Subject & Verb Agreement

Subject and Verb Agreement

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• Theory

Subject-Verb Agreement is one of the areas you have surely studied in your English classes. As you have seen, there are many rules governing the usage of subjects and verbs. We will cover several of them here.

The first thing you must know is that the subject of the sentence and the verb of the sentence must agree in number. If the subject is plural, then the verb must be plural also. If the subject is singular, then the verb must be singular also. Whatever the subject is, the verb must be the same. That’s why we call it agreement.The subject and verb must agree with each other in number. 

Perhaps the most critical thing for you to know is that all singular verbs end in “s” …. with the exception of “I am” and “you are.” Look at these verbs: is, are, do, does, seem,  seems, ask, asks, was, were. The ones that end in “s” are all singular: is, does, seems, asks, was.

• Subject-verb agreement

According to McCray Hill Grammar Dictionary, subject-verb agreement is the rule of grammar that states that singular subjects must agree with singular verbs and plural or compound subjects must agree with plural verbs. The verb in a sentence must agree with the subjects and not with any other word that is placed between them. (www.ehow.com)

• Clauses

Clauses come in four types: main [or independent], subordinate [or dependent], relative [or adjective], and noun. Every clause has at least a subject and a verb. Other characteristics will help you distinguish one type of clause from another. (www. chompchomp.com).

·        Example Rules

RULES 1: Singular subject harus diiringi oleh singular verb, plural subject harus diiringi oleh plural verb : 

          Example:

• She breaks the window intentionally
• Mena Massoud is the actor who played Aladdin
• They are just acting tough, I know they want to cry
• It sounds too crazy for me, my brain can’t process it
• Why do people like to gossip about each other?

RULES 2: Jika ada noun phrase yang mengandung “of”, yang   diakui menjadi subject dan diikuti bentuknya oleh verb adalah noun sebelum of

Example:

• The stories of him are nearly unbelievable
• A bouquet of flowers is sent to your house right now
• The last piece of cake is given to Mike
• The bullies of him don’t disturb me
• A group of mysterious people appears in front of me

RULES 3: Singular subject yang dihubungkan dengan or Either/or, dan neither \ nor mengunakan singular verb    

Example:

• Neither I nor Will is going to your house now
• Either to stay or to leave is up to you, you’re the one who have to decide
• Apple or orange is okay, I’m not picky
• Neither bad nor sad thing happens in a love story
• Either Kay or Camila orders the menu for us

RULES 4: Jika jdua subject yang ada di kalimat Sifatnya berbeda (singular/plural),verb dalam kalimat yang memiliki or,either/or, dan neither/nor mengikuti subject terdekat

Example:

• Neither the players nor the director knows about the scenario
• Either the teacher nor his students come to the hall tardy
• The students or Adi visits Kellan who is sick at the hospital
• Neither me nor my friends are going to Ethan’s party now
• My brothers or you are going to visit me

RULES 5: Dua subject yang dihubungkan dengan and menggunakan plural verb (kecuali jika subject tersebut adalah compound noun)

Example:

• You and I are meant to be together forever
• Ducks and chickens are come from the same species
• Nafis and Adi are my best working partners
• Bella and Harry try their best to support me when I’m down
• Naruto and Sasuke fight Madara Uchiha together

RULES 6: Jika ada phrases tambahan (along with as well as,       beside,not,etc) yang memisahkan subject dan verb, maka phrases tersebut tidak dianggap dalam agreement

Example:

• Renica, along with her friends, is registering for global climate action
• Happiness, as well as sadness, comes unexpectedly in human’s life
• Stella, in spite of having an autoimmune disease, keeps chasing her dreams
• The students (followed by their teacher) gladly enter the zoo

RULES 7: Dalam kalimat yang menggunakan there atau here, subject biasanya ada di belakang verb, dan bentuk verb tetap harus mengikuti subject-nya

Example:

• There are some rules you need to obey here
• Here is the orange juice you ordered
• Why there are people who like to mind others’ business?
• How come there is someone who stalks me?
• Here is him, the chairman of our student council

RULES 8: Singular verb bisa digunakan untuk plural subject, asal plural subject tersebut dianggap sebagai singular dalam konteks kalimat

Example:

§  Singing and dancing is a difficult skill to master

§  Three kilometres is a far range for some people

§  Two-third parts of the world consists by water

§  To me, a thousand dollars is a high digit for salary

§  11 rules of subject – verb agreement drives me mad, I don’t know how to remember it

RULES 9: Dalam kalimat yang menggunakan determiner a lot of, all, some, etc, verb mengikuti bentuk subject yang mendahuluinya

Example:

• A lot of people have been suffering from war and poverty
• A lot of mushroom is bought for the Easter Day
• Many teenagers must have through ups and downs when socializing
• A third of the city population are still idle
• A third of the city population is still idle

RULES 10: Dalam kalimat yang menggunakan collective noun (family, team, population, etc), bisa menggunakan plural atau singular verb

Example:

• Family is the one you need to prioritize over anything
• Family are the most precious things God ever gave me
• Our team are joining the business acceleration
• Our team is the best team in the challenge
• All of the words I had prepared was forgotten at once

RULES 11: Verb to be “were” bisa digunakan dalam kalimat apapun untuk menunjukkan kondisi kontras/pengandaian, tidak peduli   subjectnya singular atau plural

Example:

• If you were my girlfriend, I swear I’ll give you anything
• If I were taller, would she accept my proposal?
• They wouldn’t be yelled at if they were more quiet
• I’ll keep her with my life if only she were my girlfriend
• If he were alive, he must’ve called me a liar and teased me

Ø  Contoh soal pilihan ganda S & V Agreement

1.     Physic … been my favorite subject since I was 15 years old.

A Have                                                                  B Has

·          Penjelasan : Jika ada cabang keilmuan dengan ending -ics 
                 bermakna singular  sehingga diikuti singular verb

2.    Whether to buy or rent a car … an important financial question.

A Is                                                                     B Are

·  Penjelasan : Dua atau lebih singular subjek dihubungkan dengan or menggunakan singular verb

3.    Everybody …. to be loved.

A.  Want

B. Wants

·         Penjelasan : Kata ganti biasanya mengambil kata kerja tunggal.

4.    Red beans and rice … my mom's favorite dish.

A.  Is

B. Are

·         Penjelasan : Karena kata kerjanya singular jika kedua subjek dipisahkan oleh  

    dan merujuk ke yang sama orang atau benda.

5.    There …  many ways to say “Greeting”

A. Is

B.Are 

• Penjelasan : there bukan subject. subject muncul seteah verb to be yaitu ways. verb to be disesuaikan dengan subject apakah singular atau plural

Ø  Error Analysis S & Verb Agreement

A.  Bob are my brother’s best friend.

Answer is Inccorect karena, Bob merupakan kata singular, jadi kita harus menggunakan is

B.   Sixteen teachers works at the new elementary school.

        Answer is Inccorect karena, Sixteen teachers  
        merupakan subject, sehingga kita harus menggunakan kata kerja 
        awal yaitu work
   

C.   Every man, woman, and child is protected by the law.

          Answer is Correct karena, Each and every selalu diikuti oleh 

           kata kerja tunggal. Tidak masalah jika diikuti oleh satu kata benda 

           atau serangkaian  kata benda.

D.  Fifty dollars are a lot to pay for one dinner.

Answer is Incorrect karena, beberapa uang, waktu, jarak bagian ini akan selalu dipandang sebagai singular. Sehingga jawabnnya is

E.   A police officer sometimes works nights and weekends.

Answer is Correct karena, Polisi adalah seorang individu

F.   The door at the houses are broken  

Answer is Incorrect karena, ‘At the houses’ adalah prepositional phrase. 

Maka subject dalam kalimat diatas adalah the door, dan verb yang 

digunakan adalah is.

G.    The meeting (of the teachers) (in the school) begins at 10 a.m.

Answer is  Correct karena, ‘Of the teachers, in the school” adalah 

prepositional phrases. Maka subject dalam kalimat diatas adalah the meeting, 

dan verb yang digunakan adalah begins.

H.  Most (of the student) arrives at school.

Answer is Correct karena, (all, most, atau some) diikuti oleh preposition

‘of’, maka subject bisa singular atau plural,student disini bentuknya 

singular sehingga verbnya arrives

I.   Everybody in library are  reading the book 

Answer is incorrect karena, meskipun kita mengerti bahwa ada banyak 

orang yang membaca buku di perpustakaan, namun kata everybody 

berbentuk singular dan membutuhkan singular verb yakni is reading.

Certain words

J.   The lions, as well as the cat, are mammals.

Answer is Correct karena, subject dalam kalimat tersebut adalah the dogs, 

maka kata kerja yang digunakan adalah are, sedangkan  

as well as the cat adalah interrupting phrase.

interrupting phase

  Bibliografi 
1. jurnal.unisbank.ac.id
2. wordsmile.com 
3. khanaacademy.org
4. kelasbahasainggris.com 
5. kampunginggris.id  
6. menlo.edu

 
 

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