Chapter 1 subject verb agreement

Verbs have two important functions: Some verbs put stalled subjects into motion while other verbs help to clarify the subjects in meaningful ways..  The important thing to remember is t

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; exploded =

verb

What is a Verb? - Exercise

The curious toddler popped a grasshopper into her mouth.

 The curious toddler = stalled subject; popped =

verb.

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

 Francisco's comic book collection = stalled subject; is =

verb.

 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,

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,

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:

txcae/Powerpoints/prepostest/subverbpretest.html