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Subject Verb Agreement

Average: 5 (3 votes)
Sun, 06/21/2009 - 00:25 — Chris McCarthy

Peter plays tennis

Peter is the subject of the sentence. The subject is the person (or thing) that does an action.

In our sentence the subject is singular - Peter is one person. We can also have plural subjects (many), for example, animals, cars and towns.

Plays is the verb - it's an action. 'Eat', 'swim' and 'kick' are other examples of verbs.

So what is subject verb agreement?

Subject verb agreement means that the verb we use in a sentence can change depending on the subject. Let's use Peter again:

"Peter plays tennis" is correct because Peter is singular and the verb (plays) is singular.

"Peter play tennis" is NOT correct because the the verb is plural.

To use a plural verb we must use a plural subject:

"Peter and his friends play tennis."

Peter and his friends means more than one person and so it is a plural subject.

Link: Subject Verb Object

Link: It's and Its

Link: Prepositions of Time

  • Sandra always ___ a lot.



  • We ___ waiting for you to come.



  • All of your clothes ___ in the suitcase.



  • This flashlight ___ not work.



  • The boy or the girl ___ in the garden.



  • One of the cars ___ missing.



  • The boss and his secretary ___ having a meeting.



  • Everybody ___ English in school.



  • No one ___ English as well as you.



  • What concerns me ___ the unemployment rate.



  • Having too much free time ___ bad for children







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Comments

Sun, 06/21/2009 - 12:01 — iskolikeng

easy:]

easy:]

Sun, 06/21/2009 - 15:57 — Feeedz

Thank you..

thank you for the lesson , it wasn't difficult.
but I got a qustion about this sentence :
Everybody ___ English in school.

why is the right answer is learns, instead of learn ,, I mean "everybody" is not a singular subject , because it's not specificed to one person, am I right about it ?? or there is an exat rule about it ?
Thank you again..

Mon, 06/22/2009 - 12:39 — Chris McCarthy

RE: everybody

The words each, each one, either, neither, everyone, everybody, anybody, anyone, nobody, somebody, someone, and no one are singular and require a singular verb.

Sun, 06/21/2009 - 19:07 — Yura

I have a question?

Thank you for the lesson, it is very useful. Smile But I made 2 mistakes:
_ everybody - sometimes it is plural, sometimes it is singular( I've understood that it is a trick of the English language); Wink
_concerns - plural, why IS??? Worried

Mon, 06/22/2009 - 12:50 — Chris McCarthy

RE: What- clause

When we use a what-clause as a subject, we use a singular verb if the following main noun is singular.

What concerns me is the unemployment rate.

Mon, 06/22/2009 - 18:02 — Yura

Re: Chris McCarthy

Thank you very much!!! Smile
Is it correct? - What concern me are my results in English. or Is it nessesary to write "concernS" - What concerns me are my results in English. Worried
I'm waiting for your answer...

Tue, 06/23/2009 - 07:08 — Chris McCarthy

Yura

Regarding plural nouns after a what-clause:

In more formal writing, what concerns me are my results in English is used; however, in spoken English what concerns me is my results in English is more common. That's why it's confusing: both forms are acceptable.

Tue, 06/23/2009 - 19:17 — Yura

Re: thank you

Thank you very much!!! Smile
I think that only native-speaking teacher of English knows all these rules. Thanks once more. Love Struck

Sun, 06/28/2009 - 12:32 — shezni

thanks a lot

very important lesson

Thu, 07/30/2009 - 12:17 — Kurtan

all correct

thanks