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Subject-verb agreement just means
using the right version of the verb to agree with the subject. For example:
If you use the term "verb conjugation," your mates will probably
think you're bit of brainbox, but it just means "how verbs change to
agree with their subjects."It's really simple. If you're a native English speaker, you'll naturally ensure your verbs agree with their subjects (i.e., conjugate correctly). Here's an example:
That was the verb to be.
Most other verbs are even easier:
It is a simple concept, but, sometimes, it's difficult to know whether your subject is singular or plural. In other words, should you be using a singular verb (like is and plays) or should you be using a plural one (like are and play)? Below is a summary of the areas which cause the most problems.
See the
section on Plurals for additional help with
subject-verb agreement.
1. The indefinite pronouns anyone,
everyone, someone, no one, nobody are always singular and, therefore,
require singular verbs.
Some
indefinite pronouns — such as all, some — are singular or plural
depending on what they're referring to. (Is the thing referred to countable
or not?) Be careful choosing a verb to accompany such pronouns.
On the
other hand, there is one indefinite pronoun, none, that can be either
singular or plural; it often doesn't matter whether you use a singular or a
plural verb — unless something else in the sentence determines its number.
(Writers generally think of none as meaning not any and will
choose a plural verb, as in "None of the engines are working," but
when something else makes us regard none as meaning not one, we
want a singular verb, as in "None of the food is fresh.")
2. Some indefinite pronouns are
particularly troublesome Everyone and everybody (listed above,
also) certainly feel like more than one person and, therefore, students
are sometimes tempted to use a plural verb with them. They are always
singular, though. Each is often followed by a prepositional phrase
ending in a plural word (Each of the cars), thus confusing the verb choice. Each,
too, is always singular and requires a singular verb.
Everyone has finished his or her homework.
You would
always say, "Everybody is here." This means that the word is
singular and nothing will change that.
Each of the students is responsible for doing his or her work in
the library.
Don't let
the word "students" confuse you; the subject is each and each
is always singular — Each is responsible.
3. Phrases such as together with,
as well as, and along with are not the same as and. The
phrase introduced by as well as or along with will modify the
earlier word (mayor in this case), but it does not compound the
subjects (as the word and would do).
4. The pronouns neither and either
are singular and require singular verbs even though they seem to be
referring, in a sense, to two things.
In
informal writing, neither and either sometimes take a plural
verb when these pronouns are followed by a prepositional phrase beginning
with of. This is particularly true of interrogative constructions:
"Have either of you two clowns read the assignment?" "Are
either of you taking this seriously?" Burchfield calls this "a
clash between notional and actual agreement."*
5. The conjunction or does not
conjoin (as and does): when nor or or is used the
subject closer to the verb determines the number of the verb. Whether the
subject comes before or after the verb doesn't matter; the proximity
determines the number.
Because a
sentence like "Neither my brothers nor my father is going to sell
the house" sounds peculiar, it is probably a good idea to put the plural
subject closer to the verb whenever that is possible.
6. The words there and here
are never subjects.
With these
constructions (called expletive constructions), the subject follows the verb
but still determines the number of the verb.
7. Verbs in the present tense for
third-person, singular subjects (he, she, it and anything those words
can stand for) have s-endings. Other verbs do not add s-endings.
He loves and she loves
and they love_ and . . . .
8. Sometimes modifiers will get betwen
a subject and its verb, but these modifiers must not confuse the agreement
between the subject and its verb.
The mayor,
who has been convicted along with his four brothers on four counts of various
crimes but who also seems, like a cat, to have several political lives, is finally going to jail.
9. Sometimes nouns take weird forms
and can fool us into thinking they're plural when they're really singular and
vice-versa. Consult the section on the Plural Forms of Nouns and the section on Collective Nouns for additional help. Words
such as glasses, pants, pliers, and scissors are regarded as plural (and
require plural verbs) unless they're preceded the phrase pair of (in
which case the word pair becomes the subject).
10. Some words end in -s and
appear to be plural but are really singular and require singular verbs.
On the
other hand, some words ending in -s refer to a single thing but are
nonetheless plural and require a plural verb.
The names
of sports teams that do not end in "s" will take a plural verb: the
Miami Heat have been looking … , The Connecticut Sun are hoping
that new talent … . See the section on plurals for help with this problem.
11. Fractional expressions such as half
of, a part of, a percentage of, a majority of are sometimes singular and
sometimes plural, depending on the meaning. (The same is true, of course,
when all, any, more, most and some act as subjects.) Sums and
products of mathematical processes are expressed as singular and require
singular verbs. The expression "more than one" (oddly enough) takes
a singular verb: "More than one student has tried this."
12. If your sentence compounds a
positive and a negative subject and one is plural, the other singular, the
verb should agree with the positive subject.
Subject-Verb Agreement [subject= bold;
verb= italic]:
Namun jika
ada helping verb, maka helping verb-nya
yang berubah sedangkan main verb dalam bentuk dasar (base form verb).
Pilihan helping verb dalam bentuk tunggal-jamak-nya adalah is-are,
does-do, dan has-have. Khusus untuk has-have, agreement
tidak berlaku jika kata tersebut merupakan second helping verb atau
digunakan dibelakang helping verb lainnya.
Contoh Kalimat Subject-Verb
Agreement [subject= bold; verb= italic; helping
verb= underline]:
Sedangkan
pada past tense, tidak ada perbedaan bentuk kata kerja dalam hal
number (tunggal atau jamak) jika tidak ada helping verb,
yaitu: was-were.
Contoh Kalimat Subject-Verb
Agreement [subject= bold; helping verb= underline]:
Adapun
jika kata kerja yang digunakan berupa linking verb, maka is, am (khusus
I), was (past tense) digunakan oleh singular subject,
sedangkan are dan were (past tense)
oleh plural subject.
Contoh Kalimat Subject-Verb
Agreement [subject= bold; linking verb= italic]:
Permasalahan pada Subject-Verb Agreement
Subject-verb
agreement menjadi
membingungkan ketika dihadapkan pada persoalan seperti: subjek berupa collective noun, compound subject, plural form
dengan makna singular, dan indefinite pronoun. Selain itu, ada pula phrase
atau clause yang menyela subjek dan kata kerja sehingga cukup dapat
membingungkan didalam penentuan agreement-nya.
Berikut
penjelasan dan beberapa contoh subject-verb agreement. [Subject= bold;
verb, linking= italic; helping verb= underline]
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SUMBER :
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/sv_agr.htm
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