Chapter 1 subject verb agreement

Subject + Verb
Agreement
ENL 101 – ENGLISH COMPOSITION 1
ENG 120S – COLLEGE COMPOSITION 1


What is a Subject?


The subject of a sentence is the person, place, thing, or
idea that is doing or being something.



You can find the subject of a sentence if you can find the
verb.


What is a Verb?


Verbs are a necessary component of all sentences. Verbs have two
important functions: Some verbs put stalled subjects into motion while
other verbs help to clarify the subjects in meaningful ways. Look at the
examples below:

My grumpy old English teacher smiled at the plate of cold
chicken.


My grumpy old English teacher = stalled subject;

smiled = verb.

The daredevil cockroach splashed into Sara's soup.


The daredevil cockroach = stalled subject;

splashed = verb.

Theo's overworked computer exploded in a spray of sparks.


Theo's overworked computer = stalled subject;
verb.

exploded =


What is a Verb? - Exercise
The curious toddler popped a grasshopper into her mouth.


The curious toddler = stalled subject;
verb.

popped =

Francisco's comic book collection is worth $20,000.00.


Francisco's comic book collection = stalled subject;
verb.

is =



The important thing to remember is that every subject in a sentence
must have a verb. Otherwise, you will have written a fragment, a
major writing error.


Subject-Verb Agreement


Basic Rule. Subjects and verbs must AGREE with one
another in number (singular or plural). Thus, if a subject
is singular, its verb must also be singular; if a subject is
plural, its verb must also be plural.



Example: The list of items is/are on the desk.
If you know that list is the subject, then you will choose
is for the verb.


Subject-Verb Agreement
Examples:



In a sentence, every verb must have a subject. If the verb
expresses action—like sneeze, jump, bark, or study—the subject
is who or what does the verb. Take a look at this example:
During his biology lab, Tommy danced on the table.



Danced is an action verb. Tommy is who did the dancing. Look at
the next example:
The speeding car crashed into a telephone pole.



Crashed is the action verb. The car is what did the crashing.


Subject-Verb Agreement


In the present tense, nouns and
verbs form plurals in opposite
ways: nouns ADD an s to the
singular form; verbs REMOVE the
s from the singular form.


Subject-Verb Agreement


These agreement rules do not apply to verbs used in the simple past tense
without any helping verbs.


Subject-Verb
Agreement


The agreement rules do, however,
apply to the following helping
verbs when they are used with a
main verb: is-are, was-were, hashave, does-do.


Subject-Verb Agreement


The agreement rules do not apply to has-have when used as the SECOND
helping verb in a pair.


Subject-Verb Agreement


They do NOT apply to any other helping verbs, such as can, could, shall,
should, may, might, will, would, must.


Subject-Verb

Agreement


The subject-verb
agreement rules
apply to all
personal pronouns
except I, we and
you, which,
although
SINGULAR, require
PLURAL forms of
verbs.


Subject-Verb Agreement
Games:
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