Transcript Compound subject - English With Mrs. Pixler

AGREEMENT WITH
COMPOUND SUBJECTS
Subject-Verb Agreement
• Compound subject errors are made when writers
incorrectly think of the compound subject as a single unit
and therefore use a singular verb.
• Errors in action…
• The pencils and some paper is on the desk
• Our genetic makeup and our personal experience defines us
Compound Subject Errors
• They Tip: Whenever and is used in the subject part of the
sentence, see whether you can replace the entire subject
portion of the sentence with the pronoun they. If you can,
the subject is a compound, and the verb must be made
plural to agree with they.
Error:
Tip applied:
Correction:
Vegetables and fruit is important for a good diet.
They is important for a good diet. (Yikes!)
Vegetables and fruit are important for a good diet.
Identifying Errors
1. Weekends and holidays always (feel/feels) too short.
2. A runny nose and a sore throat (is/are) good indicators
of a cold.
3. Oops! The groceries and the milk (is/are) still in the car.
4. Peanuts, pretzels, and a cookie (is/are) about all you get
to eat when you fly coach today.
5. During the summer, the thunder and the lightning in our
area (is/are) just amazing.
1. Loud drums and thunderclaps frighten my litter sister.
2. What “football” means in America and what it means in
the rest of the world is totally different things.
3. The light in the garage and the light over the sink needs
replacing.
4. Fortunately, the captain and the crew of the sunken boat
was safe.
5. The characters and the plot of his latest book is just like
those in all his other books.
1. Time waits for no man. Tide waits for no man.
2. The captain was reviewing the troops. The major was
reviewing the troops.
3. What we say is important. What we do is important.
4. The advancing storm was enough to make us turn back. The
gathering darkness was enough to make us turn back.
5. A hammer is in the garage. A chisel is in the garage.
6. The kitchen is in pretty bad shape. The bathroom is in pretty
bad shape.
7. Her imagination makes her one of the best new novelists. Her
strong sense of place makes her one of the best new
novelists.
8. An officer was manning the checkpoint. A group of enlisted
men was manning the checkpoint.
9. The ship’s constant rocking was making us feel queasy. The
smell of diesel fuel was making us feel queasy.
Many stories, plays, and even a famous opera is based on
the legend of Don Juan. Don Juan’s charm and wit
supposedly makes him utterly irresistible to women. The
most famous treatment of the Don Juan legend is in
Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni (Giovanni is the Italian form
of the Spanish name Juan, or John in English). Mozart’s
opera is highly unusual in that comedy and villainy is mixed
together in almost equal parts. For example, the actions and
behavior of the Dob constantly keeps the audience off
balance. His charm and bravery makes him almost a hero at
times. However, at other times, his aristocratic arrogance
and deliberate cruelty to women reveals he is far from a true
hero. The delicate seduction of a willing woman and a
violent rape is all the same to him. (7)
The role and character of Don Giovanni’s servant Loporello
is also quite unusual. Leporello and Don Giovanni often
works together to carry out a seduction. At first, his constant
complaining and caustic asides to the audience makes
Leporello seem to be just a conventional comic sidekick.
Yet in some ways, Leporello’s comments on and reactions
to his master’s behavior becomes the focus of the opera.
Leporello’s grudging admiration for the Don’s charm and
his repulsion at the Don’s behavior reflects the audience’s
equally mixed feelings. (5)
• On a loose-leaf sheet of paper, write two paragraphs (7+
sentences each) about a fictional character from a movie,
play, or book. What are the personality features that make
this person interesting?
• Try to use as many examples of compound subjects as
you can. In each sentence, underline the subject once and
the verb twice. Verify that your subjects and verbs agree,
using the They Tip with compound subjects.
Apply What You Know