subject-verb agreement powerpoint presentation

Grades 4 and 5

1. SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT

2. Plurals in English Grammar
•To make a noun plural, 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 does end in –S,
the verb won’t.

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

7. The girls dance.
-S on
subject
No –S
on verb

8. 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, finds her new class easy.
 The student finds her new class easy.

9. 12. Collective nouns usually take
a singular verb.
•The herd is stampeding.

The class was ready for the test.
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10. Prepositional phrases
The subject can never be part of a
prepositional phrase.
Example
The students in my class study / studies
hard.
X

11. 3. Prepositional phrases between the
subject and verb usually do not
affect the agreement.
The biker in this race is very competitive.
The bikers in this race are very competitive.

12. 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.