English Basic Structure: Subject-Verb Agreement.pdf

Subject-Verb Agreement

1. Ricky Eka Sanjaya

2. Contents
Introduction
Rules of Subject-Verb Agreement with Examples01
02
03
Check Your Understanding of Subject-Verb Agreement

4. Thissubjectisintendedtoprepare
studentsforthepaperversionofthe
TOEFLPreparationTest.Itisusedfor
studentsinthe7thsemesterorupperlevel.

5. What’s in the Module?

6. Themodulecontainsavarietyofmaterialsthattogetherprovidea
comprehensiveTOEFLPreparationprogram:
•Listeningpractices.
•Exercisesprovidepracticeofoneormoreskillsinanon-TOEFLformal.
•TOEFLExercisesprovidepracticeofoneormoreskillsinaTOEFL
format.
•TOEFLPost-Testsforeachsectionofthetestmeasuretheprogress
thatstudentshavemadeafterworkingthroughtheskillsandstrategies
inthetext.
Someofthematerialinthismodulehasbeenadaptedfromvarious
TOEFLbooks.Allmaterialhasalsobeenupdatedtoreflectthemost
recentinformationabouttheTOEFLtest.

8. Rules of Subject-Verb Agreement
with Examples

9. •Rachel spendsher free time listening to music.
(Singular subject with singular verb)
•Jim
and Jackplaythe piano.
(Plural subject with plural verb)
•She likes
to have a dessert after every meal.
(Third person singular pronoun with singular subject)
Examples:
Theuseofasingularverbwithasingular
subjectandapluralverbwithaplural
subject.Thesubjectcanbeanoun, a
pronounorevenanounphrase. Ifitisa
pronoun,thesubject-verbagreementis
donewithreferencetothepersonofthe
pronoun.

10. •Agnes Monica isa singer.
•The girls are waitingfor you.
•We werehappy with the review of our first movie.
•Michael Jackson’s songs arestill enjoyed by millions.
•I was readingthe latest book by Rudyard Kipling.
Examples:
Whenusingthe‘be’formofverbs,thereisanexception.In
thiscase,theverbisusedaccordingtothenumberand
personofthesubject.Checkoutthefollowingtabletosee
howitworkswithdifferentpronouns.
Furthermore,whenusedwithothernounsandnoun
phrases,theruleapplies.Thesameworksevenwithsimple
past,presentcontinuousandpastcontinuoustenseswhen
the‘be’formofverbsareusedastheprincipalverb/helping
verb.Checkoutthefollowingexamplestounderstand.

11. •I havea younger brother.
•You have takenthe wrong cut.
•Susyhasa pet dog.
•William Shakespeare has writtenaround 37 plays.
•James has been waitingto talk to you about the test results.
Examples:
Theuseof‘have’and‘has’inthepresent
perfecttense, thepresentperfect
continuoustenseandasamainverbisalso
dependentonthesubject.Allsingular
subjectsuse‘has’andallpluralsubjects
use‘have’.

12. •Johnand Lizareon their way to the airport.
•Caren, Sheela and Mandyhave completedtheir assessments.
Examples:
Compoundsubjectscombinedusingthe
conjunction‘and’takeapluralverb.

13. •Celery or spring onion worksfine.
•Your mom or dad hasto be here in an hour.
Examples:
Whenmorethanonenounisjoinedbythe
conjunction‘or’,thesubjectisconsideredto
besingularandasingularverbisused.

14. •Nobody hasunderstood anything.
•Everyone washappy with the outcome.
•Nothing fitsme well.
•No one findsthe movie interesting.
Examples:
Sentenceswithpronounssuchasanybody,
anyone,noone,somebody,someone,
everybody,everyone, nothingandnobody
aretreatedassingularsubjectsandwill
thereforeuseasingularverb.

15. •Neither Robertnor Gina ishere yet.
•Either the teacher or the students haveto take an initiative to keep the classroom clean.
•Neither the children nor their parents areaware of the consequences.
Examples:
Forsentencesusing‘either...or...’and
‘neither...nor...’,theverbshouldagreewith
thenounorpronounthatcomesjustbefore
it.

16. •The news of demonetization shocksthe entire nation.
•The police have been looking forthe culprits.
Examples:
Whensentenceshavesubjectslikepolice,
news,scissors, mathematics,etc.(nouns
thatarepluralbydefault),theverbused
shouldbeplural.

17. •The children do not likeworking out trigonometry problems.
•My father does not workat the bank anymore.
Examples:
Whenanegativesentenceiswritten,the
‘do’verbisusedandithastomatchthe
subject.

18. •Do youread thriller novels?
•Doesn’t sheknow you already?
•Is Tinahappy with the new house?
•Were you lookingfor me?
•Has Sharon submittedher final project yet?
Examples:
Interrogativesentencesalsotakethehelp
ofthe‘do’verb.Asfarasthesubject-verb
agreementofinterrogativesentencesis
concerned,thefirstverb(‘be’verbor‘do’
verb)hastobealignedwiththesubjectof
thesentence.

19. •Here is your book.
•There lies your shirt.
•That was a great movie.
•There have been many changesin the timetable.
Examples:
Whenyouhavesentencesthatbeginwith
‘here’,‘there’,‘this’,‘that’,‘those’, ‘these’,
etc.,alwaysrememberthatthesubject
followstheverbandthereforetheverbhas
tobeconjugatedwithreferencetothe
subject.

20. •Honesty isthe best policy.
•Love makespeople do crazy things.
•Good friendship keepsyour mind and body healthy.
Examples:
Abstractnounsanduncountablenounsare
consideredassingularsubjects,somake
sureyouuseasingularverbalongwithit.

21. •1267 kilometers istoo long for us to travel in half a day.
•10 years isnot considered optimum to go on the water slide.
•Don’t you think 50,000 rupiahs isa little too much for a portrait?
Examples:
Whenthesubjectreferstoaperiodoftime,
distanceorasumofmoney,useasingular
verb.

22. •My family issettled in Australia.
•All groups of participants have arrived.
Examples:
Thenextruleisbasedontheuseof
collectivenounsassubjects.Remember
thatwhenyouhaveacollectivenounasthe
subjectofthesentence,theverbcanbe
singularorpluralbasedonthesentence
andthecontext.

23. •All of my dresses havebecome tight.
•A lot of food isleft out.
•Some of the books aretorn and damaged.
Examples:
Insentencesthathaveadjectivessuchas
‘all’,‘alotof’,‘lotsof’or‘some’ areused
alongwithnounstoformaphrasethatacts
asthesubjectofthesentence,theverbis
usedaccordingtothenounjustbeforeit.

24. •Each student has been askedto provide a consent letter.
•Every teacher, parent and student isexpected to work together.
Examples:
Whenasentencebeginswith‘each’or
‘every’asthesubject,itisconsidered
singularandsotheverbhastobesingular
too.

25. •I wish I werea bird.
•If you were here, I would not be sad.
•We request that everyone make their choices now.
Examples:
Whenyouareusingasentencetoexpress
awishorasentenceexpressingarequest,
verbsareusedalittledifferentlyfromother
sentences.

26. •The actress, along withher manager and some friends, is going to a party tonight.
•Mr. Robbins, accompanied byhis wife and children, isarriving tonight.
Examples:
Theexpressionssuchas togetherwith ,
accompaniedby,alongwith,andaswellas
alsohavenoeffectontheverb.

27. •Noneof the counterfeit moneyhasbeen found.
•Noneof the studentshavefinished the exam yet.
•Noexampleisrelevant to this case.
•Noexamplesarerelevant to this case.
•Nofruitissold there.
Examples:
None/ Nocantakeeitherasingularorplural
verb,dependingonthenounwhichfollows
it.
None+ofthe+non-countnoun+singularverb
None+ofthe+pluralcountnoun+pluralverb
No+singular/non-countnoun+singularverb
No+pluralnoun+pluralverb

28. •Knowingher hasmade him what he is.
•Dietingisvery popular today.
•Not studyinghascaused him many problems.
•Washingwith a special cream isrecommended for scalp infections.
•Writingmany letters makesher happy.
Examples:
Ifasentencebeginswith{verb+ing}
(Gerund), theverbmustalsobesingular.

29. •A number ofstudents aregoing to the class picnic.
•The number of days in a week isseven.
Examples:
•Anumberof+pluralnoun+pluralverb
•Thenumberof+pluralnoun+singularverb

30. Check Your Understanding of
Subject-Verb Agreement

31. 1. https://www.englishcurrent.com/grammar/subject- verb-agreement-exercises-grammar/#exercises
2. https://www2.eit.ac.nz/library/Interactive%20Activities/Subject- verb%20agreement%20quiz.htm
3. https://guidetogrammar.org/grammar/quizzes/svagr2.htm
4. https://www.noslangues-ourlanguages.gc.ca/en/quiz/jeu- quiz-sva-advanced-eng
5. https://www.englishtestsonline.com/subject- verb-agreement-test-exercises-multiple-choice-
questions-with-answers-advanced-level-7/
6. http://a4esl.org/q/j/kf/mc-svad.html