Subject Verb Agreement Number

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Subject Verb Agreement Number Person

• The Brief Handbook
• Chapter 15

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Subject Verb Agreement

• A subject names what or whom a sentence is
  about. The subject ordinarily performs the
  action described by the verb in a sentence.
• Captain Kirk danced a tango.

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Subject Verb Agreement

• A verb describes the action of a sentence or
  expresses a state of being.
• Mr. Spock is a nice vulcan.
• Mr. Scott works on his homework.
• A verb must agree with its subject in number
  (singular or plural) and person (first, second,
  or third.)

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Singular and Plural Nouns

• Singular nouns refer to only one person or
  thing. Words such as dog, kite, car,
• president, expert, and proper nouns like Alfred
  and Thuy are all singular nouns.
• A group of things that act together as a whole
  are also considered singular, such as Congress.

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Singular and Plural Nouns

• A plural noun refers to more than one thing.
  Words like dogs, kites, cars, presidents, and
  experts are all plural nouns.
• Proper nouns like Alfred and Thuy are not
  generally pluralized.

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Person

• Person is a term that indicates whether the
  subject or object of the verb is
• first person I - the speaker.
• second person you- person being spoken to.
• third person he, she, it -person, place, or
  thing being spoken about.

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Person

• First Person I am going.
• Second Person You are going.
• Third Person Alfred is going.
• The verbs in these examples are all be verbs
  that shifted in person to agree with the subject
  of the sentence.

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Person

• Third-person singular subjects include nouns
  the personal pronouns he, she, it and one and
  many indefinite pronouns, such as everyone,
  someone, each, either, anything, everything,
  something, somebody, and nobody.

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Person

• Note
• When writing essays please avoid the second
  person. This often causes the writer to shift in
  person, write wordy sentences, and sentences that
  are awkward.

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Subject Verb Agreement

• The Magic S
• Plural subjects often end in s while singular
  subjects often do not end in s.
• Singular verbs often end in s while plural
  verbs often do not end in s.
• There are many exceptions to this rule!

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Subject Verb Agreement

• Captain Kirk likes to give dramatic speeches.
• Mr. Spock buys his salad at Mc Donalds.
• A student is responsible for his or her grade.
• Students are responsible for their grade.
• Captains like to give dramatic speeches.
• Vulcans buy their salads at Mc Donalds.

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Subject Verb Agreement

• This rule does not apply to all cases.
• They say that English is an easy subject.
• I hate to have a headache.

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Subject Verb Agreement

• When other words come between the subject and
  verb, those words have no impact on subject verb
  agreement.
• Education despite all its problems and
  difficulties is still the best way to protect
  democracy.

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Subject Verb Agreement

• Students who do all the assigned reading and
  study each quiz are likely to do well in class.
• Shrek, along with Donkey, Puss-in-Boots, and
  three blind mice, rescues Fiona.

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Subject Verb Agreement

• Compound subjects joined by and usually take
  plural verbs.
• Kirk and Spock are Starfleet Officers.
• Missy and I are going to Mc Donalds.

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Subject Verb Agreement

• One exception to this rule is that in English,
  nouns can become bound together so that they
  sound like two things, but they have become so
  closely related that they are considered to be
  one thing, for example franks and beans
  peanut-butter and jelly rhythm and blues and
  politics and corruption.

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Subject Verb Agreement

• Peanut-butter and Jelly is good.
• Ham and eggs is a common breakfast.
• Peace and quiet is what everyone wants.

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Subject Verb Agreement

• When each or every precedes a compound
  subject the verb is singular.
• Members of the group are being considered
  individually.
• Each senator and representative has to vote on
  the issues, not along party lines.

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Subject Verb Agreement

• Compound subjects joined by or may take either
  plural or singular verbs depending upon the
  subjects.
• If both subjects are singular, then the verb is
  singular.
• If both subjects are plural, then the verb is
  plural.

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Subject Verb Agreement

• If one subject is singular and the other plural,
  the verb agrees with the subject closest to the
  verb.
• Missy or her friends are responsible.
• Her friends or Missy is responsible.

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Subject Verb Agreement

• Indefinite pronouns are pronouns that dont
  refer to specific persons or things.
• Anyone can do it.
• Few are expected to survive.
• Everything is going to explode.

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Subject Verb Agreement

• Some indefinite nouns are plural
• Both students made an A on the test.
• Many students passed the class.
• Several students read their homework.
• All of these are plural because they refer to
  more than one person or thing.

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Subject Verb Agreement

• Some indefinite nouns are singular
• Everyone is going to make an A today.
• Nobody is going home early tonight.
• One student will write a long essay.
• These are singular because they refer to one
  person or one group of people or things.

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Subject Verb Agreement

• Some indefinite pronouns can be both singular
  or plural depending upon the noun they refer to.
• None of the proposals is easy to dismiss.
• None but the brave are on the streets.

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Subject Verb Agreement

• A collective noun is a group of people or things
  that act as a single unit. When the group is
  referred to as a whole, the collective noun is
  singular. When the group is referred to as
  individuals, it is plural.

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Subject Verb Agreement

• The committee is confident that it has reached
  the right decision.
• Members of the committee admit that they could
  be wrong.

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Subject Verb Agreement

• Phrases that name fixed amounts- a minority,
  fifty-percent, ten-dollars, are treated like
  collective nouns. When the amount denotes a
  unit, it takes a singular verb. When the amount
  denotes parts of the whole, it takes a plural
  verb.

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Subject Verb Agreement

• Ten dollars is a good tip for a five dollar
  meal. Ten dollars is a unit of currency, so it
  is singular.
• Seventy-five percent of the people who visit
  EPCOT are disappointed when they leave. 75 is
  part of a whole, so it is plural.

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Subject Verb Agreement

• Sometimes nouns can end in s and appear to be
  plural, but are actually singular.
• Physics is a fun class if you enjoy math.
• Linguistics is a worthwhile hobby.

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Subject Verb Agreement

• The subject and verb must agree even when the
  normal word order is inverted.
• Is Mr. Spock slapping Captain Kirk?
• There are klingons in the house.
• Disturbed by the proposal were many parents.

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Subject Verb Agreement

• A linking verb is a verb that has no physical
  action and acts like an equals sign in a
  sentence.
• Missy seemed happy, or Missy happy
• In this case the linking verb is seemed
  because the verb has no action.

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Subject Verb Agreement

• A subject compliment is a descriptive word
  that follows the linking verb. It renames or
  describes the subject.
• Missy seemed happy, or Missy happy.
• In this case, happy is the subject compliment.
  It describes what Missy is.

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Subject Verb Agreement

• A linking verb should agree with its subject not
  its subject compliment.
• The problem was termites.
• Termites were the problem.

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Pronoun Antecedent Agreement

• A pronoun antecedent is the noun that comes
  before the pronoun. It is the noun that defines
  the pronoun in the sentence.
• Alfred wrote a story, but he didnt like the
  ending.

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Pronoun Antecedent Agreement

• Pronouns and their antecedents must agree in
  person, gender, and number.
• Mr. Spock fired his phaser at a klingon.
• Mr. Spock is a third person, masculine, singular
  antecedent, and his is the third person,
  masculine, singular pronoun that agrees with the
  antecedent.

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Pronoun Antecedent Agreement

• Compound antecedents take plural pronouns.
• Kirk and Spock fired their phasers.
• Since more than one person is firing a phaser,
  the pronoun is plural.

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Pronoun Antecedent Agreement

• If a compound antecedent denotes a single person
  or thing, it is singular. Often we will use more
  than one pronoun to describe the same person.
• In 2004, a gentleman and a scholar, wrote a book
  about his adventures.
• The author is both a gentleman and scholar.

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Pronoun Antecedent Agreement

• If a pronoun antecedent is a collective noun,
  then use a singular pronoun if the meaning is
  singular, a plural pronoun if the meaning is
  plural.
• The jury members took their seats.
• The Jury took its time to deliver a verdict.

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Pronoun Antecedent Agreement

• Most indefinite pronouns are singular and take
  singular pronouns. Words like each, every,
  either, neither, one, and anyone all refer to one
  person or object so they take singular pronouns.
• Indefinite pronouns like both, many, and few
  refer to more than one person, so they take
  plural pronouns.

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Subject Verb Agreement
The End