GRAMMAR MINI-LESSON

Grammatical Sentences
(G1-G3)
 Subject Verb Agreement
➢ Subject verb agreement is when your subject and verb agree with one another
within a sentence.

➢ The key is to correctly identify your subject, this will allow you to make better
judgement on what verb tense you should use when writing or speaking

➢ Most of the time when there is a singular subject your verb will be singular too.
Also, if you have a plural subject it takes a plural verb. However, there are
exceptions to this rule.
 Pay Attention
Be sure you do not get confused when sentences have phrases in between the subject
and verb. The verb MUST agree with the subject and not the nouns or pronouns found
within the phrases.

Example: The pastor, as well as the members of the congregation, is very excited.
* the verb “is” agrees with the subject “pastor” and not the “members of the
congregation”

Another example would be: The churches of the district were gathering together to
discuss the events taking place next year.
 Compound Subjects
➢ When a sentence contains two or more nouns/pronouns connected with and you
use a plural verb. *When the subjects refer to same person or thing/group it is
singular
○ Katy and her cousin are going to the stored
○ Macaroni and cheese is my favorite dish.
➢ When they are connected with “or” or “nor” you would use a singular verb.
○ The brown or black puppy is her choice.
➢ Singular and plural nouns/pronouns joined together by “or” or “nor” have verbs
that agree with the subject that is closest to the verb.
○ The cat nor the rats

Compound Subjects
When sentences are joined with and they are typically always plural unless the
subjects are referring to same person or thing.
 Collective Nouns
Collective nouns are group nouns that are considered singular and take singular
verbs. Some of these include: group, team, family, couple and audiance

Example: My family is going to make an important announcement tomorrow at the

fair.
Example: The group wishes to be indoors due to the rainy weather.
*Please Note when you are speaking about individuals of a group your subject will take a plural verb

Example: The team engage in many activies throughout the year.

https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/formandstyle/writing/grammarmechanics/subjectverbagreement#s-lg-box-198
52453
 Verb Tenses
5 Forms
● Base form, Past tense, Past participle, S form

“Be” verb Forms

● Be, Am, is, are, was, were, being, been
Regular verbs/past tense and past participle form all end in “d” or “ed”
Simple Tenses Perfect Tenses
● Includes: Past, Present, & Future in
● Includes: Past, Present & Future
“perfect” tenses
in “simple” tenses
● Use helping verbs
● Has, have, had

When your subject is in third person singular, your verb takes on “s” or “es” for ending in present
tense

This leads to progressive and continuous forms

 Pronouns
Pronouns take place of the noun. Pronouns and antecedents must always agree.
You will have both subject/pronoun and verb plural or singular

Example: Sammy left his cake on the counter.

Example: The Jeffersons made a point to keep their budget tight.

Implied References:

An antecedent should always be specific when referring to it’s pronoun. “Not implied” but “present” (Hacker
& Sommers)

Broad References:

This, that, which and it can be overused and most always have a clear antecedent
 Indefinite Pronouns
Singular Indefinite Pronouns such as: either, everyone, everybody, anyone, nobody,
somebody, someone will most of the time have a singular verb.

Example: Someone brought a pie to the picnic.

Example: Either of the students will be here tonight to help set up.

Singular or Plural Indefinite Pronouns: All - Any - More - Most - None - Some

(YouTube-WarnerJordanEducation)

When referring to Indefinite pronouns you need to be able to recognize which

prounouns are singular and which ones are plural. You can memorize them or just
recognize that they speak of one specific person or thing or belong to a “group”.
Example: everyone is counting everyone withiin a particular group so is singular.
Anyone is referring to one person from a group.
 References
Hacker, D. & Sommers, N. (2011). A writer’s reference. 7th Edition. Hardford
Univeristy. Retrieved from
file:///C:/Users/Kelsey/Downloads/A-Writers-Reference-7th-Edition%20(3).pdf

N.a. (2019) Subject verb agreement rules. Walden University. Retrieved from
https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/formandstyle/writing/grammarmechanics/subjectverb
agreement#s-lg-box-19852453