Objectives

Identify the correct form of subject

and verb agreement on a sentence

Create sentences using the correct

forms of subject and verb agreement

Reflect on the importance of subject-

verb agreement to grammar
• Motivation:
I have here a baby and a puppy on my left, while here on my right side is a milk and a
bone
• Teacher’s activities                                                                  Students’ responses
•  
• ·         Do you agree that milk is good for the baby?                        Yes teacher!
•  
• ·         Very good, do you agree that milk is good
•                    for the puppies?      
•  
• ·         Very good, do you agree that bones                                       Yes Teacher!
•                    is good for the dogs?
•  
• ·         Since the milk is good for the baby                             No, because baby cannot
•  and the puppies, do you think bones                     get the proper nutrition                 
• also for babies?                                                         by eating bone,
• it is good for the puppies not for the baby
•  
•    Very good, do you agree that bones                                       Yes Teacher!
•                    is good for the dogs?
•  
•        Precisely, bones doesn’t fit to the needs                   
•                   of the baby ,do you agree?                                                 Yes teacher!
•  
• ·         Therefore there is always an appropriate
• food for every creature. Baby drinks milk
• while puppies eat the bone for them to grow healthy.
•  
•  Like the need of the baby and the puppies 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.
•  
• The subject and verb must agree in number:
both must be singular, or both must be plural.
• Notice the difference between singular and
plural forms in the following examples:
• a)    The baby drinks the milk
• b)    The babies drink the milk
• In order to find out if our subject and verb agree,
there is a need to identify the subject of our
sentence. In Sample (a), the subject is singular
therefore our verb is singular. In sample (b), our
subject is plural therefore our verb is plural. Notice
the difference in the formation of subject from
singular to plural compared to the formation of
verb from singular to plural. When we transform
our subject into plural we usually add s or es but in
verb, adding s makes the verb singular.
Activity
Choose the correct form of the verb that agrees with the subject.
1. The dog or the cats (is, are) outside.
• 2. George and Tamara (doesn’t, don’t) want to see that movie.
• 3. The man with all the birds (live, lives) on my street.
• 4. The movie, including all the previews, (take, takes) about
two hours to watch.
• 5. Either answer (is, are) acceptable.
• 6. (Is, Are) the news on at five or six?
• 7. Mathematics (is, are) John’s favorite subject.
• 8. The committee (debates, debate) these questions carefully.
• 9. The Prime Minister, along with his wife, (greets, greet) the
press cordially.
• 10. All of the CDs, even the scratched one, (is, are) in this case.
• General Rule of Subject-Verb Agreement
• Singular subjects requires singular verb and plural subjects
requires plural subjects.
•  
• Analysis
• Get ½ sheet of paper and answer the following:
• If the sentence is grammatically correct, write C before the
number. If there is an error in subject- verb agreement,
write the correct form of the verb.
•
1. The date and the place of the Girl Scout’s Jamboree has
been set.
2. The photographs in the yearbook are her work.
3. One of today’s English lessons are not easy to comprehend.
4. The president, with his cabinet, is going to the
luncheon meeting.
5. Are you aware that the sale of the tickets have
started?
6. The decision of the director stand.
7. Everyone these islands are very friendly.
8. On the beach, Jacksons sings.
9. The child looks at the picture inside the room.
10. Beneath these buildings are an underground
stream.
• Abstraction:
• The teacher will ask random students to test
their understanding
• So base on your understanding, what is a
subject? How about the verb?
• Application
• What do you think is the importance of
Subject-Verb Agreement to grammar?
• Evaluation
• I can see that you know understand the
subject-verb agreement, now get your activity
notebook and answer the following, and this
may serve as your homework.
•  
• Direction: Underline the correct verb inside the parenthesis to
make the statement correct. Identify the subject and determine
whether it is in singular or plural.
• 1.    My sister and brother (lives. live) in Berlin.
• 2.    Either the man or his friends (knows, know) the answer.
• 3.    Three weeks (is, are) a long time.
• 4.    Lisa is one of the students who (has, have) passed with an A.  
• 5.    Each student and teacher (was, were) aware of the difficulty.
• 6.     A car and a bike (is, are) my means of transportation.
• 7.    My aunt or my uncle (is, are) arriving at the airport.
• 8.    Neither Jenny nor the others (is, are) available.
• 9.    The serving bowl or the plates (go, goes) on that shelf.
• 10. Each of the students (read, reads) well.
•