SENTENCE

PROCESSING IN
L2
J O E L A LV A R E Z
PA S T O R P E R E Z
YA H A N Y S B AT I S TA
MARIELA SONHOUSE
 SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT
• What is the influence of L1 in L2 sentence processing?
The verb must agree with the subject in number.
Example:
The reasons for his decision is complicated *

* Many learners mistake the noun that is nearest the verb for the
subject of a sentence. They are often misled by nouns that are objects
of a preposition.Those nouns are never the subject of a sentence.
• The people is angry about the new law. *

Learners may think a plural noun is singular because

it lacks –s. A plural verb must appear with a plural
noun. Some nouns like people and children do not
end in –s and are therefore less obvious.
• Everyone accepted to one of the universities HAS / HAVE to provide
medical records and vaccination history.

• Would you like a slice of pie? Some of it, IS /ARE still on the fridge.

• Even after visiting the company’s website, some hiring criteria

WAS/WERE still not clear to Bob.