Subject Verb Agreement PowerPoint Presentation

Subject-verb agreement is a fundamental grammatical rule in English that requires the verb in a sentence to match the subject in number (singular or plural). This means that a singular subject requires a singular verb, while a plural subject requires a plural verb.

1. SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT

2. Plurals in English Grammar
•To make a nounplural, we add–s
•Singular: girl
•Plural: girls
•To make a verb plural, we take away
the –s.
•Singular: he talks
•Plural: they talk

3. Watch the Verb Endings!
Singular
•I walk
•You walk
•He/She/It walk s
•Joe walk s
•The girl walk s
Plural
•We walk
•You walk
•They walk
•Joe and Maria walk
•The girls walk

4. Remember there are irregular verbs:
•DO
Singular Plural
•He does They do
•HAVE
•She has They have
•BE
•He is They are
•She was They were

5. Tip for Subject/verb Agreement
Generally, if the subject doesn’t
end in –S, the verb will.
If the subject doesend in –S,
the verb won’t.

6. The girl dances.
No –S on
subject
-S on
verb

7. The girlsdance.
-S on
subject
No –S
on verb

8. Multiple subjects joined by “and”
•If there are two or more subjects joined
by and,the subject must be plural, so
the verb will not get an “s”.
Example
•Theboy and the girldance.
(= Theydance.)
No –S on
verb

9. Multiple subjects joined by “or”
If there are two or more subjects joined by
or, the verb agrees with the part of the
subject closest to it.
Examples:
•The professor or the students walkthe
halls.
•The students or the professor walksthe
halls.

10. Indefinite Pronouns
•Some indefinite pronouns are always singular. Here
are some examples: anyone, everyone, someone, no
one, nobody
•Others can be either singular or plural (all, some)
•Everybodylovesgrammar!
•Some peoplelovegrammar.

11. Relative Pronouns
Relative Pronouns (who/which/that) can be
either singular or plural, depending on the
word they refer to.
•The student who workshard will succeed.
•The studentswho workhard will succeed.

12. Helpful hints
Sometimes, several words come between the subject
and the verb. Just take out the phrase in the middle
to see whether or not the subject and verb agree.
The student, though she had lots of problems in
other schools, finds/find (?)her new class easy.
The student, though she had lots of problems
in other schools, findsher new class easy.
The student findsher new class easy.

13. Prepositional phrases
The subject can neverbe part of a
prepositional phrase.
Example
The students in my classstudy / studies
hard.
X

14. In the sentences below, do the
subjects & verbs agree?
•They goes to the gym after class to work out.
•Harry and his friends wants to see the new movie
coming out this weekend.
•The cat who is meowing at my door wants in.
•Neither the cat nor the dogs likes the new food.
•The mayor as well as his brothers are going to jail.
•Nobody wants to dance.
•The paper or the ruler are in the desk.