Lesson Plan in Subject-Verb Agreement

Section: _______________________ Date: _____________

I. Objectives:
At the end of the class discussion, students are expected to:
a) Identify the form of the subject and the verb in the sentence;
b) Choose the correct form of the verb to make it agree with the subject;
c) Familiarize with the rules of subject-verb agreement.

II. Subject Matter:

Topic: Subject-Verb Agreement
References: K-12 Teaching Guide, p.12; Learning Package p. 9

III. Materials:
Pictures, Manila paper, Chalk and Board

IV. Procedure

a) Preliminary Activities
-Prayer and Greetings
-Checking of Attendance

b) Motivation
The teacher is going to post pictures of a baby and a cow on the left side of the
board. On the right side of the board, pictures of grasses and a bottle of milk will be
posted. The pictures on the left side (baby and cow) will be the consumer and the
pictures on right side (grasses and bottle of milk) will be the consumer’s proper food.

The students are expected to identify the proper food for the cow which is the grass
and baby which is the milk.

Do you agree that milk is good for the baby?

Do you agree that grass is good for the cow?

Therefore there is always an appropriate

food for every creature. Baby drinks milk
while cow eat the grass for them to grow healthy.

c) Presentation of the topic

 Like the need of the baby and the cow of proper food, language particularly the subject
and verb must agree with each other. This is for the purpose of clear and better
communication. Today we will be discussing about subject-verb agreement and we will
be learning some of the rules to make our verb agree with our subjects.

d) Proper discussion
 General Rule of Subject-Verb Agreement
Singular subjects require singular verb and plural subjects require plural verb.

Subjects and verbs must AGREE with one another in number (singular or plural).
Thus, if a subject is singular, its verb must also be singular; if a subject is plural, its verb
must also be plural.

In present tenses, nouns and verbs form plurals in opposite ways:

nouns ADD an s to the singular form,

BUT

verbs REMOVE an s from the singular form.

a) The baby drinks the milk.

b) The babies drink the milk.

Rule # 1:With the expression, the number of _______, use a singular verb.
With a number of _______, use a plural verb.

The number of volunteers grows each year.

A number of people grow tomatoes each summer.

Rule # 2: When the subject follows the verb (especially in sentences beginning with the
expletives "there is" or "there are"), special care is needed to determine the subject and
to make certain that the verb agrees with it.
There is a fly in my soup.
There are four flies in my soup.
There are two reasons for this.
There is no reason for this.
Rule # 3. A phrase or clause between subject and verb does not change the number
of the subject.

A. Prepositional phrases between the subject and verb usually do not affect
agreement. A prepositional phrase is a group of words made up of a preposition, its
object, and any of the object's modifiers. some commonly used prepositions are: in, on,
at, to, of, with, about, along, onto etc.
 The colors of the rainbow are beautiful.
The woman with all the dogs walks down the street.

B. Relative clauses are clauses starting with the relative pronouns who, that,
which, whose, where, when. They are most often used to define or identify the noun that
precedes them.

The people who listen to that music are few.

The woman who went to the meeting was tired.

C. Intervening words such as, together with, including, accompanied by, in

addition to, or as well as do not change the number of the subject.

The team captain, as well as his players, is anxious.

The book, including all the chapters in the first section, is exciting.

e) Enrichment

Divide the students in two groups (boys vs. girls). (The same with the rules of the
Snake and Ladder Game) Students will practice subject verb agreement by navigating
through a land filled with snakes. The aim of the game is to reach the finish line first by
completing the sentence with the verb that agrees with the subject. The team who
reaches the finish line first will be declared the winner.

f) Generalization

Singular subjects take singular verb; plural subjects take plural

verb. The verb agrees only to its subject. Intervening words do not
affect the number of the subject.

Things to remember in subject- verb agreement

a) The trick is to know whether the subject is singular or plural.
b) The next trick is to recognize whether the verb is singular or plural.
V. Evaluation

Directions: Select the correct verb form to agree with the subject. Answer
directly. (1/4 sheet of paper)

1. The number of recorded proverbs (is, are) unknown.

2. A lovely person (is, are) over there.
3.There(is, are) one child in Dave's family.
4.Benjamin (is,are)funny.
5. One of the boxes (is,are) open.
6The mayor as well as his brothers (is,are) going to prison.
7.There (is,are) many possible candidates for 2016 election.
8. A number of students (is, are) late.
9.The piano as well as the pipe organ (has, have) to be tuned for the big concert.
10. Carlo (run, runs) along the corridor.

VI. Assignment

Give the other rules of Subject-Verb agreement and give examples for each of
the remaining rules. Put your answers on your notebook.