The 8 categories (groups) of English words

How verbs follow subject as plural or singular

Doctor, I am dreaming of carnalias, they stop me from sleeping.

You should stop harlik scary movies before bed, read a pleasant book.

What do you think of this conversation? What is stopping him from sleeping? Is it positive or negative? What causing bad dreams?

Of course, Carnalia and Harlik are not real words in English, what real words do you think we can we use here?

Doctor, I am dreaming of _________, a. b. c. d. An Monsters Sleepy But

You should stop ________ a. Big b. Really c. Oh! d. Watching scary movies before bed, read a pleasant book.

they stop me from sleeping.

Doctor, I am dreaming of monsters, they stop me from sleeping.

You should stop watching scary movies before bed, read a pleasant book.

Wow! How did you know the meaning of these fake words? Because of context! From the conversation we know that Carnalias must be a

noun, and

Harlik must be

verb.

Understanding English is not about understanding 1 word by itself, but understanding how each word functions with other words. Every word belongs to a special group . These groups tell us how the word functions. There are 8 groups.

We call this

Match the groups to their function!

Make your own example sentence as each group is explained.

Group Noun Verb Adjective Adverb Interjection Pronoun

Example sentence:

Preposition
Conjunction

Nouns

A thing or a person A thing e.g. lamp is written in lower case, this is a common noun. A person or a name is written with a capital letter e.g. Adam, Africa, Apple

Computers, these are proper nouns.

Verbs An action/ state of being Verbs are used to show actions e.g. Adam can run.
They also show states e.g. Adam is a runner. There is no action here but the

verb (to) be shows his state of being.

Verbs will change to show the tense of a sentence (past, present, future.) Adjectives Describes a noun e.g. Adam is a talented runner. Special adjectives are also used to show possession. E.g. My , your, mine, hers.
Describes a verb E.g. Adam runs quickly. An exclamation Interjections are words (or noises) that can be used to show feelings, like

Adverbs Interjections

surprise or pain. E.g. Ah!, Ouch!

Hi! is also an interjection.

Pronoun

Replaces a noun A pronoun replaces a noun in a sentence e.g. Adam likes running =

He likes running.
A pronoun can be masculine, feminine or neutral and stop a sentence being

repetitive e.g. Adam likes running in the school race, Adam runs the school race every year, Adam will run the school race this year = Adam likes running in the school race, he runs it every year, he will run it this year.
Preposition Shows the relationship of words in a sentence Prepositions can show relationships like time, place and direction e.g.

Adam went to the shop across the street by foot at 3pm.

Conjunction Joins sentences and words A conjunction can be used to join sentences e.g. Adam went to the shop. He

bought some chocolate = Adam went to the shop and bought some chocolate.
Certain conjuctions have different meanings such as:
oResults: Adam was hungry so he bought some chocolate. oChoices: Should he buy chocolate or cake? oConflicts: He wanted both but did not have enough money.

The way we use verbs changes with the subject of each sentence. It is important to find the sentence subject and know if it is singular or plural.

The basic rule is:

A singular subject = A singular verb A plural subject = A plural verb

This is called

A basic rule of Subject-Verb Agreement is all about s:

Singular:

Plural:

The cat sleeps The shop closes She smiles

The cats sleep The shops close

They smile

The verb to be must be changed to show singular or plural subjects. This does not change even when the subject comes before the verb: There is a cat

There are closed shops

They are girls

Sometimes plural subjects, or more than one singular subject, must use a singular verb:

If 2 singular subjects are joint by or:

The boy or the girl talks.

His dog or his cat takes a walk. The knife or the fork goes there.

If 2 singular subjects are joint by neither or either : Either Adam or Amy helps. Neither the knife nor the fork goes there.

If pronouns such as none, somebody, nobody, anyone, nothing, everybody, each, either and one are used: Is anybody there? Nobody comes. Each takes one. Every last one sings. Everybody cries. Either goes. Nothing works.

If you are describing amounts such as time /money/measurements: 10 years passes very quickly. 45 goes a long way. 70 metres is very high.

In the same way, sometimes singular subjects must use plural verbs:

If 2 singular subjects are joint by or:

The boy or the girl talk. His dog or his cat take a walk. The knife or the fork go there.

If 2 singular subjects are joint by neither or either :

Either Adam or Amy help.

Neither the knife nor the fork go there.

If the pronoun you or I is used. This exception means the plural verb is used for the singular subject: I talk to people. You talk to people.

Sometimes the verb follows the closest subject:

If one singular and one plural subject are joint by neither/either the closest subject changes the verb: Neither the boy nor the girls are coming. Either the girls or the boy is coming.

If a linking verb is used, the verb follows the subject: Games are his hobby. His hobby is games.

Words are like a jigsaw, knowing the 8 groups of Parts of Speech tells us how the jigsaw fits together. Subject-Verb Agreement works in the same way. The subject tells us how the verb fits the sentence.