Transcript Subject-verb Agreement

Subject-verb Agreement
Agreement in person and number:
• Singular subjects take singular verbs, and
plural subjects take plural verbs.
ex: I excel at school work.
She excels at school work.
Choose the correct verb form in
parentheses:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
If you follow politics, you (is, are) familiar with Bill
Bradley.
Others, especially sports fans, (remembers,
remember) his sports career.
At Princeton University, Bradley’s energy (was, were)
actually focused more on studying than on playing
baseball.
His mother, as well as casual acquaintances, (was,
were) not surprised when he received a prestigious
Rhodes scholarship to study at Oxford University.
Ivy League athletes such as Bradley rarely (achieves,
achieve) national recognition in their sports, despite
their academic honors.
6. His athletic accomplishments (includes,
include) being a three-time all-American and
being captain of the gold-medal-winning 1964
U.S. Olympic basketball team.
7. Athletes, even great ones, often (disappears,
disappear) from the spotlight once they retire.
8. You already (knows, know) that Bill Bradley is
an exception.
9. His three terms in the U.S. Senate (leaves,
leave) a legacy of important tax and social
reform laws.
10. Bradley’s accomplishments, in addition to
these, (includes, include) four published books
on sports, politics, and life.
Phrases between subject and verb:
• When a phrase comes between the
subject and verb, the number of the
subject is not changed.
prepositional phrase:
The success of Hollywood films is
based on the grosses.
Filmgoers at the box office give a
financial thumbs up to a film.
appositive phrase:
Jurassic Park, a highgrossing film, has made
many millions.
Sequels-The Lost World and
others-generally make less.
participial phrase:
Sometimes a movie loved by
millions receives a poor review.
Movie lovers, playing critic, turn the
movie around.
1. Jurassic Park, a film about a unique theme
park, (combines, combine) real science with
imaginative theories.
2. In the movie, DNA fragments from a dinosaur
(is, are) found in a prehistoric mosquito.
3. Amber, fossilized resin from trees (has, have)
preserved the mosquito and the DNA.
4. The DNA segments, placed in an ostrich egg,
eventually (produces, produce) a dinosaur.
5. Soon the theme park, on a supposedly secure
island, (contains, contain) several vicious
dinosaurs.
6. Bob Bakker, one of today’s leading dinosaur
specialists, (says, say) the movie’s premise is
an impossibility.
7. A mosquito with dinosaur DNA (is, are) an
impossibility, since the insect would digest the
DNA before being preserved.
8. DNA from prehistoric times (is, are) likely to be
contaminated with other organisms’ DNA.
9. Chemicals inside a mother animal (is, are)
needed to create a baby of the same species.
10. Most plant foods needed by a herbivorous
dinosaur (has, have) died out.
Indefinite Pronouns as Subjects
• When used as subjects, some indefinite pronouns are always
singular and some are always plural. Others can be either singular
or plural, depending on how they’re used.
ex: One of the Nobel Prize
winners for chemistry was
told by his government to
refuse the award.
Many of the Nobelists in medicine have
been from the U.S.
Most of the Nobel Prizes for literature
have been awarded to men.
Most of the money for the Nobel Prizes comes from
interest on a fund.
Identify the sentences with subjects
and verbs that don’t agree.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
All of the world’s best-known scientists has been
remarkable people.
But one of them, Stephen Hawking, stands out.
Some thinks that his being born exactly 300 years after
Galileo’s death is significant.
Many of these people also mentions his position as
Cambridge’s Lucasian Professor of Mathematics-a
chair which was once held by Isaac Newton.
No one else in the 20th century, except perhaps Albert
Einstein, have had as brilliant a scientific mind.
Many of his writings has been about the strange
phenomenon of black holes.
7. One of his most important discoveries
were that black holes emit radiation.
8. Most of us nonscientists knows him for
his popular book A Brief History of Time.
9. One of the episodes of Star Trek: The
Next Generation have even featured an
appearance by Hawking.
10. Something make his achievements even
more remarkable, however.