Unit 40

Agreement between subject and verb

 A. WHAT LS AGEEMENT BETWEE SUBJECT AND
VERB ?

 In a sentences
• A singular subject ls followed by a singlar verb
• A plural subject is followed by a plural verb
Ex: He comes from Viet Nam
 With the complex subject, the following verb must agree
with the main noun in the subject.
Ex:The reason why I was given promotion was that I worked
hard.
 The verb must agree the subject that follows it
Ex: Here comes the bus
 B.CLAUSE

 If the subject is a clause, we usually use singlar verb

Ex: That he stole the money shocks me.

 In What – clause
• We use singlar verb if the following main noun is singular
Ex: What disappointed us is the poor servce
• We prefer use plural verb if the following main noun is plural
Ex: What s needed are(is) two more boxes
 C . Collective noun
he company makes (or make) lots of money this year
 Nouns with a singular form , refering to groups of some kind can be used with
either singular or plural form of the verb.
 Ex : The company makes (or make) lots of money this year.

 Some collective nouns : company , school , army , class , club , college ,

commitee,.....

 It’s more common in formal contexts to use a singular verb

 Some collective nouns : company , school , army , class , club ,
collegecommitee,.....
mmon in formal contexts to use a singular verb
• In some special contexts we can only use one of them :

Singular verb Plural verb

Focus on a whole unit Focus on a collection of
Ex: The class is divided inviduals
into 9 groups Ex: The class raise hands to
express their opinion
D. Nouns ending in –s
se singular verb when a nouns ending in –s ( such as names , titles,...) but still refer to a
single unit

 Ex: 10We use singular verb when a nouns ending in –s

( such as names , titles,...) but still refer to a single unit
 Ex: 101 Dalmatians is one of my favourite
cartoons.

 The news is about a terrorist in England.

 Some singular nouns ending in –s : mathematics ,

measles,economics,rabies, billiards,....
 Exercise
1/ Lucas’s family plans to travel toans B.Plans

1. Lucas’s family plans to travel to Hawaii this summer.

2. The Enlish class write book reports on their summer reading.
3. Physics is a compulsory subject in high school.
4. Many buses park near the airport.
5. The band is playing at a music festival.
6. The team were very happy with their performances to the judge.
7. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is an interesting fairy tail.

 A.write/their B.write/their