S-V Agreement: Making Subjects and Verbs Stop Arguing

Do your subjects and verbs argue as if they are attorneys in a court or law? Can they not agree who is supposed to be singular or plural? They don’t have to sue each other to make a good sentence!S-V Agreement is easy as your ABC’s.

First of all, if the subject is singular, the verb has to be singular as well. If the subject is plural, the verb has to be plural as well. Consider first and foremost the subject before writing your verb.

You were saying?             He thinks of us.

I say, hey!                           She tells me everything.

Different items joined by and or both is always plural:

Ham and cheese are ingredients for a wonderful sandwich.

…unless ‘and’ is joining two words of the same item.

Ham and cheese is my favorite sandwich.

Hot and spicy sounds exciting.

When two subjects are joined together by ‘or,’ ‘nor,’ ‘neither…nor,’ or by ‘either…or,’ the verb must agree with the nearest subject.

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Either he or she is liable for the damage.Neither she nor they are going to the beach.

Mass nouns are always singular…

The sugar is spicy.

…unless a quantifier is used.

Two cups of sugar are enough.

Okay, so I've to admit: I, too, have difficulties with S-V Agreement. More than many of us have difficulties with subject and verb agreement. Then again, practice makes perfect!

Do you have any questions you would like us to answer? Drop us an email at youweresayin@yahoo.com.

Angry Verbs Part 1: Past, Present, and Future Tenses

Let’s review a bit. Verbs are action-packed words that represent an action or a state, or both. Verbs also represent the time the action happened. This action could be in the past, in the present, or in the future. These different forms are called tenses.

A verb in the past tense is something that has happened before. They usually end in –ed. The present tense is something…in the present. Like, right now at this time. The future tense illustrates something that is yet to happen. Let’s have an example:

Luke, I am your father. (The verb ‘am’ is in the present tense)

Luke, I was your father. (The word ‘was’ is in the past tense. He disowned him.)

Luke, I will be your father. (‘will be’ is future tense. I guess he’s planning to adopt him?)

When writing in the present tense, you must make the verb agree with the subject. So consider whether the subject is singular or plural:

They laugh. (Plural)

He laughs. (Singular)

Add –ed to verbs in the past tense:

He laughed like crazy.

Note that not all verbs in the past tense end in –ed. These are called irregular verbs:

He drove me crazy.

I lost my mind.

For the future tense, just add will to the normal form of the verb.

He will laugh like crazy.

Are verbs driving you nuts? Don’t worry—mastery comes with practice.

Angry Verbs: an Introduction to Action-Packed Words

Always remember: a sentence is as good as its verb. The verb is perhaps the most important part of the sentence. Nothing can fail more than a misused verb. It may also be the most confusing element of grammar. Imagine: it has 12 tenses. Apart from having a dozen tenses, verbs are extremely eccentric. We have auxiliary, main, linking, transitive, intransitive, regular, irregular, finite, and infinite verbs. Let’s add more confusion: verbs are commonly mistaken as gerunds.

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Let us take the word ‘drive,’ for example. One little word can be so flexible:

Drives; am/is/are driving; has/have driven; has/have been driven; drove; was/were driving; had driven; had been driven; will/shall drive; will be driving; will have driven; will have been driven. There’s the infinitive to drive and the gerund driving.

Don’t let verbs ruin you! With much study and application, you can master the intuitive use of verbs. By practicing, you can command the verbs to agree with their subjects. Worry not, friend, some of the next posts under grammar will be about verbs!