Subject & Verb Agreement (Part 1)

Subject & Verb Agreement

The most important two elements in a sentence are: Subject & Verb

Without subject and verb we cannot make any sentence.

There is an important relation between these two basic elements of a sentence.

The verb must agree with the number and the person of the subject.

If the subject is singular in number, the verb will also be used according to it. Similarly, the plural subjects also take the verbs according to them.

Tenses	Singular Subjects He, she, it, third person singular nouns ( Mohan, Renu, etc)	Plural Subjects We, You, they and third person plural nouns (Mohan & Sohan, People, Boys, etc.) Exceptional Subjects   ‘I’	Exceptional Subjects
Present Simple	+ve sentences ‘s’ or  ‘es’ with V-1 Neg./Interrogative sentences Does+ v-1	+ve sentences V-1 Neg./Interrogative sentences Do + v-1
Past Simple	+ve sentences V-2 Neg./Interrogative sentences Did+ v-1	+ve sentences V-2 Neg./Interrogative sentences Did+ v-1
Present Perfect Tense	Has+ 3rd form of the verb	Have + 3rd form of the verb
Past Perfect Tense	Had + 3rd form of the verb	Had + 3rd form of the verb
Future Perfect tense	Will have/shall have + 3rd form of the verb	Will have/shall have + 3rd form of the verb	Someimes ‘I’ & ‘we’ take shall have + v-3
Future Simple	Will + 3rd form of the verb	Will + 3rd form of the verb	‘I’ & ‘we’ take shall + v-1
Present Contnuous tense	Is + v-1 with ‘ing’	Are+ V-1 with ‘ing’	‘I’ take ‘am’+ V-1 with ‘ing’
Present Perfect Continuous Tense	Has + been+V-1 with ‘ing’ + since or for	Have + been+V-1 with ‘ing’+ since or for	. ............
Past Contnuous tense	was + v-1 with ‘ing’	were+ V-1 with ‘ing’
Past  Perfect Continuous Tense	Had + been+V-1 with ‘ing’ + since or for	Had+ been+V-1 with ‘ing’+ since or for	.............
Future Contnuous tense	Will +be+V-1 with ‘ing’	Will +be+V-1 with ‘ing’	Sometimes ‘I’ & ‘we’ take shall be+ V-1 with ‘ing’
Future Perfect Continuous Tense	Will have+been+V-1 with ‘ing’ + since or for	Will have+been+V-1 with ‘ing’ + since or for	Sometimes ‘I’ & ‘we’ take shall have+been+V-1 with ‘ing’ + since or for

1.      Sometimes the students face some difficulty in using verb after ‘There’. It is decided by the real subject that comes after the primary verb used. If it is singular in number or person, use singular verb and the vice versa.

For example,

There are two thousand students in my school.

In the above sentence, ‘there’ is a dummy subject and the real subject is ‘two hundred students’. Since it is plural in number, the plural verb will be used. So ‘are’ is used here.

Use verbs in the following sentences.

1.    There..................no hope of the patient’s recovery.

2.    There................ be a grand finale of Music Competition in our school on Monday next.

3.    There..................many children who came to take part in the competition yesterday.

4.    There....................no reason for you to stay at home.

5.    There.....................several options for you to decide about your career.

6.    There..................no policeman at the police station today.

7.    There....................no dogs in this village.

8.    How many fingers...................there on your hand?

2.    Collective nouns take singular verbs. There are so many collective nouns used in English. For example, for a group of cattle, we use ‘herd’ and for a group of soldiers, we use ‘army/troupe/battalion.

Examples,

A herd of cattle was coming towards the village.

A pack of hounds was ready attack the deer.

Other collective nouns are:

1. Army is a collection of soldiers.
2. Crowd or a mob is a collection or group of people.
3. Flock is a collection of animals ,especially of sheep or birds
4. Fleet is a collection of ships.
5. A number of artistes, dancers, acrobats:  troupe
6. A number of bees  :    swarm
7. A collection of books :   library
8. A number of cattle, swine:   herd
9. A number of chicken hatched at the same time:    brood
10. A number of directors of a company:    board
11. A number of drawers :    chest
12. A collection of fish :   shoal/school
13. A collection of flowers     :   bunch/ bouquet
14. A number of fruit trees :  orchard
15. A number of geese:  gaggle
16. A collection of grapes, bananas, keys:  bunch
17. A number of hounds, wolves: pack
18. A number of judges  :   bench
19. A number of people at a religious meeting: congregation
20. A number of people listening to a musical show
21. or concert :   audience
22. A number of people watching a match :  spectators
23. A number of people collected or gathered
24. without any specific purpose   :   crowd  
25. A number  of people gathered for   
26. some common purpose:   assembly
27. A number of people gathered
28. for some destructive purpose:  mob
29. A number of savage people:  horde
30. A number of pigs, puppies :  litter
31. A number of players, oxen or horses
32. yoked together:  team
33. A set of rooms  :  suite /swit/
34. A number of sailors  :  crew
35. A number of sheep :  flock
36. A number of ships, cars      :    fleet
37. A number of soldiers :  army, troop: battalion, regiment
38. A number of stars:  constellation
39. A collection of sticks  :   bundle
40. A number of thieves   : pack
41. A number of trees  :    clump

42.    A collection of wood, hay piled together: stack            

3.     

The Use of Articles: 'A, An & The'

The Use of Articles

Two types: 1. Indefinite 2. Definite

Indefinite articles: 1. An 2.  A

(I)                 The Use of ‘An’

(1)    ‘An’ is used in front of singular countable nouns which begin with the following vowel sounds:

(i)                 ‘A’ as in army

(ii)               ‘e’ as in ‘enemy’

(iii)             ‘I’ in Indian

(iv)              ‘o’ in officer

(v)                ‘u’ in ‘umbrella’

An inkpot, an engineer, an apple, an ambassador, an island, an onion

(2)   There are some words in English, that begin with consonants but sound like vowels. We use ‘an’ in front of such words also.

(i)                 His father is an M. L. A.

(ii)               Is your father an S. D. O. in P.W.D. department?

Similarly we have,

an honest person, an heir

(3)    The word ‘university’ begins with a vowel letter, but it gives the sound of a consonant, so, ‘a’ will be used in front of it.

·         This is a university.

(II)               Use of ‘a’

(i)                 When singular countable noun is mentioned for the first time a/an is used in front of it.

(a)   He lives in a hut.

(b)   I need a car these days.

(i)                 When a singular countable noun is used to represent a class or a type, a/an is used.

(a)   A television is necessary for all the families.

(b)   A motor-cycle is very useful.

(c)    A computer needs careful handling.

(ii)               In front of the names of professions, a/an is used.

(a)   My father is a teacher.

(b)    Is he a businessman?

(c)    He is a singer.

(d)   You are a very good comedian.

(iii)             With the expressions like:

A lot of, a great deal of, many a, a great number of, a few, a little, a little bit of, a couple of days, a pair of, one and a half kg , such a ...., What a ....., a Mr. Khanna ( a person who is called Mr. Khanna) 

In the following situations a/an and ‘the’ is not used.

1.      In front of the names of meals, no article is used.

·         I eat dinner at 9 p.m.

·         Have you eaten breakfast?

In the above sentences, dinner and breakfast are usual features of a routine. So, no article is needed here.

2.       But for specific breakfast, lunch and dinner, article is used.

·         The dinner we had at Karnal Haveli was marvelous.

Use of the Definite Article ‘the’

It can be used in front of both, singular and plural nouns

1.      ‘the’ is used in front of unique things:

The railway station, the bus stand, the earth, the moon, the east, the west, the north, the south, the sun, the pole star, the equator, the stars,

2.      Sometimes a noun or a noun phrase is made specific by adding a phrase or a relative clause to it. Then ‘the’ is used before it.

·         The boy who is wearing a red shirt is my friend.

·         The lady with flowers in her hands is a stranger.

3.      Repetition of a noun also makes it unique or particular.

·         There was a king. He had four sons. The sons were very lazy. One day the king decided to make his sons active.

4.      In front of the superlative degree of adjective ‘the’ is used.

·         Rubi is the most intelligent girl of her class.

·         Alice is the wisest girl in her family.

5.      In front of the ordinal number ‘the’ is used.

·         She is the first girl of this village to have been selected as the leader of a mountaineering team.

·         My father will return from abroad on the twenty second of this month.

6.      In front of famous mountain ranges, mountains, seas, islands, meaningful names of some states and countries, famous news-papers, magazines, religious books, sacred rivers, etc.

Examples:

The Himalyas, the Shivalik hills, The Andaman islands, the Arabian sea, the Pacific ocean, the Bay of Bengal, the U.S.A., The Punjab, the Uttar Pradesh, The Tribune, The Times of India, The Illustrated Weekly, The Time, The Gita, The Quran, The Ramayana, The Ganga, The Sarswati, etc.

7.      In front of some adjectives when used as nouns:

The poor, the rich, the downtrodden, the deprived, the oppressed, etc.

8.      When a famous person’s name is used as an adjective, ‘the’ is used.

·         Kalidas is called the Shakespeare of India.

·         Neha is the Lata of our school.

9.      In front of ‘whole’ and after ‘both’ and ‘all’, ‘the’ is used.

·         The whole world knows.........

·         All the boys  of this school........

·         Both the friends.........

10.   Usually, ‘the’ article is used in front of superlative degree of an adjective, but, there is a situation when ‘the’ is used in front of comparative degree of adjective.

The higher you go, the cooler it is.

11.   When context is already clear to the listener, ‘the’ can be used.

A. (to B): Where is your father?

B.: He is in the study.

Similarly,

A:  Where is the book?

B:  It is lying on the table.

Omission of the definite article ‘the’                                                                                                                                                                                             In front of proper nouns, ‘the’ is not used.

(a)   Delhi is the capital of India.

(b)   Solan is not a far off place from Chandigarh.

(c)    Rohit studies in class X

1.      In front of abstract nouns, names of games, meals and material nouns, we should not use ‘the’. But in their particular use ‘the’ is used.

(a)   Honesty is the best policy.

But we can say:

·         ‘The honesty in Mr. .. is marvellous.

·         ‘The artist in him is still alive.’

·         Kapil plays golf as well as cricket but the cricket in him is vigorous.

·         I usually eat dinner at 9 p.m. but the dinner I ate at Sapphire                                                was very spicy.

·         Gold is a precious metal. But we can also say, ‘The gold of this necklace is not pure.’

·         Wheat is sown in the month of November. The wheat which I sowed in Nov. last year did not grow properly.

2.      Before parts of the body, no article is used, but, in particular use, ‘the’ is preferred.

(a)   The teacher hit the child on the head.

(b)   He patted his back.

(c)    The ball hit him on the forehead.

3.      When man and women are used in general sense, ‘the’ is not used, but in particular case, ‘the’ is used.

Man is a social animal.

Women are worshipped in civilized societies.

4.      When we mean human nature by the word ‘nature’, we can use ‘the’. But when we mean the world of vegetation, mountains, fields and all the creatures associated with nature, ‘the’ is not used.

·         William Wordsworth was a great worshipper of Nature.

·         The nature of Mr. Khanna is very good.

5.      In front of languages, we do not use ‘the’, but in front of nationalities, we use ‘the’.

·         The French speak French.

·         The English speak English.

6.      We do not use article ‘the’ in front of some places or building if the speaker uses them for their basic purposes.

Such buildings and places are: school, hospital, church, temple, mosque, office, market, etc.

For example, a school is built for the purpose of imparting education. If the speaker goes to school as a student, he/she cannot use ‘the’ before it.

(i)                 I did not go to school yesterday.

(ii)               At what time do you go to office?

(iii)             I went to hospital yesterday.

(iv)              I often go to market in the evening.

(v)                She goes to church every day.

(vi)              I go to bed at 10 p. m. daily.

(vii)            His son went to sea 10 years ago and has not returned yet. (as a sailor or an employee at a ship)   But, ‘the’ can be used when these places are visited for not their basic or primary purposes.I went to the hospital to see a patient yesterday.

(i)                 She goes the hospital to distribute medicines and fruit to the poor patients.

(ii)               We go to the sea daily in the evening. (for strolling on the sea beach)

Exercises on the use of articles:

Exercise 1. Use (a) an (b) the (c) a (d) x

1.      His father is ...........businessman.

2.      I met ................ old friend of mine yesterday.

3.      .........Shivalik hills are near Chandigarh.

4.      .........Mount Abu is in Rajasthan.

5.      His brother is ...........idealist.

6.      Rajjaq is .................heir to the property of his father.

7.      I took a patient to ............. hospital yesterday.

8.      He loves playing ................... cricket.

9.      Usually I go to ...................bed at 10 p.m.

10.   He went to............sea when he was just of 17.

11.   In our country,  .......... poor are becoming poorer and ............. rich are becoming richer day by day.

12.   I bought ........... necklace, ............... umbrella and some fruit from market ............ yesterday

13.   He threw .................. ball, which hit ................ man who was coming from ............ opposite direction.

14.   East or west, home is .............. best.

15.   Atul is ................ most intelligent boy in his class.

Exercise2.

I went to .....1.................. village yesterday. It is 10 kms from here. I reached ....2........ bus stand to catch .......3....... bus . While walking, I found some children playing near ......4..... bye-pass road. One of them picked up....5..... stone and threw towards ......6......bus  coming from Ambala.   .......7..... stone hit ......8......passenger who was looking out of .....9.....window.    ........10.......head of .....11...... passenger started bleeding profusely.    ....12........conductor of ......13.........bus whistled at once to stop ...14..... it. It was stopped in no time. Some passengers got down of ...15.....bus and ran towards ......16.......children who also had already started running as they had seen ....17....... bus stopping and ......18..... passengers coming towards them.