GRAMMAR Subject Verb Agreement To determine the subject

GRAMMAR: Subject Verb Agreement

To determine the subject of a sentence, first separate the verb and then make a question by placing "who? " or "what? " before it -- the answer is the subject. Find the subject in each sentence. The audience littered theatre floor. The boy eats tacos. The marching band won the competition. The man with the mustache drives a BMW.

A singular subject demands a singular verb; a plural subject demands a plural verb. But is it that simple? pg. 141 A- even number problems

Singular Subjects with Singular Verbs In present tenses, nouns and verbs form plurals in opposite ways: nouns ADD an s to the singular form, BUT verbs REMOVE an s from the singular form.

Singular Subjects with Singular Verbs SINGULAR Indefinite pronouns Singular indefinite pronoun subjects take singular verbs. each, either, neither, one, no one, nobody, anyone, anybody, anything, someone, somebody, something, everyone, everybody, everything

Singular Subjects with Singular Verbs PLURAL Indefinite pronouns Plural indefinite pronoun subjects take plural verbs. several, few, both, many

Some indefinite pronouns may be either singular or plural: some, any, none, all, most with uncountable, use singular; with countable, use plural. Sugar is uncountable; therefore, the sentence has a singular verb. Marbles are countable; therefore, the sentence has a plural verb.

CHECK YOURSELF: Most of the socks ____ missing from the drier. are? is? CHECK YOURSELF: All of the sand ____ in my car. are? is?

Compound subjects joined by are and always plural. or/nor With compound subjects joined by , the verb agrees with the subject nearer to it. In the above example, the plural verb are agrees with the nearer subject actors.

In this example, the singular verb is agrees with the nearer subject director. CHECK YOURSELF: Neither the books nor the backpack ____ in sight. are? is?

Titles of single entities (books, organizations, countries, etc. ) are always singular. CHECK YOURSELF: Lord of the Flies ____ the best book I’ve ever read! are? is? The United Arab Emirates____ in the Middle East. are? is?

Practice Makes Perfect Grammar Books Pg. 111 Exercise 2 only #1 -10 Did you learn? Pg. 141 A- ODD numbered problems