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Subject – Verb Agreement

Subject – Verb Agreement. Why do subjects and verbs have to agree? After all, they are only words!. We agree. What’s wrong with these sentences?. There is too many pictures on the wall. Or this one? Everybody but Sami want to go home. Or this one?

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Subject – Verb Agreement

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  1. Subject – Verb Agreement Why do subjects and verbs have to agree? After all, they are only words! We agree

  2. What’s wrong with these sentences? • There is too many pictures on the wall. Or this one? • Everybody but Sami want to go home. Or this one? • All the people plans to win the lottery. The subjects and verbs don’t agree!

  3. How do we fix them? • There are too many pictures on the wall. A plural subject goes with a pluralverb. • Everybody but Jasim wants to go home. A singular subject goes with a singular verb. • All the people plan to win the lottery. A plural subject goes with a pluralverb. Now the subjects and verbs agree!

  4. To be correct, subjects and verbs must agree… • They must agree in NUMBER: • Singularsubjects go with singularverbs. • Everyonewants to win the lottery. • Plural subjects go with pluralverbs. • All the players want to win the game. • Number is always about Singular & Plural Verb Subject

  5. What causes problems with S/V agreement? • Words between the subject and the verb: The shoes in the closet needs to be shined. In the closet is a prepositional phrase between the subject shoes and the verb need. To be correct, the verb should be: need with no “s” The shoes in the closet need to be shined. Common Prepositions

  6. Verb before the subject… • Inside the garage are the shovel. • Across the border isMakka and Jeddah. • Where is the instructions for the X-Box? Shouldn’t they be…? • Inside the garage is the shovel. • Across the border areMakka and Jeddah. • Where are the instructions for the X-Box?

  7. Indefinite Pronouns Nobodyhave a clue about what they are doing. (should be has) Everythingare ready for the party. (should be is) Neither Sami, nor Ali, nor Tariq know the way. (should be knows) All of them wants to go. (should be want)

  8. Compound Subjects • Subjects joined by and usually take a plural verb. Diet andexerciseis ways to be healthy. (should be are) Ambitionand luckis Mahhood's keys to success. (should be are) Who, Which and That If they stand for singular words, who, which and that take singular verbs: Jamal is a person who are very private. (should be is) If they stand for plural words, who, which and that take plural verbs: Ali is one of those people who is very private. (should be are)

  9. General Rules for checking subject / verb agreement • When you are trying to see if the subject and verb agree, leave out the part you don’t need: Everyonein the contestwant to win. Everyonewant to win. [wrong!: should be wants] • Now put the part back: Everyonein the contestwants to win. • Say the sentence to yourself out loud, if it doesn’t sound right, there is a very good chance it is not right. Correct Information

  10. Subject / Verb Agreement Exercise          Underline the correct verb in the parentheses.  1.         Almost everybody (has / have) some difficulty with writing.. 2.         Neither the chipmunk nor the squirrels (is / are) bothering us.  3.         Both of us (is / are) voting in the next election.  4.         Neither of you (jump / jumps) to conclusions.  5.         Some say the Indians (has / have) been treated unfairly.  6.         He (is / are) my boss and friend.  7.       Sunbathing (is / are) my favorite form of exercise.  8.       Neither of us (has / have) to pay the fine.  9.       The twins and their parents (travel / travels) together.  10.       Nobody (believe / believes) your alibi(excuse).  11.       America and Russia (is / are) the most powerful nations.  12.       “Safe” and “out” (is / are) two calls in baseball.  13.       Neither of them (dance / dances) to disco music.  14.       Each (serve / serves) a different purpose.  15.       The hammer as well as the saw (make / makes) work easier.  16.       Our team (play / plays) hard every night.  17.       Neither of the boys (has / have) to shave.

  11. Present Tense Exercise Correct the subject-verb agreement problems.Dr. Salma state in her article that men and women is different emotionally and physically.  She believes that men avoids emotional issues, but women are more compassionate and sensitive.  Salma face the fact about the two different sexes. They acts and thinks very differently about ways of communication.  Women tends to looks at problems in several different ways but men looks at problems objectively only.  I knows that this point are quite true in the Arab Countries because the husband always talk about sports while the wife want to talk about relationships and feelings.  Men generally makes a lot of jokes and they likes to talk in public, but woman are much more serious and they hardly ever speaks in public.

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