skkn tiếng anh ; a CLOSER LOOK AT SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT

Actually, subject-verb agreement inEnglish is a must, as stated by Hannah 2012, to communicate clearly inthe English language, it is necessary for the learners to match a singularsubject

Hà Thị Thơm - THPT Dương Quảng Hàm: A CLOSER LOOK

AT SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: REASON FOR CHOOSING THE TOPIC 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

2.1 Definition 4

2.2 Mother tongue influence on learning English as a foreign language 4

2.3 Steps in identifying the subject-verb agreement 6

2.4 Rules in identifying the subject-verb agreement 8

CHAPTER 3: APPLICATION- PRACTICE EXERCISES 16

3.1 Practice exercises on subject-verb agreement 16

3.2 Answer keys for the practice exercises on subject-verb agreement 22

CHPATER 4: RESULTS AND CONCLUSION 27

4.1.Results 27

4.2 Conclusion 28

REFERENCES 29

Chapter 1: Reason for choosing the topic

For a number of teachers in our profession, error (grammatical andmechanical correctness) is a complicated issue Some of us declare that it

is the composition teachers that take full responsibility for the errorcorrection while others refuse to count themselves as agents of the

“grammar gestapo” and “punctuation police” In any case, the frequencyand type of error that occur in students’ writing often determine whether

or not they are defined as “basic writers.” (Cherenka 5)

Since the 1970’s, research has claimed that formal classroom instruction

in grammar has no impact on students’ writing improvement, and hasdiscussed how to help students solve grammar problems Indeed, “theerror analysis of basic writers has received sporadic attention since theappearance of the Journal of Basic Writing in 1975.” (Robinson 52) Anerror that students often make is subject-verb agreement Manycomposition instructors believe that students often make subject-verberrors in their writing, and therefore, plan time in their syllabus to teachstudents how to correct these errors Is subject-verb agreement important?Some say it is not because many languages lack the variations in formthat make agreement necessary Actually, subject-verb agreement inEnglish is a must, as stated by Hannah (2012), to communicate clearly inthe English language, it is necessary for the learners to match a singularsubject with a singular verb and a plural subject with a plural verb, aswell as to determine what verb to use with a singular or plural subject,

substitute “he” or “they” for the subject As far as using English is

concerned, agreement might be compared to wearing matching socks.Unmatched socks will cover the feet but they look silly; whiledisagreeing verbs and subjects maybe cover the meaning, they soundstupid In Vietnam, there have been various articles about the subject-

verb agreement, however, none of them have brought out a fullunderstanding of the problem For teachers of English in general and forhigh school students in particular, they are still vague about the problems

of subject-verb agreement Therefore, hopefully, this writing will bringhome an overview of the problems to the teachers of English as a foreignlanguage The purpose of this writing is to provide an overview ofsubject-verb agreement, to bring out certain major tips and particularrules with specific examples and to introduce some interesting practicetests as a solution to such problems

Chapter 2: Literature review

In this chapter I intend to review what some researchers and teachers write about subject-verb agreement errors

2.1 Definition

Subject-verb agreement is a grammar rule that requires that the subjectshould agree in number and person with the verb So if the subject of asentence is singular, the verb must be singular If the subject of a sentence

is plural, the verb must be plural When a subject is with its correct verb,

we call this subject-verb agreement (Rosa, Alfred and Paul, E., 2002).Subject-verb agreement is where the subject and the verb in the sentence

go well with each other and the sentence makes sense

For example:

Sally kisses her daughter on her head every night.

The subject is Sally and the verb is kiss They agree with each other

Subject-verb agreement is necessary for the sentence structure to becorrect A complete sentence must have a subject and a verb The subject

is the who or what that performs the action The verb is the action word

or the feeling word

2.2 Mother tongue influence on learning English as a foreign language

Before a detailed discussion on subject and verb agreement is given, it isbeneficial to look at interlanguage because English is not the learners’mother tongue, which is Vietnamese It is interlanguage that shows howfar the interference of mother tongue language is evident in the learners’writing product Dorn (2000) states that the sentences created by wordsand phrases are the essential blocks of meaning that allow us tocommunicate as well as express ideas and thoughts If these are notconstructed carefully, they can make reading difficult He further statesthat major basic usage and grammar slips in written English are thoseassociated with verbs Based on the fact that subject-verb agreement area

is very important to express ideas, opinions especially in writing, wherenon-verbal communication is absent, the students really need to masterthis rule in order to write effectively As a result, they can convey theirmessage clearly and effectively By writing a piece of work that is errorfree, it shows that learners have mastered the English grammar rules and

it will give a good impression to others who read their work

Subject-verb agreement is one of the structures that is introduced veryearly to the students (Nor Arfah, 1988) However, they still face problems

in acquiring the correct form of the structure Vietnamese learners, whoare learning English as a foreign language (EFL), face problems insubject-verb agreement because in their first language, there are no suchrules regarding subject-verb agreement In Vietnamese all subjects eithersingular or plural require the same form of verb Consider the followingexamples:

Mai đi ra cửa hàng Mai -singular subject

Mai goes to the boutique

(subject) ( verb) (expansion)

Mai và Tuan đi ra cửa hàng Mai and Tuan -plural subjects

Mai and Tuan go to the boutique

(subject) (verb) (expansion)

Vietnamese learners have difficulty in the subject-verb agreementbecause Vietnamese does not differentiate between persons and verbs;therefore, it is not necessary for verbs to agree with the subject InEnglish, however, this is a must for English speakers to use subject-verbagreement in the present tenses Because of this, it creates confusionamong learners who tend to make errors in their writing Although thesubject-verb agreement structure is introduced early to students i.e whenthey are in the primary level, they still face problems in acquiring thecorrect form of it Some examples from a high school level VietnameseEFL learners are as follows:

It really make me unhappy Fortunately, my family especially my father need my help with his business Recently, my father want to expand his business by selling LPG gas

As the example shows, the learner failed to employ the correct rule ofsubject-verb agreement where a singular subject requires a singular verb.The learner’s writing should be:

It really makes me unhappy Fortunately, my family, especially my father

needs my help with his business Recently, my father wants to expand his

business by selling LPG gas

In addition, the subject-verb agreement (especially the numberagreement) appears to be the most problematic area faced by Vietnameselearners of English Some examples are:

Their students is in good health

Boarding schools is better than day schools

As the examples show, the learner failed to employ the correct rule ofsubject-verb agreement The learner should always remember that asingular subject requires a singular form of the verb and a plural subjectrequires a plural verb Thus, the learner should write:

The students are in good health

Boarding schools are better than day schools.

2.3 Steps in identifying the subject-verb agreement

As mentioned above, subject and verb agreement is a problematic issue,

to deal with these, some major steps should be followed

Step one: Identify the subject

It is believed this is the most important step because when the subject isidentified wrongly, the verb will be put in wrong form

In any sentence, the subject is the noun referring to the person or thingthat performs an action

Example:

The disdainful badger eats spaghetti (“Badger” is the subject, because it

is the one that performs the action of eating)

Be careful not to confuse the subject with its compliment A compliment

is a word that renames or describes the subject

Example:

My biggest fear is spiders (“Fear” is the subject, so the verb needs to be

singular The word “spiders” is the compliment.)

Sometimes the subject comes after the verb This situation is particularlycommon in sentences that start with ‘there is’ or ‘there are’; ‘there hasbeen’ or ‘there have been’.

Example:

There is a nightingale on the window-sill.

In the case that subject and verb are not near each other, and betweenthem there is a prepositional phrase This is called separated subject andverb Therefore, do not be misled by the phrase that come between thesubject and the verb The verb must agree with the main subject

Example:

The professor, as well as all of her students, is looking forward to

the weekend (“Professor”, and not “students” is the subject in this

sentence.)

The study of languages is very confusing, but interesting.

(“study”, and not “languages” is the subject in this sentence.)

Several useful theories on this subject have been proposed.

(“theories”, and not “subject” is the subject in this sentence.)

Step two: Identify the subject’s person and number

It is believed this is an important step because when the subject’s personand number are identified wrongly, the verb will also be put in wrongform First of all, determine the subject’s person

First person- I am (also first person plural: We are), I was, we were, Ihave, we have,

Second person – You are, you were, you have,

Third person – She/ He/ It (or anything other than “I” or “you”) is(also third person plural: They are): she/he/it is, she/he/it was,she/he/it has,

Then, determine if the subject is singular or plural

Singular: There is a hair in your soup.

Plural: There are two blonde hairs on his T-shirt collar.

Step three: Make the number and person of the verb match those of the subject

Once the Subject has been identified and the Verb has been put, make sure that they agree in Number.

2.4 Rules in identifying the subject-verb agreement

Besides the steps, it is advisable for students to be introduced 11following rules so that they will say goodbye to the “sore thumb ofgrammar”

Rule 1

The indefinite pronouns anyone, anybody, everyone, someone, no one,

nobody, anything, something, everything, nothing, one are always

singular and, therefore, require singular verbs

 Everyone needs to be loved.

 Everyone has done his or her homework

 Somebody has left her purse

 No news is good news.

Some indefinite pronouns — such as all, some — are singular or plural

depending on what they're referring to The noun is considered to becountable or uncountable Be careful when choosing a verb to accompanysuch pronouns

 Some of the beads are missing

 Some of the water is gone

On the other hand, there is one indefinite pronoun, none, that can be

either singular or plural; it often doesn't matter whether you use a singular

or a plural verb — unless something else in the sentence determines its

number Writers generally think of none as meaning not any and will

choose a plural verb, as in "None of the engines are working," but when

something else makes us regard none as meaning not one, we want a

singular verb, as in "None of the food is fresh."

 None of you claims responsibility for this incident?

 None of you claim responsibility for this incident?

 None of the students have done their homework (In this last

example, the word “their” precludes the use of the singular verb.)

Rule 2

Some indefinite pronouns are particularly troublesome everyone and

everybody (listed above, also) certainly feel like more than one person

and, therefore, students are sometimes tempted to use a plural verb with

them They are always singular, though each is often followed by a

prepositional phrase ending in a plural word (Each of the cars), thus

confuses the verb choice Each, too, is always singular and requires a

singular verb

Everyone has finished his or her homework.

You would always say, "Everybody is here." This means that the word is

singular and nothing will change that

Each of the students is responsible for doing his or her work in the

library.

Do never let the word "students" confuse you; the subject is each and

each is always singular Each is responsible.

Rule 3

Phrases such as together with, with, in, of, as well as, including,

accompanied by, in addition to, along with, etc are not the same as and.

The phrase introduced by as well as or along with will modify the earlier

word (mayor in this case), but it does not compound the subjects (as the

word and would do).These expressions do not change the number of the

subject If the subject is singular, the verb is too

 The mayor as well as his brothers is going to prison

 The mayor and his brothers are going to jail

 The President, accompanied by his wife, is traveling to

India.

 All of the books, including yours, are in that box.

Generally, compound subjects connected by “and” take the plural form of

the verb However, when the compound subject refers only to one person,thing, or idea, the verb is singular

Examples:

• The secretary and treasurer of this class is absent.

• A bow and arrow makes for a primitive weapon.

Rule 4

The pronouns neither and either are singular and require singular verbs

even though they seem to be referring, in a sense, to two things

 Neither of the two traffic lights is working

 Which shirt do you want for Christmas?

 Either is fine with me.

In informal writing, neither and either sometimes take a plural verb when these pronouns are followed by a prepositional phrase beginning with of.

This is particularly true in interrogative constructions: "Have either ofyou two clowns read the assignment?" "Are either of you taking thisseriously?", which is called "a clash between notional and actualagreement."

Rule 5

Different from the conjunction ‘and’, when ‘nor’ or ‘or’ is used, the

subject closer to the verb determines the number of the verb Whether thesubject comes before or after the verb, it doesn't matter; the proximitydetermines the number

 Either my father or my brothers are going to sell the house

 Neither my brothers nor my father is going to sell the house.

 Are either my brothers or my father responsible?

 Is either my father or my brothers responsible?

Because a sentence like "Neither my brothers nor my father is going to

sell the house" sounds peculiar, it is probably a good idea to put the pluralsubject closer to the verb whenever possible

Rule 6

Sentences in the inverted order where the subject is not in the beginning position, but comes after the verb, must be properly identified The words

there and here are never subjects

 There are two reasons [plural subject] for this

 There is no reason for this

 Here are two apples.

 Here comes the bride.

 There are always great and kind people around us.

With these constructions (called expletive constructions), the subjectfollows the verb but still determines the number of the verb

Rule 7

Verbs in the present tense for third-person, singular subjects (he, she, it

and anything those words can stand for) have s-endings Other verbs do not add s-endings

He loves and she loves and they love and

Rule 8

Sometimes modifiers will get between a subject and its verb, but thesemodifiers must not confuse the agreement between the subject and itsverb

The mayor, who has been convicted along with his four brothers

on four counts of various crimes but who also seems, like a cat, to

have several political lives, is finally going to jail.

plural verbs) unless they're preceded the phrase a pair of (in which case the word pair becomes the subject)

 My glasses were on the bed.

 My pants were torn.

 A pair of plaid trousers is in the closet.

When regarded as a unit, collective nouns as well as noun phrases arewords that imply more than one person but that are considered singular

and take singular verbs, such as group, team, committee, class, army,

family, Congress, club, government, jury, majority, minority, crowd, organization, and public.

 The team runs during practice.

 The committee decides how to proceed.

 The committee has to consider the matter again with more

care.

 My family has a long history.

In some cases in American English, a sentence may call for the use of aplural verb when using a collective noun

The crew are preparing to dock the ship (This sentence is referring

to the individual efforts of each crew member.)

Rule 10: Nouns with a plural form and a singular meaning

A number of words end in -s and appear to be plural but are really singular and require singular verbs

* Diseases or infections: arthritis, measles, neuritis, colitis, mumps,

phlebitis, diabetes, rickets, rabies, osteoporosis, paralysis, conjunctivitis, gingivitis, cystitis, rhinitis, tonsillitis, herpes, shingles,

etc

 The news from the front is bad.

 Shingles is caused by the same virus as chicken pox.

* Miscellaneous: billiards, gallows, checkers, molasses, news,

shambles, series, darts, etc

Billiards is a game which connects mathematics and football.

* Countries, organizations, or companies: the Philippines, Honduras,

the Himalayas, the Visayas (an island in the United States), the United States, the Manila Times (a Philippines newspaper) , the Saigon Times (a Vietnam newspaper), Wales, the United Nations, Delta Motors, etc.

* Field of study or knowledge: There are many words ending in “-ics”

that may be either singular or plural such as physics, ethics, aeronautics,

phonetics, politics, optics, economics, mathematics, statistics, civics, mechanics, tactics, athletics, hysterics Nouns ending in “-ics” can either

take a singular verb (if they are considered as the name of a science) or aplural verb (if they express a specific application of the science The “his/her”, “some”, “all” and singular modifiers do not precede them when theyare in singular in meaning

 Politics has become a way of life to them (singular)

 His politics are well-known (plural)

 Mathematics is a challenging subject

 The teacher told James that his mathematics were well below the

standard (his understanding of mathematics or his results)

On the other hand, some words ending in -s refer to a single thing but are

nonetheless plural and require a plural verb

 My assets were wiped out in the depression.

 The average worker's earnings have gone up dramatically.

 Our thanks go to the workers who supported the union.

Rule 11

Fractional expressions such as half of, a part of, a percentage of, a

majority of, a large percentage of, etc are sometimes singular and

sometimes plural, depending on the meaning (The same is true, of

course, when all, any, more, most and some act as subjects.) Sums and

products of mathematical processes are expressed as singular and requiresingular verbs The expression "more than one" (oddly enough) takes asingular verb: "More than one student has tried this."

 Some of the voters are still angry

 A large percentage of the older population is voting against

her

 Two-fifths of the troops were lost in the battle

 Two-fifths of the vineyard was destroyed by fire

 Forty percent of the students are in favor of changing the

policy

 Forty percent of the student body is in favor of changing the

policy

Singular verbs are used with mathematical abstractions

 Two and two is four

 Four times four divided by two is eight.

 Four times eight is thirty two.

 Five plus three is eight.

 The department members but not the chair have decided not

to teach on Valentine's Day

 It is not the faculty members but the president who decides

The words listed below are mass nouns They are always singular andcannot be preceded by a, an or a number They refer to things difficult to

count: information, homework, jewelry, personnel, baggage, scenery,

graft, clothing, poetry, chalk, blood, help, advice, money, soap, mail (letters)

 Much help is needed.

 Poetry is difficult to understand.

 The scenery is awesome.

However, when a noun listed above is preceded by pieces of, kinds of, collections of, etc., it is followed by a plural verb.

 Many pieces of chalk are in the box.

 Rare collections of jewelry are kept in the vault.

Rule 15

Nouns are always singular in form but either singular or plural in

meaning, the verb agrees with the intended meaning: deer, salmon,

sheep, trout, cattle, swine.

 Fifty sheep are grazing in the meadow.

 One deer, the largest, was saved.

Rule 16

Nouns that express abstract ideas are usually singular in form They require singular verbs

 Pity comes naturally from the forgiving heart.

 Courage makes us survive difficult ordeals.

Rule 17

A singular verb is used when the subject is a title of a book, play, story,

or musical composition

 Trees is a simple, charming poem.

In short, this chapter provides an overview of the subject-verb agreementand its problems From these theories, I have had my students practiceexercises on subject-verb agreement Practice makes perfect Mystudents’ knowledge of subject-verb agreement has been improvedremarkably They have been more confident when they speak English.Most importantly, my students are not afraid of doing writing lessons anylonger