STUDY GUIDE FOR PRELIM EXAM

T-TH Subjects: EL108, EL111, GE9

EL108:
SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT
RULES

1. IF THE SUBJECT IS SINGULAR, THE VERB MUST BE

SINGULAR TOO.
Example:
She writes every day.
Exception: When using the singular "they," use plural verb forms.
Example: The participant expressed satisfaction with their job. They are
currently in a managerial role at the organization.

2. IF THE SUBJECT IS PLURAL, THE VERB MUST ALSO BE

PLURAL.
Example:
They write every day.

3. WHEN THE SUBJECT OF THE SENTENCE IS COMPOSED

OF TWO OR MORE NOUNS OR PRONOUNS CONNECTED BY
AND, USE A PLURAL VERB.
Examples:
The doctoral student and the committee members write every day.
The percentage of employees who called in sick and the number of
employees who left their jobs within 2 years are reflective of the level
of job satisfaction.

5. WHEN A PHRASE COMES BETWEEN THE SUBJECT AND

THE VERB, REMEMBER THAT THE VERB STILL AGREES
WITH THE SUBJECT, NOT THE NOUN OR PRONOUN IN THE
PHRASE FOLLOWING THE SUBJECT OF THE SENTENCE.
Example:
The student, as well as the committee members, is excited.
The student with all the master’s degrees is very motivated.
Strategies that the teacher uses to encourage classroom participation
include using small groups and clarifying expectations.
The focus of the interviews was nine purposively selected participants.

6. WHEN TWO OR MORE SINGULAR NOUNS OR PRONOUNS

ARE CONNECTED BY "OR" OR "NOR," USE A SINGULAR
VERB.
Example:
The chairperson or the CEO approves the proposal before proceeding.

7. WHEN A COMPOUND SUBJECT CONTAINS BOTH A

SINGULAR AND A PLURAL NOUN OR PRONOUN JOINED BY
"OR" OR "NOR," THE VERB SHOULD AGREE WITH THE
PART OF THE SUBJECT THAT IS CLOSEST TO THE VERB.
THIS IS ALSO CALLED THE RULE OF PROXIMITY.
Example:
The student or the committee members write every day.
The committee members or the student writes every day.

8. THE WORDS AND PHRASES "EACH," "EACH ONE,"

"EITHER," "NEITHER," "EVERYONE," "EVERYBODY,"
"ANYONE," "ANYBODY," "NOBODY," "SOMEBODY,"
"SOMEONE," AND "NO ONE" ARE SINGULAR AND
REQUIRE A SINGULAR VERB.
Example:
Each of the participants was willing to be recorded.
Neither alternative hypothesis was accepted.
I will offer a $5 gift card to everybody who participates in the study.
No one was available to meet with me at the preferred times.

9. NONCOUNT NOUNS TAKE A SINGULAR VERB.

Example:
Education is the key to success.
Diabetes affects many people around the world.
The information obtained from the business owners was relevant to
include in the study.
The research I found on the topic was limited.
10. SOME COUNTABLE NOUNS IN ENGLISH SUCH AS
EARNINGS, GOODS, ODDS, SURROUNDINGS, PROCEEDS,
CONTENTS, AND VALUABLES ONLY HAVE A PLURAL
FORM AND TAKE A PLURAL VERB.
Example:
The earnings for this quarter exceed expectations.
The proceeds from the sale go to support the homeless population in the
city.
Locally produced goods have the advantage of shorter supply chains.
11. IN SENTENCES BEGINNING WITH "THERE IS" OR
"THERE ARE," THE SUBJECT FOLLOWS THE VERB. SINCE
"THERE" IS NOT THE SUBJECT, THE VERB AGREES WITH
WHAT FOLLOWS THE VERB.
Example:
There is little administrative support.
There are many factors affecting teacher retention.

12. COLLECTIVE NOUNS ARE WORDS THAT IMPLY MORE

THAN ONE PERSON BUT ARE CONSIDERED SINGULAR AND
TAKE A SINGULAR VERB. SOME EXAMPLES ARE "GROUP,"
"TEAM," "COMMITTEE," "FAMILY," AND "CLASS."
Example:
The group meets every week.
The committee agrees on the quality of the writing.

However, the plural verb is used if the focus is on the individuals in the
group. This is much less common.
Example:
The committee participate in various volunteer activities in their private
lives.

TEACHING GRAMMAR
Grammar ability needs to be – ACCURATE, MEANINGFUL &
APPROPRIATE.
Important parts of grammar knowledge:
Pragmatics- In linguistics and philosophy, the study of the use of
natural language in communication; more generally, the study of the
relations between languages and their users
Semantics- Components of meaning. Semantics is the study of meaning
in language.
Standard- is a regularization of the grammar, spelling, language usage,
and not to minimal desirability or interchangeability.
Grammar and Grammaring- The phonology, syntax, semantics &
pragmatics.
Language skills- listening., speaking, reading and writing

Grammar Translation Approach

The grammar translation method is a method of teaching foreign
languages derived from the classical method of teaching Greek and
Latin.
The method has two main goals:
 to enable students to read and translate literature written in the
target language.
 to further students’ general intellectual development.
Larsen-Freeman, 2001
 Grammar should be seen as a skill rather than purely competence.
 She postulated grammaring to be the fifth skill.
 Grammaring as the ability to accurately, meaningfully and
appropriately use grammar structures.
 Grammaring involves sensitivity to usage because grammar is
more flexible than we think.

Grammaticalizing/Grammaticalization
 Antoine Meillet (French Linguist) introduced the concept of
grammaticalization.
 Grammaticalization is described as the process by which grammar
is created. Croft,2006.
 It involves reduction and increased dependency.
Example:
 Going to (verb) – gonna
 Because – coz
 That (demonstrative) – that (complementizer)
Demonstrative: I saw that. He went there.
Complementizer: I saw [that he went there]
I will see you later – I am gonna see you later.
My friends will be there this evening – My friends’ll be there this
evening.
Error Correction vs. Feedback
Positive Feedback
Confirmation: “I love how you pronounce X. can you try it once more so
that it sounds more like it is pronounced in [target language]?”
Praise: “amazing” excellent”
Spoken grammar vs. written grammar
 We don’t speak the way we write and don’t write the way we
speak.
Methods of Teaching Grammar
1.Diagramming sentences
 is visualizing how to fit together the different parts of a sentence.
 it is valuable for both English grammar students and teachers. To
put in a diagram word in a sentence forces the learners to identify
the logical connections between different parts of a sentence.
 it is a form of sentence analysis which requires one to take the
sentence apart and show relationship of each word to the rest of the
sentence.
How do you diagram sentences?
1. Identify the sentence element.
2. Place the subject, verb and direct object together and underline them.
3. Separate the subject from the verb with a vertical line that crosses the
underline.
4. Separate the direct object from the verb with a vertical line that
crosses the underline.
5. Keep adjectives and articles with the noun they modify and place
them on separate diagonal lines touching the word they modify.
2. Learning through writing
Writing can provide a unique opportunity to develop critical thinking
skills. In this sense, language provides us with a unique way of knowing
and becomes a tool for discovering, for shaping meaning and for
teaching understanding. Writing to learn activities are short, informal
writing tasks that help students think through key concepts or ideas
central to a course.
3. Inductive teaching
Teaching language starts with examples and asks learners to find rules.
It can be compared with a deductive approach that starts by giving
learners rules, then examples, then practice. Learners listen to a
conversation that includes examples of the use of the third conditional.
Step. 1 Present several examples that illustrate a particular concept.
Step. 2 Students must observe how the concept works from these
examples.
Step. 3 Concept must not be explained beforehand.
Step. 4 Students are expected to recognize the rule of grammar in a more
natural way.

4. Deductive teaching
The deductive method of teaching grammar focuses on instruction
before practice.
Step. 1 A teacher gives an in-depth explanation of a grammatical
concept before students could encounter the same grammatical concept
in their own writing.
Step. 2 After the lesson, students practice what they have just been
shown through worksheets and exercises.

5. Interactive Teaching
This method allows teachers to tailor their lessons to the different
learning styles of students.

6. Functional-notional Approach
When designing a lesson, teachers often choose a real-world situation as
their "notion," and choose corresponding functions to teach to prepare
students to communicate in that situation in the lesson.

7. Situational Contexts
From kin, Rodman and Hyams (2011) said context can be linguistic and
situational.

8. Using texts, stories, songs and rhymes

There are different ways of using songs in the classroom.
Primary level- prosodic features of the language is emphasized.
Higher levels- the practice of grammar points is at the foreground.
Examples of this technique are:
• Gap fills or close texts
• Focus questions
• True-false statements
• Put these lines into the correct sequence
• Dictation
• Add a final verse
• Circle the antonyms/synonyms of the given words
• Discuss

9. PPP
A deductive approach often fits into a lesson structure.

• Presentation- Involves building a situation that requires a natural ang

logical use of a new language.
• Practice - Involves testing the procedure so students can be familiar
with the language.
• Production- "being the most" important stage
- Involves creating situations using the language.

MODE FOR TEACHING GRAMMAR

1. LINGUISTIC MODE
The linguistic mode refers to the written or spoken words. The mode
includes word choice, the delivery of written or spoken text, the
organization of words into sentences and paragraphs and the
development and coherence of words and ideas.
2. STORY-TELLING MODE
Narrative modes in fiction are the methods that writers use to tell their
stories. In general terms, narrative mode could encompass some basic
storytelling elements (it's these that some writers would include as
narrative modes and others would not)—narrative point of view,
narrative tense, and narrative voice.