Subject Verb Agreement Part 1 by Cristina Hoble https://padlet.com/n01437631/3au0s6vh0vv1q8ak en-us 2020-11-29 18:26:49 UTC 2025-11-07 12:24:00 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/270d.png Brief Overview n01437631 https://padlet.com/n01437631/3au0s6vh0vv1q8ak/wish/969118553 Every complete sentence contains two intrinsic elements: a subject and a verb. The subject is usually a noun or refers to a person that does the action of a verb. In turn, the verb conveys the action done by the subject. 
 
The two elements are highly dependent upon one another, meaning that they must be in constant agreement on two fronts:
a. regarding the number of subjects (singular vs plural) and
b. personal pronouns (1st pov, 2nd pov, 3rd pov)
]]> 2020-11-29 18:31:42 UTC https://padlet.com/n01437631/3au0s6vh0vv1q8ak/wish/969118553 Agreement Rules for Singular vs Plural Subjects with a Present Tense Verb n01437631 https://padlet.com/n01437631/3au0s6vh0vv1q8ak/wish/969127130 Reminder:
The base form of present tense verbs is: study, play, write, eat, and so on.

Singular Subject:
When the sentence contains a singular subject and a present tense verb, we must add "-s" to the end of the verb.

For example, The boy plays a video game.

The subject in this sentence is just the one boy. In order for the base form of the verb "play" to agree with the subject, an "s" gets added at the end. Play becomes plays.

Plural Subjects (2 or more):
When the sentence contains a plural subject and a present tense verb, we must leave the verb as it is.

For example, The boys play a video game.

In this sentence, there are now several boys playing a video game. The subject "boys" being plural in number. The base form of the verb "play" remains unchanged.]]> 2020-11-29 18:37:15 UTC https://padlet.com/n01437631/3au0s6vh0vv1q8ak/wish/969127130 Agreement Rules for Pronouns n01437631 https://padlet.com/n01437631/3au0s6vh0vv1q8ak/wish/969241848 Reminder:
A pronoun stands in as a substitute for a noun as the subject in a sentence.

In this section, the main focus will be on personal subjective pronouns, such as; I, you (singular), he, she, it, we, you (plural), they.

When pronouns are used as the subject of a sentence, the rule that states there must be an agreement between the subject and the verb still stands.

In fact, one way to double-check that the subject and verb are in agreement is through the use of personal subjective pronouns. We must simply substitute a noun with its corresponding subjective pronoun.

Singular Pronouns (I, you, he, she, it):

For example, "The detective drinks at the pub."

The singular subject of this sentence is "detective". To ensure that the subject is in agreement, we can substitute "detective" with "he" or "she".

Plural Pronouns (We, you, they)

"The detectives drink at the pub."

The subject is plural is number, "detectives", meaning more than one. And we can double-check this by using its corresponding subjective pronoun, "they". ]]> 2020-11-29 19:57:53 UTC https://padlet.com/n01437631/3au0s6vh0vv1q8ak/wish/969241848 Exceptions to the Rule - Irregular Plural Nouns n01437631 https://padlet.com/n01437631/3au0s6vh0vv1q8ak/wish/969316748 Irregular Plural Nouns are words that do not gain an "s" at the end in their plural form. Instead, the root of the word changes altogether.

Some examples of irregular plural nouns are:
i. person -> people
ii. tooth -> teeth
iii. mouse -> mice.

Because these nouns do not gain as "s" in their plural form, the verbs used alongside these nouns don't gain an "s" either.

Remember: only the verb working together with a singular subject/pronoun gains an "s" at the end. ]]> 2020-11-29 20:52:39 UTC https://padlet.com/n01437631/3au0s6vh0vv1q8ak/wish/969316748 Exceptions to the Rule - Irregular and Helping Verbs n01437631 https://padlet.com/n01437631/3au0s6vh0vv1q8ak/wish/969371394 A lot of the verbs in the English language follow clear, straightforward conjugation pathways from the present tense to the past tense. For example, I admire (present tense) - > I admired (past tense). These are called regular verbs.

Irregular verbs follow no such pathways in conjugation. Instead, they have many unique forms depending on the number (singular vs plural) and tense (present vs. past) used.

Let's look at the verb to be. Its conjugation goes as follows:

Present tense:
I am
You are
He, she, it is
We, You, They are

Example: Sherlock is sick of love songs.

In this case, the singular subject, Sherlock (he), dictates what the form "to be" will take. In this case, it's "is".  Ergo, irregular verbs are made to agree with their subject(s). 

Past tense conjugation:
I was
You were
He, she, it was
We, you, they were

Example: After 8 hours of video games, my eyes were burning.

Again, the plural subjects, eyes, in this case, dictate the form of the verb, "to be" - > were.

Helping Verbs (be, have, do) also fall under the same exception as irregular verbs, meaning their form is decided by their subject.

Example: The ice cream has numbed the roof of my mouth.

The singular subject here is ice cream and the corresponding helping verb is "has".

]]> 2020-11-29 21:35:44 UTC https://padlet.com/n01437631/3au0s6vh0vv1q8ak/wish/969371394