This document provides instructions and lessons on grammar and writing for students. It includes the following: - A list of assignments due for the day and upcoming week, including a cause and effect practice paragraph and novel quiz. - A lesson on subject-verb agreement with examples of singular and plural subjects and common mistakes. - Exercises for students to practice identifying subjects and verbs. - A section on compound subjects and indefinite pronouns with examples of agreement rules. - Instructions for revising writing assignments and homework for an upcoming English chapter.

1. November 8, 2010
Grammar: Subject-Verb Agreement
Writing: Sentence Skills Revision

2. Housekeeping
Hand in today:
• Cause and Effect Practice Paragraph
Wednesday:
• You should be up to p. 168 in the novel
• Novel Quiz
• Novel Vocabulary Paragraph Due (I will try to
remember to put up some sample sentences on
the website!!)

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. When words come between the
subject and verb (p. 464) . . .
. . . subject-verb agreement does not change.
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 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.
When words come between the
subject and verb (Cont’d.)

8. Activity, p. 464
• Do as many others as you can finish in 5 minutes.
1. seem
2. taste
3. is
4. speak
5. is
6. looks
7. is
8. need
9. overflows
10. sleeps

9. 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.
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. is
2. was
3. do
4. are
5. rest
6. were
7. are
8. stands
9. are
10. were

11. 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. stay
2. are
3. hold
4. were
5. wants
6. are
7. were
8. visit
9. were
10. act

14. With indefinite pronouns
• These words always take singular verbs:
• However: “both” always takes a plural verb!
“-one” words “-body”
words
“-thing”
words
One
Anyone
Everyone
Someone
Nobody
Anybody
Everybody
Somebody
Nothing
Anything
Everything
Something
Each
Either
Neither

15. Activity, p. 467
• Do as many others as you can finish in 5 minutes.
1. is
2. feels
3. knows
4. needs
5. sounds
6. pitches
7. was
8. provides
9. likes
10. steals

16. BREAK

17. Writing
• Handing back
– exemplification paragraphs
– process paragraphs

18. Topic Sentences
Remember
• A single paragraph begins with one clear topic sentence.
• Topic sentences must
– state who or what the paragraph is about
– what the writer (you) think about the topic
Examples:
My friend Alice is very forgetful.
You can make a healthy soup in a few simple steps.

19. Writing a Topic Sentence II, p. 69-70
For each number,
1) select one of the limited topics, and
2) decide what you want to say about that
topic.
3) Write a topic sentence that includes 1 and 2
above.

20. Student Sentences
1. In my school there are special courses for disabled students. (topic is clear, but needs to include
writers opinion about it – is it beneficial? useful? not useful?)
There are some strict policies in our school that we have to follow. (the writer’s opinion could be
even clearer: The policies we have to follow in our school are too strict)
Text answer: Business Writing 101 (topic) has proved to be the most useful (writer’s opinion)
college course I’ve taken.
2. The working conditions in my last job were very poor.
The working conditions at the construction site were very poor.
My duties at work are too many for the low salary. (OR: I have too many duties at my work. [the
low salary is not really the focus of the paragraph])
3. I am looking for a better way to save money faster. (What will the paragraph focus on? the new
ways or the old ones? TRY: I am exploring several different ways of saving money faster. )
Being limited with money when you have small children is hard. (The writer’s opinion [is hard] is
clear, but the topic could be stated a bit more clearly: It is hard to take care of children with
limited money).

21. Revision for Sentence Skills
• rewrite your paragraph, making the corrections suggested
• use the editing marks handout to try to figure out what
my correction mark mean
• if you’ve tried but can’t figure out what my mark means
or how to correct the error, THEN, and only THEN, you
can ask me for help
Revised paragraphs are worth up to 3 bonus marks each:
1 = you tried, but you missed several corrections or corrected
them incorrectly! ;-)
2 = you made most of the corrections correctly
3 = you did every correction and you did them correctly

22. Homework
Due Wednesday:
• You should be up to p. 168 in the novel
• Novel Quiz
• Novel Vocabulary Paragraph Due
Due Monday:
• Read English Skills, Chapter 11 Comparison or Contrast,
p. 222-232.
• Answer the questions throughout the chapter. Answer
keys will be posted online.
• Do Writing Assignment #1 on p. 233 (for practice and
feedback).