Transcript Subject Verb Agreement Subject-verb agreement

TOEFL Structure and Written Expression
By Nargis
TOEFL is Test of English as a Foreign
Language. TOEFL Test is used to know
someone’s ability in English. Many
universities and companies use TOEFL
scores to fulfill the foreign language
requirement for candidates whose
first language is not English.
Subject Verb Agreement
Subject-verb agreement
The verb must agree with the subject
in number and person. That means, a
singular subject should be followed
by a singular verb. Similarly, a plural
subject should be followed by a plural
verb.
Subject separated from the verb
• When taking the TOEFL, you must always
check the subject and verb to be sure they are
agree. However, sometimes it is difficult to
decide exactly what the subject is if the
subject and verb are separated
• Example:
• The boys in the room are studying
•
Plural
Plural
Subject + (prepositional phrase) + verb
• Very often, if the subject and verb are separated, they will
be separated by a prepositional phrase. The prepositional
phrase has no effect on the verb.
• Subject + (prepositional phrase) + verb
• The study of languages is very interesting.
• Singular subject
singular verb
• The view of these disciplines varies from time to time
• Singular subject
singular verb
• The fear of rape and robbery has caused many people to
free the cities.
• Singular subject
singular verb
Together with ; Along with; Accompanied
by ; As well as
• Those expression has no effect on the verb
The actress, along with her manager and
singular verb
some friends, is going to a party tonight
• Note : if the conjunction and is used instead of one of
these phrases, the verb would then be plural.
Example:
• The actress and her manager are going to a party tonight.
Plural
subject
plural
•
Exercise
1. The cost of all essential articles (has /have)
risen.
2. John, along with twenty friends, (is/are) planning
a party.
3. The picture of soldiers (bring/brings) back many
memories.
4. The quality of these recordings (is/are) not very
good.
5. If the duties of these officer (isn’t/aren’t) reduce,
there will not be enough time to finish the
project
Exercise
• Each of the following sentences contains one of the
words that are grammatically singular but have plural
meanings. Underline these words once and
underline
• the verbs twice. Then indicate if the sentences are
correct (C) or incorrect (I).
• __ 1. It is impossible to believe that somebody
actually admire that man.
• __ 2. Each of the doctors in the building needs to
have a separate reception area.
Exercise
• 3. The president felt that no one were better suited
for the position of chief staff advisor.
• 4. Everybody participating in the fund-raiser are to
turn in the tickets by 8:00.
• 5. Because of the low number of orders, nothing has
to be done now.
• 6. Every time someone take unnecessary breaks,
precious moments of production time
• are lost.
Exercise
Among bees a highly elaborate
• form of communication.
• (A) occur (B) occurs (C) it occurs
• (D) they occur
heated by solar energy have
• special collectors on the roofs to trap
• sunlight.
• (A) A home is (B) Homes are
• (C) A home (D) Homes
Words that always take singular verbs and
pronoun
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The following words must be
followed by singular verbs and
pronouns in formal written English.
Any + singular noun
Some + singular noun
No + singular noun
Every + singular noun
Anybody
Somebody
Nobody
Everybody
Each
Anyone
Someone
No one
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Someone
No one
Everyone
Anything
something
nothing
everything
Words that always take singular verbs and
pronoun
• Either *
• Neither *
• *either and
neither are
singular if they are
not used with or
and nor.
None/no: none can take
either a singular or
plural verb depending
on the noun which
follows it.
Words that always take singular verbs and
pronoun
Exercise :
1. Neither Maria nor her friends( is/
are) going to class today.
2. John or George (is/are) bringing
the car
3. Neither Alecia nor Carmen
(has/have) seen this movie
before.
4. Each of the suspected men (was/were )
arrested
5. Bandung is one of those
cities that (is/are )
working hard to reclaim
a flower city.
6. Either the Committee
on Course Design or the
Committee on College
Operations
(decide/decides) these
matters.
7. Anybody who (
has/have) lost his ticket
should report to the
desk.
8. No problem (is/are)
harder to solve than
this one
9. Nobody (work/works)
harder than John does.
10. Mr. Jon, accompanied by
A
Several members of
B
the committee, have
C
proposed some changes of
D
the rules.
Noun and Pronoun
• Pronouns are words such as he, she, or it that
take the place of nouns. One common problem
with pronouns on the TOEFL test is that subject
and object pronouns, adjective pronoun,
possessive pronoun are confused, so you should
be able to recognize these types of pronouns
A subject pronoun is used as the subject of a verb.
An object pronoun can be used as the object of a
verb or the object of a preposition. Compare the
following sentences.
Possessive Pronoun
• Possessive adjective and possessive pronouns
tell about what someone own.. Possessive
adjective describe nouns and must be followed
by noun meanwhile possessive pronouns take
place as a noun and it can be accompanied by a
noun.
• My friends and your friends are coming to mine
party.
• You don’t have your gloves with you but I have
mine.
Noun and Pronoun
• Me and my friend are taking a
trip.
• Our neighbors are going with
you and I.
• You should do it for her.
• They live with our children.
Noun and Pronoun
• She lent it to you and I. (I)
Analysis:
• Subject pronoun "She" is correct.
• Object pronoun "I" is incorrect. It should
be "me" as object pronoun.
Noun and Pronoun
She cut hers hair recently.
Analysis:
• Hers should be her.
2. We will take our car or theirs.
3. Please lend me yours notes from the
history lecture.
4. I like his ideas and hers.
Noun and Pronoun
5. The tree fell on its side during the storm.
6. My desk is located near hers.
7. Theirs suggestion was unrealistic.
8. Our appointment is just after your.