The document provides instruction on grammar rules for subject-verb agreement and includes examples and exercises. It discusses situations where subject-verb agreement is often mistaken, such as when words come between the subject and verb, when the verb comes before the subject, with compound subjects, and with indefinite pronouns. Students are assigned revision and editing homework on a writing assignment and asked to complete additional subject-verb agreement exercises.

1. Monday, November 7, 2011
Grammar: Subject-Verb Agreement
Writing: The Writing Process;
Revision and Editing

2. Housekeeping
• Hand in your work from Chapter 2, Activity
1, 4, or 5.
• Monday is not a holiday

3. Subject-Verb Agreement, p. 464-467
• Singular subjects must take a singular verb.
– I walk fast
– you walk fast
– he/she walks fast
• Plural subjects must take a plural verb.
– We walk fast
– they walk fast

4. Mistakes in Subject-Verb Agreement. . .
. . . usually occur in the following situations:
1. When words come between the subject and
verb
2. When a verb comes before a subject
3. With compound subjects
4. With indefinite pronouns

5. 1. When words come between the
subject and verb (p. 464) . . .
. . . subject-verb agreement does not change.
Ex: The noisy dogs get on my nerves.
Ex: The noisy dogs in my neighbourhood get on my nerves.
(plural subject) (plural verb)
The words “in my neighbourhood” form a
prepositional phrase that does not affect s-v
agreement.

6. Reminder: Prepositional phrases
• Prepositions are words that usually indicate time
and space relationships.
Ex: before, under, with, behind, in, of, etc.
• Prepositional phrases are word groups that begin
with prepositions
(they usually include an object and adjectives or
adverbs)
Ex: during class, behind the old bridge

7. When words come between the
subject and verb (Cont’d.)
• When trying to find the subject of a sentence, it
can help to cross out the prepositional phrases:
Nell, with her three dogs close behind, runs around
the park every day.
The seams in my new coat have split after only two
years.

8. Activity 1, p. 464
Do as many others as you can finish in 5 minutes.
1. The decisions of the judge seem/seems . . .
2. The flakes in this cereal taste/tastes . . .
3. The woman with the dark sunglasses is/are . . .
4. Many people in Europe speak/speaks . . .
5. A hamburger with a large order of fries is/are . . .

9. 2. When a verb comes before a subject . . .
. . . it must still agree with the subject!
Ex: On Sasha’s desk were two books.
Ex: There are many sushi restaurants in Vancouver.
To try to find the subject, ask yourself who or what does the
verb refer to.
Ex: Q: What was on Sasha’s desk?
A: The books.
(Two books were on Sasha’s desk)
So, the verb must agree with “books” (plural) not Sasha
(singular)!!

10. Activity, p. 465
Do as many others as you can finish in 5
minutes.
1. What is/are . . .
2. Among the guests was/were . . .
3. Where do/does . . .
4. There is/are . . .
5. In that grave rest/rests . . .

11. 3. With compound subjects, p. 466
Situation 1: When two subjects are joined by
and they take a plural verb:
Ex: Maple syrup and sweet butter taste
delicious on pancakes.
Ex: Mike and Sharon have a lot of work to do.

12. With compound subjects, p. 466
Situation 2: In contrast, when subjects are joined
by either . . . or, neither . . . nor, not only . . . but
also, the verb agrees with the subject closest to the
verb:
(plural) (singular) (singular)
Ex: Either the students or the teacher takes a day
off every month.
(singular) (plural) (plural)
Ex: Either the teacher or the students take a day off
every month.

13. Activity, p. 466.
Do as many others as you can finish in 5 minutes.
1. Our cats and dog stays/stay . . .
2. Is/Are the birthday cake . . .
3. Staples and Scotch tape holds/hold . . .
4. Rent and car insurance was/were . . .
5. Neither the students nor the instructor
wants/want . . .

14. 4. With indefinite pronouns
• These words always take singular verbs:
“-one” words “-body” “-thing”
words words
None Nobody Nothing Each
One Anybody Anything Either
Anyone Everybody Everything Neither
Everyone Somebody Something
Someone
• However: “both” always takes a plural verb!

15. Activity 4, p. 467
Do as many others as you can finish in 5 minutes.
1. Everybody at my new school is/are . . .
2. Neither of those mattresses feel/feels . . .
3. Nobody in my family knows/know . . .
4. Each of the children needs/need . . .
5. Something about Robbie’s story sounds/sound . . .

16. Break

17. Homework
English Skills Chapter 2, p. 18-32
• Hand-in the prewriting assignment (Choice of
1, 4, or 5) /5 marks
• We will review the answers for activities
6, 7, and 8 now

18. Chapter 2, p. 18
The Writing Process
• Prewriting
• Drafting
• Revising
• Editing
See the purple box on p. 18

19. Example of Freewriting
• I am so tired but iam starting to get more
energy I should have had a snack at the break
starting to feel awake oh I see out of the
corner of my eye Sandra is writing and I just
heard ionnis laugh. well hmm. I was going to
give the topic occupyb vancouver just leave
the mistake stehre.

20. Writing a First Draft, p. 27
Activity 6
1. topic sentence/main idea
2. ten hours; two ten-minute breaks
3. physicaly (answers may vary)
4. end
5. Details

21. Revising, p. 28-30
Activity 7, p. 30
1. first of all, finally
2. unity, At the same time . . . loaded
3. support, over sixty hours a week, on the loading
dock, near-zero-degree temperatures
4. that made the job a worst one
5. an unpaid half hour for lunch
6. because
7. I felt this isolation
8. an ugly, bitter

22. Editing, p. 32
Activity 8
1. spelling
2. commas
3. plus just a quarter extra
4. spelled (or written) out
5. spent two hours by myself cleaning

23. Chapter 2, p. 18
The Writing Process
• Prewriting
• Drafting
• Revising [Check Unity, Support, Coherence]
• Editing [Check Sentence Skills]

24. Revision and Editing Assignment
(Homework)
1. Review my feedback on your paragraph.
2. Refer to the handout “Editing Marks” for help; then ask me if
you need more explanation.
3. Revise: make changes to improve the content of the
paragraph . [Unity, Support, Coherence]
4. Edit: make changes to improve the
grammar, punctuation, usage, and spelling of the paragraph.
[Sentence Skills]
5. You should do step 5 and 6 in two separate “passes.” *stages+
6. Hand in your all of your work, with your final version stapled
on the top.

25. Homework
For this Wednesday
• Be prepared to do in-class writing about “The Tell-Tale
Heart”
• Bring the other two short stories and your “Fiction Terms”
handout to class
For Monday
• Revision and Editing Assignment (See previous slide)
• Read English Skills, Chapter 14 “Description” (p. 268-272);
complete the questions on p. 271-272
• Complete the rest of the Subject-Verb Agreement activities
in Chapter 464-469; Answers will be provided on the
website