English assignment

subject verb agreement

1. Subject is the person/people/thing(s) that do the activity

Example  : I, you, they, we, she, he, it, my dad and my mom, Linda and the bank, the flight schedule.

2. kinds  of verb

1.               Action Verbs

2.               Linking Verbs

3.               Helping  Verbs

a. Action Verbs .Also known as Main Verb.

·   express action :  give, eat, walk, and other

·   possession    : have, own, and other

  Action verbs can be either transitive or intransitive.

Example   : transitive : with object

      intransitive  : without object

b. Linking Verbs

A linking verb connects the subject of a sentence to a noun or adjective that renames or describes the subject

Example : To Be: is, am, are, was, were.

      Verb: seem, appear, become, grow, remain, get, prove, turn, look, sound, smell, taste, feel.

c. Helping Verbs

Helping verbs are used before action or linking verbs to convey additional information regarding aspects of possibility or time.

Example : possibility :  can, could, and other

time : was, did, has, and other

·         MODALS : always function as Helping Verbs.

·         MODALS : can, could, may, might, shall, will, ought to, should, would

3. MAIN RULE OF   ‘’ Subject Verb Agreement’’

a.         Subjects and verbs must agree in number.

b.         Don’t get confused by the words.

c.       Prepositional phrases between the subject and verb

d.         When sentences start with “there” or “here” the subject will always be placed after the verb, so care needs to be taken to identify it correctly

e.          two subjects are joined by and, they typically require a plural verb form

f.           The verb is singular if the two subjects separated by and refer to the same person or thing

g.         If one of the words each, every, or no comes before the subject, the verb is singular.

h.         If the subjects are both singular and are connected by the words or, nor,

         neither/nor, either/or, and not only/but also the verb is singular.

i.           The only time when the object of the preposition decides plural or singular verb forms is when noun and pronoun subjects like some, half, none, more, all, etc. are followed by a prepositional phrase. In these sentences, the object of the preposition determines the form of the verb.

j.           The singular verb form is usually used for units of measurement or time.

k.          If the subjects are both plural and are connected by the words or, nor, neither/nor, either/or, and not only/but also, the verb is plural.

l.           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, you use the verb form of the subject that is nearest the verb.

m.       Indefinite pronouns (everything, anything, everyone, someone, somebody, nothing,) typically take singular verbs.

n.         Except for the pronouns (few, many, several, both, all, some) that always take the plural form.

o.         If two infinitives are separated by and they take the plural form of the verb.

p.         When gerunds are used as the subject of a sentence, they take the singular verb form of the verb; but, when they are linked by and, they take the plural form.

q.         Collective nouns like family, committee, herd, senate, class, crowd, etc. usually take a singular verb form.

r.          Titles of books, movies, novels, etc. are treated as singular and take a singular verb.

Choose the correct form of the verb that agrees with the subject.

1.      Annie and her brothers are at school.

2.      Either my mother or my father are coming to the meeting.

3.      The dog or the cats is outside.

4.      Either my shoes or your coat is always on the floor.

5.      George and Tamara don't want to see that movie.

6.      Benito doesn't know the answer.

7.      One of my sisters is going on a trip to France.

8.      The man with all the birds  lives on my street.

9.      The movie, including all the previews, takes about two hours to watch.

10.   The players, as well as the captain, want to win.

11.   Either answer is acceptable.

12.   Every one of those books is fiction.

13.   Nobody knows  the trouble I've seen.

14.    Is the news on at five or six?

15.   Mathematics is John's favorite subject, while Civics is  Andrea's favorite subject.

16.   Eight dollars is the price of a movie these days.

17.   Are the tweezers in this drawer?

18.   Your pants  are at the cleaner's.

19.   There were fifteen candies in that bag. Now there is only one left!

20.   The committee debates these questions carefully.

21.   The committee lead very different lives in private.

22.   The Prime Minister, together with his wife, greets the press cordially.

23.   All of the CDs, even the scratched one, are in this case.