
Link between words.
And, But, If, Because, Thus, etc.
5. Interjection
Words with exclamation.
Wow, Oh, Ouch, etc.

Subject – Verb Agreement
SVA is the basic rule in the English Language that requires
the subject and verb to agree with each other.
The agreement revolves around the number of noun(s) and
verb(s); whether they take on the singular form or plural form.

What is a Subject?
A subject is the main focus of the sentence;
e.g. He runs like the wind.
Aminah makes the best desserts around.
Most of them play football.
Green is my favourite colour.
Shah Alam is my city.
Nouns are often used as subjects.

Component Description Types Description Examples
Noun
A word that
describes a
person, a thing,
or an idea,
quality, or state.
Common Noun –
Countable
A word to describe people or things
that can be counted; singular or plural.
Boy/Boys
Chair/Chairs
Idea/Ideas
Common Noun –
Uncountable
A word to describe things that can’t be
counted separately.
Water
Sugar
Cotton
Proper Noun
A word that is a name that identifies a
particular person or thing.
Ali
Kuala Lumpur
Monday
Pronoun
A word that replaces Proper Noun,
referring to itself or to other
participants; singular or plural.
I/You
He/She
This/That
Collective Noun
A word that is referring to groups of
people or things. Can be singular or
plural.
Audience
Team
Bouquet

NOUNS – RULES FOR PLURAL FORM
Rules
Examples
Exceptions
Singular Plural
General Add -s
Car
Bag
Table
Cars
Bags
Tables
-
End with -s, -x,
-z, -ch, -sh, ss
Add -es
Bus
Box
Buzz
Beach
Bush
Boss
Buses
Boxes
Buzzes
Beaches
Bushes
Bosses
Gas - Gasses
End with -f, -fe Change end to -ves
Shelf
Wolf
Knife
Shelves
Wolves
Knives
Cuff - Cuffs
Chef - Chefs
Belief - Beliefs
End with -o
Add -s if there is a vowel before the end.
Radio
Video
Radios
Videos
-
Add -es if there is a consonant before
the end.
Potato
Hero
Potatoes
Heroes
Piano - Pianos
Photo - Photos
End with -y
Day
Toy
Days
Toys
-
Change to -ies if there is a consonant
before the end.
City
Candy
Cities
Candies
-

What is a Verb?
A verb is a word that indicates action (verb of doing).
e.g. Ali jumps across the river with ease.
She slaps him silly.
Or a word that indicates state of being (verb of being).
e.g. Aminah is cooking her best dish.
Abu has a red toy car that he treasures.
They will be sick.

Component Description Types Description Examples
Verb
A word that
describes
action, and
the state the
action goes
through.
Main/Action Verb
– Regular Verb
A word to describe an
action.
V1 (Base) V2 (Past)
V3 (Past
Participle)
Walk
Talk
Smile
Walked
Talked
Smiled
Walked
Talked
Smiled
Main/Action Verb
– Irregular Verb
A word to describe an
action.
Eat
Run
Write
Ate
Ran
Wrote
Eaten
Run
Written
Helping/Auxiliary
Verb
A word to indicate state,
singular or plural; “be”
verbs.
Am
Is
Are
Was
Were
-
A word to indicate the
action, singular or
plural; “do” verbs.
Do
Does
Did -
A word to indicate
possession, singular or
plural; “have” verbs.
Has
Have
Had -
A word to indicate
modality; Modal Verbs.
Can
Will
Could
Would
-

VERBS – RULES FOR SINGULAR FORM
Rules
Examples
Singular Plural
General Add -s
Runs
Kicks
Works
Run
Kick
Work
End with -s, -x, -z,
-ch, -sh
Add -es
Misses
Fixes
Buzzes
Teaches
Demolishes
Miss
Fix
Buzz
Teach
Demolish
End with -y
Plays
Obeys
Play
Obey
Add -es if there is a consonant before the end.
Flies
Cries
Fly
Cry
Irregularities Add -es or left unchanged.
Does
Goes
Do
Go

PRACTICE
(PADLET)

Rules of SVA
Basic Rule
 A singular subject
takes a singular
verb, a plural
subject takes a
plural verb.

Rule #1 – Proper Nouns
Proper nouns / Titles / Specific names of single entities are
singular.

Rule #2a – Collective Nouns
Collective nouns may be singular or plural, depending on
meaning.
Jury is considered as
one unit.
Jury is considered as
individual members.

Rule #2b – Collective Nouns + phrase
Collective nouns are the subject, NOT the phrase.
A bouquet of yellow roses lends colour and fragrance to the room.

Rule #3 – Indefinite Pronouns
a. Singular indefinite pronoun subjects use singular verbs.
oE.g. each, either, neither, one, no one, nobody, nothing, anyone, anybody,
anything, someone, somebody, something, everyone, everybody, everything
b. Plural indefinite pronoun subjects use plural verbs.
oE.g. several, few, both, many

Rule #4 – Nouns with Plural Form
a. Singular nouns that have plural spelling / form use
singular verb.
b. Singular / plural nouns that have plural spelling / form use
singular or plural verb, depending on meaning.
News is everywhere.

Rule #5a – Conjunction ‘and’
Subjects joined by the conjunction ‘and’ are plural.

Rule #5b – Conjunctions ‘or’, ‘either / or’ &
‘neither / nor’
Subjects joined by these conjunctions use verbs that agrees
with the nearest subject.
nearest to
actors
(plural)
nearest to
director
(singular)

Rule #5c – Conjunction Phrases
Conjunction phrases are to be ignored as they are NOT the
subjects, rather to give more information. Use appropriate
form based on the actual subjects.
The politician, along with the newsmen, is expected shortly.
(ignore)

Rule #6 – Inverted Subjects
Subjects and verbs are inverted, the same basic rule applies.

Rule #7 – Units of Measurement
Subjects that are units of measurement use singular verbs;
distance, time, money, metric, etc.
Three miles is too far to walk. Ten ringgit is a high price to pay.
Ten ringgit (physical; ten one-ringgit notes) were scattered on the floor.

Rule #8 – Portions
Words that indicate portions; a lot, a majority, some, all, etc.
are NOT the subject. The true subject comes after the word of.
A lot of the pie has disappeared. A lot of the pies have disappeared.
All of the cake is gone. All of the cakes are gone.

SVA.pdf

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