English 6 Subject-Verb Agreement
English 6 Subject-Verb Agreement
ESTELITA A. JAVIER
.Now, it’s time for you to deepen your
knowledge and skills in subject-verb
agreement. I bet you’ll enjoy this even
more.
You will learn how to compose clear and
coherent sentences using appropriate
grammatical structures following the
rules in Subject-Verb Agreement.
Always remember that whenever you
communicate with others and as you
present your work in the class, you
should always observe politeness at all
times, be tactful and open to criticism.
In this activity sheet, several
exercises are prepared for you
to enhance your knowledge
and skills on Subject-Verb
Agreement so you can
compose clear and coherent
sentences.
Task 1: Circles, Boxes, and Arrows With your partner, read the
following sentences. Encircle the subjects and box the verbs.
Then, make an arrow from the verb to its subject.
1. An urban habitat refers to areas
dominated by human activities.
2. Nowadays, an urban habitat is already a
home to many animals.
3. Birds like pigeons nest on tall
buildings.
4. Mice and rats build their habitats
inside or near houses.
5. Perhaps, the favorite city animals live
in the homes of people - cats, dogs, and
other pets.
SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT
Hint: Verbs that end with s are singular. Verbs do not form their
plurals by adding an s as nouns do. In order to determine which
verb is singular and which one is plural, think of which verb you
would use with he or she and which verb you would use with they.
Example:
talks, talk
Which one is the singular form?
Which word would you use with he?
We say, "He talks." Therefore, talks is singular.
We say, "They talk." Therefore, talk is plural.
RULES IN SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT
1. General Rule: A
singular subject takes a
singular verb. A plural
subject takes a plural
verb.
2. Intervening words & phrases: A phrase or
clause that interrupts a subject and its verb
does not affect the subject verb agreement (of
phrases, together with, as well as, with, in
addition to, accompanied by, etc.)
e.g. The captain of the guards stands at
attention.
The troopers whom the captain put in
charge of the roadblock stand on either side.
The teacher, together with her students,
visits the library.
Exceptions:
If the parts of the compound subject are
thought of as one item, then a singular
verb is needed.
CONFUSING SUBJECTS
7. Hard to Find Subjects: A subject
that comes after its verb must still
agree with it in number.
Inverted Sentence: Under the
table is the cat.
On top of the hill are two
tractors.
Sentences with “Here” and “There”:
There is only one orange in the
8. Subjects of Linking Verbs: A linking verb
must agree with its subject regardless of the
number of its predicative nominative.
e.g. Speeding cars are one reason for the high
accident rate.
20. For items that have two parts, when the word pair
is used, the verb is singular. But without the word
pair, the verb is plural. (scissors, tongs, trousers,
pants)
e.g. My scissors are lost.
A pair of scissors is needed for the activity.
Task 3: Oral Drill Identify the subject
in each sentence and tell whether it is
singular or plural. Then choose the
correct verb inside the parenthesis to
make the statement correct.
Example: The survey covering seven
schools (reveal, reveals) a growth in
enrollment.
Subject: The survey
Form: singular Verb: reveals
1. My sister and my brother (lives, live) in
Davao City.
2. Either the man or his friends (knows,
know) the answer.
3. Three weeks (is, are) a long time.
4. The news (surprise, surprises) me
today.
5. Each student and teacher (was, were)
aware of the difficulty.
6. A car and a bike (is, are) my means of
transportation.
7.My aunt or my uncle (is, are) arriving at the airport.
8. Neither Jenny nor the others (is, are) available.
9. The serving bowl or the plates (go, goes) on that
shelf.
10. Each of the students (read, reads) well.
11. Five years (is, are) the maximum sentence for that
offense.
12. Dennver, a campus journalist, (write, writes) the
reports.
13. The Red Hen and Her Friends (is, are) the narrative
that we read last time.
14. Social Studies (is, are) my favorite subject.
15. Mumps (is, are) a viral disease.
Task 4: Choosy Me! Choose the correct form of the verb in
each of the following sentence.
1. The Philippines
___________________________________.
2. Filipinos
_________________________________________.
3. One of the Filipino traditions
_________________________.
4. Either sinigang or adobo
____________________________.
5. What make us proud as Filipinos
___________________________________.
Read “Let’s Remember This”
You may know something or have a meaningful
experience that you want to share to others, but
if you cannot communicate effectively, your
ability to share knowledge, information, or
experiences is affected.