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Learn about subject-verb agreement and pronoun-antecedent agreement in English grammar. Avoid common mistakes and improve your writing skills.
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DIRECTIONS:Choose the sentence in which the verb agrees with its subject. • A] • The commanding officer, as well as all the troops, was honored for courage under fire. • B] • The commanding officer, as well as all the troops, were honored for courage under fire.
ANSWER • A] • The commanding officer, as well as all the troops, was honored for courage under fire.
Phrases such as together with, as well as, and along with 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). • The mayor as well as his brothers isgoing to prison. • The mayor andhis brothersare going to jail.
PART = SUBJECT GOALS = SUBJECT
Collective nouns • Collective nouns such as committee and jurycan be treated as singular or plural, depending on whether they refer to a single unit or multiple individuals. Most indefinite pronouns such as each, either, neither or one are always singular and take a singular verb. • The indefinite pronouns both, few, many, others and several are always plural and take plural verb forms. • Several indefinite pronouns (all, any, enough, more, most, none, some) can be singular or plural depending on the context in which they are used. The relative pronouns who, which or that take verbs that agree with the word the pronoun refers to.
Choose the sentence in which the pronoun agrees with its antecedent. A] Some of the drivers on the road insist that their cars have standard transmissions.B] Some of the drivers on the road insist that his or her cars have standard transmissions.
ANSWER • A] Some of the drivers on the road insist that their cars have standard transmissions. • Intended meaning = plural: • drivers …. their
subject-verb agreement problems • Check your draft for subject-verb agreement problems by circling each sentence's subject and drawing a line with an arrow to that subject's verb. • You should be able to do this for each sentence. A verb must agree with its subject in number and in person. In many cases, the verb must take a form depending on whether the subject is singular or plural: The old man is angry and stamps into the house, but The old men are angry and stamp into the house. • Lack of subject-verb agreement is often just a matter of leaving the -sending off the verb [“THIRD PERSON SINGULAR” of regular, present-tense verbs] out of carelessness, or of using a form of English that does not have this ending. Sometimes, however, this error results from particular sentence constructions.
WHICH SENTENCES ARE CORRECT? • 1. • A] The contract has too many if’s. • B] The contract has too many ifs’. • 2. • A] For some letters, students were filing up to the stage by the 20's and 30's, but for the Q's, X's, and Z's, students were going up in 2's and 3's.B] For some letters, student's were filing up to the stage by the 20s and 30s, but for the Qs, Xs, and Zs, students were going up in 2's and 3's.
AMSWERS • 1. • A] • The contract has too many if’s. • 2. • A] For some letters, students were filing up to the stage by the 20's and 30's, but for the Q's, X's, and Z's, students were going up in 2's and 3's.
Child’s = singular possessive Yankees = plural possessive Its = possessive pronoun
SEE MORE AT THE LINKS BELOW • http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/GRAMMAR/sv_agr.htm • http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/easywriter3e/20errors/ • http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/nsmhandbook/errors.html • http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/smhandbook/pages/bcs-main.asp?s=01000&n=00010&i=01010.01&v=&o=&ns=0&uid=0&rau=0 • http://aliscot.com/bigdog/agreement_pa.htm PLEASE KEEP STUDYING!
