One of the common grammar mistakes that I have always made is subject and verb agreement. Although subject and verb agreement seems to be very easy, many people still will make mistake on it. I always make mistake when using it in my writing.
These are the following examples.“Neither of them are available to speak right now” and “Neither Lim nor Low are coming”. This is the way of my writing according to my so-called sixth sense. This concept is based on the using of plural verb form for plural nouns “them” and “Lim and Low”. This basic concept is correct, but cited in this topic is totally wrong. When singular nouns and plural nouns are connected by "either…or" or "neither…nor", the use of verb is dependent on the closest subject to it. For instance, “Neither Low nor his friends are coming”. The second condition is when either and neither become subjects, they always take singular verbs. Thus, the example one that shown above should be changed to “Neither of them is available to speak right now”.
Besides that, collective nouns are so important for us to take note of. "Team" and "staff" may be either singular or plural depending on the situation in the sentence. For example, “The staff is in a meeting”, “The staff are in disagreement about the findings”. The staff is acting as a unit in the first example whereas the second one is acting as separate individuals.
Furthermore, we need to be careful of common indefinite pronouns such as some, none, anyone, no one, each, etc. They are always singular so they require singular verb. For instance, "No one has done the homework". Albeit “each” is always followed by a plural noun, it requires singular verb. I often remind myself for not being confused by the plural noun. For example, each of the students comes from Malaysia.
Using the subject and verb agreement correctly is the fundamental of speaking and writing good English. What we need to do is to understand the rule of it and doing more practice. Following is some examples that I find from internet. Try and see whether you fully understand of this or not!
Practice (Quiz on Subject-Verb Agreement):
1. Either the physicians in this hospital or the chief administrator ____ going to have to make a decision.
2. ______ my boss or my sisters in the union going to win this grievance?
3. Everyone selected to serve on this jury _____ to be willing to give up a lot of time.
4. Some of the votes __________ to have been miscounted.
5. He seems to forget that there __________ things to be done before he can graduate.
6. Three-quarters of the students __________ against the tuition hike.
7. Three-quarters of the student body __________ against the tuition hike.
Answer:
1. is
2. is
3. has
4. seem
5. are
6. are
7. is
Have you scored?
If you did not get all correct, you must read the rules again!!!
You can check your knowlegde through the more practices provided in the website below.
References
These are the following examples.“Neither of them are available to speak right now” and “Neither Lim nor Low are coming”. This is the way of my writing according to my so-called sixth sense. This concept is based on the using of plural verb form for plural nouns “them” and “Lim and Low”. This basic concept is correct, but cited in this topic is totally wrong. When singular nouns and plural nouns are connected by "either…or" or "neither…nor", the use of verb is dependent on the closest subject to it. For instance, “Neither Low nor his friends are coming”. The second condition is when either and neither become subjects, they always take singular verbs. Thus, the example one that shown above should be changed to “Neither of them is available to speak right now”.
Besides that, collective nouns are so important for us to take note of. "Team" and "staff" may be either singular or plural depending on the situation in the sentence. For example, “The staff is in a meeting”, “The staff are in disagreement about the findings”. The staff is acting as a unit in the first example whereas the second one is acting as separate individuals.
Furthermore, we need to be careful of common indefinite pronouns such as some, none, anyone, no one, each, etc. They are always singular so they require singular verb. For instance, "No one has done the homework". Albeit “each” is always followed by a plural noun, it requires singular verb. I often remind myself for not being confused by the plural noun. For example, each of the students comes from Malaysia.
Using the subject and verb agreement correctly is the fundamental of speaking and writing good English. What we need to do is to understand the rule of it and doing more practice. Following is some examples that I find from internet. Try and see whether you fully understand of this or not!
Practice (Quiz on Subject-Verb Agreement):
1. Either the physicians in this hospital or the chief administrator ____ going to have to make a decision.
2. ______ my boss or my sisters in the union going to win this grievance?
3. Everyone selected to serve on this jury _____ to be willing to give up a lot of time.
4. Some of the votes __________ to have been miscounted.
5. He seems to forget that there __________ things to be done before he can graduate.
6. Three-quarters of the students __________ against the tuition hike.
7. Three-quarters of the student body __________ against the tuition hike.
Answer:
1. is
2. is
3. has
4. seem
5. are
6. are
7. is
Have you scored?
If you did not get all correct, you must read the rules again!!!
You can check your knowlegde through the more practices provided in the website below.
References
Quiz on Subject-Verb Agreement. (n.d.). Retrieved September 11, 2008, from http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/GRAMMAR/sv_agr.htm
1 comment:
Some times I also make mistakes in subject and verb agreement during writing without knowing it! After reading your posting and doing the practice I have a clearer understanding of how the concept works =)
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