Subject Verb Agreement

1
Subject Verb Agreement

• Isnt it nicer when we all agree?
• (Info is located on pages 141-159)

2
Singular and Plural Number

• When a word refers to one person or thing, it is
  singular. When a word refers to more than one it
  is plural.
• One of the Normans was not wearing his jersey.
• Several of the Normans were not wearing their
  jerseys.

3
Collective nouns may be singular or plural

• The class has a sub. (class is a unit and is
  singular)
• Some examples of collective nouns are army,
  club, family, flock, group, herd. (pg 153)

4
Agreement of Subject and Verb

• A verb agrees with its subject in number
• Singular subjects take singular verbs
• Plural subjects take plural verbs
• Ex.
• Ms. Goler teaches at Beverly.
• The administrators work at Beverly.

5
Singular Pronouns (youll see this twice, so know
that its important!)

• Each,
• either,
• neither,
• one,
• everyone,
• everybody,

• no one,
• nobody,
• anyone,
• anybody,
• someone,
• somebody.

6
Plural Pronouns

• Several
• Few
• Both
• Many
• Ex.
• Several of the students were on the track team.

7
Some Pronouns can be singular and plural
depending upon meaning of sentence. These are

• Some
• All
• Any

• Most
• None
• (See page 147)

8
Compound Subject

• Most compound subjects joined by and take a
  plural verb.
• Freshmen and sophomores are considered
  underclassmen.
• Singular subjects joined by or / nor take a
  singular verb.
• Neither Beverly Hills nor Santa Monica is a bad
  place to live.

9
Compound Subject Trick

• When a singular and a plural are joined by or/
  nor, the verb agrees with the nearer subject.
• Either the boy or his sisters were up to
  something. (sisters were)
• Neither the cupcakes nor the lemonade seems sweet
  enough. (lemonade seems)

10
When a subject follows a verb. . .

• Be careful to anticipate the subject and make
  sure that the verb agrees
• Trick Flip around the sentence to figure out
  which verb must be used. . .
• Here are the brushes that you need.
• There is the boy in the family.

11
Dont and doesnt must agree with the subject of
the sentence.

• I dont have a clue.
• You dont need my permission to use the stapler.
• It doesnt look good when you dont wear socks.
• They dont feel nervous about the test.

12
More to follow on this with

• Pronoun and Antecedent Agreement.
• I bet you cant wait to agree even more. . .