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Agreement in Number

This document provides guidelines on subject-verb agreement in English. It discusses four key points: 1. Using singular or plural verbs depending on whether the subject is singular or plural. 2. Subjects that include prepositional phrases, like "Nurses at the hospital" still take a singular or plural verb depending on the subject. 3. Relative pronouns like "who" or "that" must agree in number with the word they refer to. 4. Determiners like "this/these", "all/some" must match the number of the noun they modify.

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132 views4 pages

Agreement in Number

This document provides guidelines on subject-verb agreement in English. It discusses four key points: 1. Using singular or plural verbs depending on whether the subject is singular or plural. 2. Subjects that include prepositional phrases, like "Nurses at the hospital" still take a singular or plural verb depending on the subject. 3. Relative pronouns like "who" or "that" must agree in number with the word they refer to. 4. Determiners like "this/these", "all/some" must match the number of the noun they modify.

Uploaded by

Dat Nguyen
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Point 1: Singular noun + singular verb/ plural noun + plural verb

A. Use a singular verb when the subject is one of the following: -

Uncountable nouns One of the (possessive case) + plural noun Each + singular noun Every + singular noun The number of + plural noun Names of organizations, associations, countries which are plural in form but singular in meaning Names of companies, corporations that end in s

Example The furniture you ordered is scheduled to be delivered on August 26. One of my friends is there. Each book and magazine is listed in the card catalogue. Every business needs to evaluate its strength and weakness periodically. The number of students in the class is twenty. The United States is located on the North American Continent. Every year, Viva Productions donates the proceeds of one concert to the poor. None of the girls is/are here.

B. Use a plural verb when the subject is one of the following: The + adjective (= a group of people in general) Some (of + the) + plural noun A lot of + plural noun A number of (=many) + plural noun Two-thirds + of + plural noun

Example: The wealthy usually do not consider themselves to be rich enough. Some of the books are good for children. A lot of his friends are here. A number of students are late for the TOEIC class. Nearly two-thirds of Americans are overweight. Choose the correct words Some small business /companies are much better at caring for their customers then the big ones. Stock values has/have dropped more than 15 percent from their highest point in the first quarter of 2003. Every supervisor need/needs to evaluate his or her employees periodically.

Point 2: Subject + prepositional phrase + verb


Choose the correct verbs Nurses at the Intensive Care Unit needs/need to monitor the vital signs of the patient every hour. The manufacturer of these disposable cameras guarantee/guarantees that the quality of materials will last well over a year.

Point 3: Agreement in number between a verb and the word that precedes the verb
Singular noun + relative pronoun used as subject + singular verb Plural noun + relative pronoun used as subject + plural verb Choose the correct words John Smith wants to grow up and be a politician who make/makes his country more prosperous. Peter works closely with salespeople who manages/manage orders from production to delivery.

Point 4: Agreement in number between determiners and nouns


Singular determiners (this/that) + singular noun Plural determiners (these/those/many/several/all/some) + plural noun Indefinite pronoun another + singular noun/other + plural noun

Choose the correct words All monthly statement/statements should be handed in on time. The company made a huge profit these/this year thanks to the aggressive advertising campaign. Please fill in the applicable spaces on these/this travel-expense report.

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