Chapter 1 subject verb agreement

Subject + Verb Agreement ENL 101 – ENGLISH COMPOSITION ENG 120S – COLLEGE COMPOSITION 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 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 not apply to has-have when used as the SECOND helping verb in a pair Subject-Verb Agreement  They 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:  http://www.eslgamesplus.com/subject-verb-agreement-game/  https://jeopardylabs.com/play/subject-verb  http://www.cityu.edu.hk/elc/quiz/subverb1.htm  https://www.shsu.edu/~ txcae/Powerpoints/prepostest/subverbpretest.html  https://www.pcc.edu/staff/pdf/645/SubjectVerbAgreement.pdf  https://www.quia.com/quiz/281290.html ... forms of verbs Subject- Verb Agreement Games:  http://www.eslgamesplus.com /subject- verb- agreement- game/  https://jeopardylabs.com/play /subject- verb  http://www.cityu.edu.hk/elc/quiz/subverb1.htm... a pair Subject- Verb Agreement  They 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. .. the singular form Subject- Verb Agreement  These agreement rules not apply to verbs used in the simple past tense without any helping verbs Subject- Verb Agreement  The agreement rules do,