English Language Workshop

•By the end of this workshop, you would be

Objective able to frame sentences that are grammatically
correct by using the right verbs with the
subject(s).
What is a
subject?
Singular and
Plural Nouns
What is a verb?
Helping
Verbs
What is subject-verb agreement?

Have you heard of this before?

The Big Question – Should the subject agree with the verb or should
the verb agree with the subject?
 I?
You?
Past Tense
Verb To Be
Recap
 Verb Number –
Singular/Plural

Tenses
Subject

Basic Rule?
Verb To Be
Past Tense
• She plays Tennis
• I play Tennis
 When the subject of a sentence is composed of two or more
nouns or pronouns connected by “and” use a plural verb. –
proximity rule.

E.g.: Her team members and the manager is attending the meeting. 
 When two or more singular nouns or pronouns are
connected by or (or) nor, use a singular verb.
 When two singular subjects are connected with ‘and’ use a
plural verb ‘are’

Eg1: The manager or the escalation engineer is to call the customer as a follow-
up.

Eg2:The engineer and the TA are on the call with the customer to troubleshoot.
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 nearer the verb.

Eg1: My manager or my colleagues ______ (share/ shares) new updates every

Wednesday.

Eg2: My colleagues or my manager _______ (share/shares) new updates every

Wednesday.
Doesn't is a contraction of does not and should be used only with
a singular subject.
Don't is a contraction of do not and should be used only with a
plural subject. With these pronouns, the contraction don't should
be used.
E.g.: Shouldn’t, couldn’t, wouldn’t, won’t, don’t, can’t
 
Do not be misled by a phrase that comes between the subject
and the verb. The verb agrees with the subject, not with a noun
or pronoun in the phrase.

E.g.: One of the cases I handle is escalated.

The words each, each one, either, neither everyone, everybody,
anybody, anyone, nobody, somebody, someone, and no one are
singular and require a singular verb.

Eg1: Everyone is involved in resolving the case.

Eg2: No one understands the challenge of handing a case with product limitations.
Eg3: Neither of the laptops is working.
Nouns such as civics, mathematics, dollars, measles, and news require singular
verbs.
Eg: Sheep, information, data, fish, money

E.g.: The data gathered over the years is lost.

Exception: When talking about currencies and money there is an exception.

When talking about an amount of money, use a singular verb, but when referring
to a currency, use a plural verb.
 When talking about nouns that always come in pairs such as scissors, tweezers,
trousers, socks and shears use plural verbs.

E.g.: I need to visit the optician to buy a new pair of glasses/spectacles.

 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.

10
 Collective nouns are words that imply more than one person but that are
considered singular and take a singular verb, such as: group, team,
committee, class, and family.

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Eg1: The team works together when there is a hike in the case volume
to manage cases efficiently.

Eg2: The teams work together when there is a collaboration task to

resolve the issue.

Explanation: A team can be of 15 members or 50 members, but when you

address them as a ‘Team’ its considered as one unit.
 Expressions such as; with, together with, including, accompanied by, in
addition to, or as well do not change the number of the subject. If the
subject is singular, the verb is too.

12
Eg1: The SME along with the engineer is on a call with the customer to
work on the case.

Eg2: The SME and the engineer are on a call with the customer to work
on the case.