Chap. 17 SubjectVerb Agreement

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Chap. 17 Subject-Verb Agreement

• Wednesday, Feb 27, 2008

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Subject-verb Agreement
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The head word in a noun phrase

• The boy with the trucks (singular)
• The student who has a lot of books (singular)
• E.g. The boy with the trucks goes to a
  kindergarten everyday.

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Nouns that look plural but are used with the
singular

• The news was bad yesterday.
• The United States has a large budget deficit.
• Economics is an important field of study for
  politicians.
• The lecture series sounds interesting.

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Nouns that look singular but are used with the
plural

• The people in the park look happy.
• The police have captured the criminal.

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Two nouns in the subject

• The student and teaching assistant is walking to
  the library.
• The student and the teaching assistant are
  walking to the library.

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Exercise 2

• The way Colombian teenagers act and behave
  differ a lot from teenagers in the United States.
  In my country, young people is very respectful
  with the elderly. We are taught from a very early
  age to respect our elders.
• Young people in the United States, on the other
  hand, is very cold and independent. They dont
  worry about older people. They dont mind if an
  old woman is tired or need help they just live
  their lives.

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Exercise 2

• The way Colombian teenagers act and behave
  differs a lot from teenagers in the United
  States. In my country, young people are very
  respectful with the elderly. We are taught from a
  very early age to respect our elders.
• Young people in the United States, on the other
  hand, are very cold and independent. They dont
  worry about older people. They dont mind if an
  old woman is tired or needs help they just live
  their lives.

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Verbs in a sequence

• He picks up the toy, throws it across the room,
  and screams.

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Tricky singular and plural subjectsSee the table
on p. 190

• Singular
• Every
• Each
• Each of
• Everyone/everybody
• Someone/somebody
• Anyone/anybody
• No one/nobody
• One
• Neither

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• Plural
• both

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• Singular or Plural
• All (of)
• A lot of
• Some (of)
• No
• None of

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• Singular
• -ing form
• Choosing furniture is difficult.
• Infinitive (toverb)
• To furnish a room takes time
• Clause
• Why we never use the room is a mystery.

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eitheror / neithernor

• When the subject is formed with eitheror or
  neither nor, the verb agrees with the noun
  phrase nearest to it.
• Either my boss or my colleagues deserve the
  blame.
• Neither my boss nor my colleagues deserve the
  blame.

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Agreement with adjective clauses

• My son loves his brothers, who are immensely
  loveable.
• My son loves his brother, who is immensely
  lovable.
• The problems that the student encountered were
  very troubling.
• The politician whom the journalists want to
  interview runs a construction company.

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Exercise 6 (p. 191)

• The Iranian New Year has special traditions which
  is different from others.
• The Iranian New Year has special traditions which
  are different from others.
• These are traditional acts that influences us.
• These are traditional acts that influence us.

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• She has a full-time job, which require a lot of
  energy.
• She has a full-time job, which requires a lot of
  energy.
• These are some of the things that happens among
  siblings.
• These are some of the things that happen among
  siblings.

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There

• When we use there is, there are, there was, or
  there were, the form of the verb is determined by
  the head noun of the following subject.
• There are no closets near the living room.
• There is no furniture in the room.
• There is some rivalry between the brothers.
• There are some toys on the couch.

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One of

• One of plural noun
• One of the boys is playing with a truck.
• One of the parents works at home.

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• Consuelo looks very young even though she wears a
  lot of makeup. She ahs a very delicate voice,
  which impress everyone. When she speaks, she
  always give the impression of being very well
  educated because says words and phrases in Latin,
  Spanish, German, and even Arabic. She maintains
  that certain words, phrases, passages, and poems
  should be said in the language in which they
  originated. When we talk, she will often refer to
  books she have read, and she will use foreign
  languages to make comments on her experiences.
  There is no subjects she isnt interested in.

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• Consuelo looks very young even though she wears a
  lot of makeup. She ahs a very delicate voice,
  which impresses everyone. When she speaks, she
  always gives the impression of being very well
  educated because says words and phrases in Latin,
  Spanish, German, and even Arabic. She maintains
  that certain words, phrases, passages, and poems
  should be said in the language in which they
  originated. When we talk, she will often refer to
  books she has read, and she will use foreign
  languages to make comments on her experiences.
  There are no subjects she isnt interested in.