SUBJECTVERB AGREEMENT

My cousins live in a beautiful apartment.. • Be careful, sometimes the subject and verb are separated by a phrase or clause, but the subject and verb still must agree.. Most of the peopl

Subject-verb agreement

• A singular noun takes a singular verb and

a plural noun takes a plural verb We call this subject-verb agreement

Ex: My apartment has three rooms

These apartments have big rooms

My cousin lives in another city

My cousins live in a beautiful apartment

This street is very noisy

The streets are quiet at night

• Be careful, sometimes the subject and

verb are separated by a phrase or clause, but the subject and verb still must agree Ex: The article on page 16 explains that

problem

The articles in this book are useful for this

class

Most of the people who live in this building work downtown

The movie we saw last night was very funny

• Sometimes the subject is a gerund A gerund takes a singular verb

Searching web sites is easier with a fast computer

Working long hours is not good for your health

1 S (sing) and S (sing) + V (plural)

Tom and I are working.

The secretary and the accountant of the company

haven’t come yet

2 Each/ every + N (sing) and Each N (sing) + V (sing) Every / many a = used with a singular noun and verb to

mean 'a large number of‘

Ex: Many a good man has been destroyed by drink.

Many a student and many a teacher has attended the

lecture.

3 S(sing/ pl) or S (sing/pl) + V

Either …… or

Neither … nor Either you or I am wrong

4 Not only + S1 but also + S2 + V

Not only Margaret but also her friends were

swimming in the lake

5 S(sing/ pl) as well as + S + V

no less than

with / together with

Jim with I doesn’t accept your proposal

6 S(pl) :time, measurement, money + V(sing)

Twenty five dollars is too much to pay for this book

7 Agent + Rel Pro + V

It’s he or I who am to go

8 S = [pre phrase] + V

None, a number, the majority, the minority

+ Pre Phrase + V

The development of birth control methods is the second cause of women’s liberation

None of us are perfect

Notes:

* A number of (= some) problems have arisen

• I could give you any number of (= a lot of) reasons

for not going

• The number of homeless people has increased

dramatically

9 S(indefinite) = everyone, sthg, nobody … + V(sing)

Everybody is working hard

10 Collective noun = S + V (sing)

(Family, committee, team, crowd, parliament, congress) Ex: This family is rich.

His family is sitting in the first row.

11 None

Either

Any

Do any of her friends come ?

• Note : the plural verb is more informal.

Pliers (cái kìm), tongs (cái kẹp), trousers, pants,

shorts, glasses, compasses (com pa)

loạn)

13.S = [Noun-s : (sing) + V (sing)

News, series, physics, mathematics, gymnastics,

phonetics, politics, rickets (bệnh còi xương) , the United States, the United Nations, the Philippines, the Netherlands

Ex: The news is good.

Physics is more difficult than chemistry

14 S = N (Un.C) + V (sing)

progress, advice, furniture, equipment,

knowledge, language, money, homework,

housework, information, merchandise = goods Ex: All equipment is made in Japan

15 There is/are + N (phrase)

Ex: There are the cattle in the fields