S-V Agreement
Chapter 1
The Problem and its Background
Introduction
Agreement is the grammatical logic or coherence in the links between parts of a sentence. An example of agreement is the subject-verb agreement, wherein the subject and the verb are considered the significant form (Ramos 87). In subject verb agreement, the general rule that we follow is that the verb should always agree with the subject. A singular subject requires a singular verb, and a plural subject requires a plural verb. To apply the rule, however, one must be able to do three things: remember that the subject controls the verb form and not be distracted by other structures which may stand close to the verb; be able to determine the number of the subject; and finally know the correct singular and plural forms of the verb (Hopper et al 60).
Subject-verb agreement has six classifications. The first classification is the singular subject-verb agreement. It states that a singular subject requires a singular verb, but there are cases that a subject is singular in form but plural in meaning. Ex: The family were informed as soon as they could be reached by telephone (Berengelman 44).
The second classification is the plural subject-verb agreement. It states that a plural subject takes a plural verb. But there are special cases that a plural noun can be singular in meaning or both singular and plural in meaning. Ex: billiards, news, mathematics, linguistics, and measles are singular in meaning therefore, they require a singular verb. Politics and statistics can be both plural and singular. When they denote the field of knowledge or activity they are singular; in most other uses they are plural (Cortez 77).
The third classification is the compound subject-verb agreement. A compound subject is subject that is joined by conjunctions such as and, either-or, neither-nor etc. Compound subject coordinated by and is nearly always plural and requires a plural verb. Ex: The senator and his wife were
The Problem and its Background
Introduction
Agreement is the grammatical logic or coherence in the links between parts of a sentence. An example of agreement is the subject-verb agreement, wherein the subject and the verb are considered the significant form (Ramos 87). In subject verb agreement, the general rule that we follow is that the verb should always agree with the subject. A singular subject requires a singular verb, and a plural subject requires a plural verb. To apply the rule, however, one must be able to do three things: remember that the subject controls the verb form and not be distracted by other structures which may stand close to the verb; be able to determine the number of the subject; and finally know the correct singular and plural forms of the verb (Hopper et al 60).
Subject-verb agreement has six classifications. The first classification is the singular subject-verb agreement. It states that a singular subject requires a singular verb, but there are cases that a subject is singular in form but plural in meaning. Ex: The family were informed as soon as they could be reached by telephone (Berengelman 44).
The second classification is the plural subject-verb agreement. It states that a plural subject takes a plural verb. But there are special cases that a plural noun can be singular in meaning or both singular and plural in meaning. Ex: billiards, news, mathematics, linguistics, and measles are singular in meaning therefore, they require a singular verb. Politics and statistics can be both plural and singular. When they denote the field of knowledge or activity they are singular; in most other uses they are plural (Cortez 77).
The third classification is the compound subject-verb agreement. A compound subject is subject that is joined by conjunctions such as and, either-or, neither-nor etc. Compound subject coordinated by and is nearly always plural and requires a plural verb. Ex: The senator and his wife were
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