Subjects, Verbs, and Other Sentence Parts

Both in academic and non-academic method, the use of subjects and verbs are vital. Since we need to communicate to our fellow researchers, for instance, the non-verbal communication which is the clause becomes the main tool for communicating. Thus, it is extremely important to understand the rules of subject (in term of singular and plural) in both spoken or written language.


Subject (plural and singular)

One of the most common problem that is occurred in both speaking and writing is the subject-verb agreement. A singular subject must be followed with a singular verb, and the implementation of this agreement is the presence “-s/-es”, whereas for the plural verbs, the use of “-s/-es” are not used. Thus, the understanding of plural and singular now is essential to understand both of these two functions. Have a look the example below:

Chairs and seats become the most important feature in conducting a classroom

A sentence requires subjects and verbs

Note that, the use of “chairs and seats” which is plural words agree to the verb which is written without “-s/-es”. Whilst, the word “a sentence” which is a singular word follows the verb in which its writing is in form “-s/-es”. Therefore, subject and verb must agree to the rules.


Countable and Uncountable Noun

A sentence with two subjects joined by and takes a plural verb

Chairs and seats become the most important feature in conducting a classroom

Some words end in -s but are singular in form. Many of these words are the names of fields of stud (economics, physics, and so on). News is another word of this kind

Economics is …

The news was …

Irregular plurals (children, feet, mice, and so on) do not end in -s but take plural verbs

The women were …

His feet are …

When a clause begins with the expletive there, the verb may singular or plural, depending on the thematic subject

There was a loud noise …

There were a few problems

Subjects with each and every take singular verbs. (This includes compound words like everyone and everything

Each state has …

Each of the representatives was …

Every person was …

Everyone wants …

The verb in relative clauses depends on the noun that the relative pronoun refers to

The house that was built …

The students who were selected …

The phrase the number of + plural noun takes a singular verb. The phrase a number of + plural noun takes a plural verb

The number of trees is …

A number of important matters have …

Singular subjects used with phrases such as along with, accompanied by, together with, as wll as, and in addition to take singular verbs

The mayor, along with the city council, is …

Together with his friends, Mark has …

Quantities of time, money, distance, and so on usually take a singular verb

Five hundred dollars was …

Two years has …

Ten miles is …

 

Incorrect Verb Forms

Another common problem that is occurred in the use of verb is the incorrect use of verb forms such as the word -ing. The -ing is used to inform the readers about the verb-”action” that is in the middle of being done, and some also involve irregular verbs that have different forms for the past tense and the past participle – saw and seen, as an example. The following information may help you choose the correct form of the main verb.

The simple form follows all modal auxiliaries

Be noted that every modal auxiliary such as might, may, can, should, must, and could must be followed with simple form of verbs, which means no V2 or V3 (past participle), such as

  • Might be
  • Can remember
  • Should study
  • Could go
  • May follow
  • Must know

For the pdf version, you can download the material here, whereas for the Homework Assignment, please download the MS. Word Version here.

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