This document discusses different types of subject-verb agreement in English grammar, including: 1. Concord of person between subject and verb (e.g. I am, you are, he is). 2. Subject-complement concord where the verb agrees with the subject (e.g. he is a doctor). 3. Object-complement concord where the complement describes the object (e.g. they elected him chairman). 4. Subject-object concord which requires agreement in number, person, and gender between subject and object or reflexive pronouns (e.g. he injured himself). 5. Pronoun concord where personal or possessive pronouns agree with their

1. L E C T U R E N O . 9
CHAPTER SEVEN

2. 7.26 CONCORD OF PERSON
• It is another type for concord between the subject and the verb.
• Verb to be is the best example to illustrate this type of concord
I and we 1st person
You 2nd person
He , she , it , and they 3rd person
Ex: I am a student. Ex: You are a student.
1st person 2nd person 2nd person
1st person
Ex: He is a student.
3rd person 3rd person

3. 7.26 CONCORD OF PERSON
• Ex: He plays football.
3rd person singular ‘s’
3rd person
Note: The coordinate subject that consists of ( or , either … or ,
neither … nor ) follows the principle of proximity to decide the
form of the verb
Ex: Either my wife or I ( am / are ) going.
Ex: Neither I , nor he , nor you ( knows / know ) the answer.

4. 7.27 OTHER TYPES OF CONCORD
• Subject – Complement concord
The clause type ( SVC ) represents this form of concord as in:
Ex: He is a doctor. Ex: They are doctors.
Singular singular plural plural
Note : The form of the verb is also in concord with the subject of
the sentence.

5. Subject – Complement concord
• Exceptions : the following examples are exceptions for the
basic rule.
1- What we need most is books.
2- They turned traitor.
3- Good manners are a rarity these days.

6. OBJECT – COMPLEMENT CONCORD
• Clause type SVOC represents this type of concord in which
C is used to describe O :
Ex : They elected him chairman.
S V O C
singular singular
Ex: He thinks these girls the best actors.
s v o c
plural plural

7. 7.28 SUBJECT-OBJECT CONCORD
1- This form of concord should be a concord of ( number ,
person , gender )
Ex: He breaks his leg.
- Concord of number both ( he , his leg ) are singular.
- Concord of person both ( he , his ) are 3rd person .
- Concord of gender both ( he , his ) are masculine.

8. SUBJECT-OBJECT CONCORD
2- Reflexive pronouns : this form of concord should be a
concord of ( number , person , gender )
Ex: He injured himself in the leg .
- Concord of number both ( he , himself ) are singular.
- Concord of person both ( he , himself ) are 3rd person .
- Concord of gender both ( he , himself ) are masculine.

9. SUBJECT-OBJECT CONCORD
3- Reflexive pronoun as prepositional complement is also a
concord of ( number , person , gender ) :
Ex: She’s making a sweater for herself.
4- Plural nouns ( collective nouns ) are in concord with their
reflexive pronouns :
Ex: The navy congratulated themselves on the victory.

10. 7.29 PRONOUN CONCORD
• There is an agreement between the subject (antecedent)
and the personal or possessive pronoun
Ex: John broke his leg.

11. 7.30
• The pronoun “ they “ will be used as a substitution for
( everyone , everybody , someone , somebody , no one ,
anyone , anybody , nobody )
Ex: Everyone thinks they have the answer.
Ex: Not every drug addict can solve their problem so
easily .