Correcting Errors in Subject-Verb Agreement

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• 0:30 Example 1: Correcting…
• 0:46 Example 2: Correcting…
• 1:43 Example 3: Practice…

Instructors

What is Subject-Verb Agreement?

Subject-verb agreement refers to the relationship between a sentence's subject and the verb. A subject refers to a person or a thing that performs an action in a sentence. A verb is the action in a sentence.

Tip 1: Subjects and verbs in a sentence should always match in terms of numbers and tenses.

Tip 2: If the subject of a sentence is in the singular form, the verb should also be singular and vice versa.

Tip 3: The subject always determines whether the verb should be singular or plural.

Let's look at the following sample sentences with a subject-verb agreement:

Example 1: He works every day of the week.

• In this sentence, the subjecthe is in the singular form; thus, the verbworks is also in the singular form.
• Both the subject and the verb of the sentence are in a singular form, which means they agree.

Example 2: They work every day of the week.

• The sentence's subjectthey is in plural form, and the verbwork is also in plural form. Thus, the subject and the verb in the sentence agree.

How to Correct Errors in Subject-Verb Agreement

Look at the following sentence: The dog chase the neighbor.

Step 1: Identify the subject and the verb in the sentence.

• The subject of the sentence is dog, while the verb is chase.

Step 2: Identify whether the subject and the verb are singular or plural forms.

• The subject in the sentence is in singular form while the verb is in plural form.

Step 3: Identify the error in the sentence.

• The error in the sentence is that the subject and the verb do not agree since the subject is singular while the verb is plural.

Step 4: Correct the error.

• The error can be corrected by making the verb agree with the subject. Since the subject is singular, the verb should also be singular.

Correction: The dog chases the neighbor.

Example Problems for Correcting Errors in Subject-Verb Agreement

Example 1: Fill in the blank space with the appropriate verb.

The group _____ daily to make the arrangements.

Choice A and Choice C do not agree with the subject group in the sentence and are incorrect. Choice B is the correct answer. Meets is singular and therefore agrees with the singular subject.

Example 2: Which is the appropriate verb to fill in the blank space?

Two thousand dollars _____ deposited by the bank manager yesterday.

Choices A and B are incorrect since they do not agree with the sentence. Choice A is incorrect because money is regarded as a singular noun, and choice B is incorrect because yesterday implies past tense, which doesn't match the present tense is. The correct answer is choice C .