3.4.1

Subject-verb Agreement

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Subject-verb Agreement

When we use a verb in a sentence it has to follow the accepted patterns of agreeing with the subject’s form.

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1st, 2nd and 3rd person

  • The 1st person includes the ‘I’ and ‘we’ forms of a verb.
  • The 2nd person includes the ‘you’ (singular and plural) forms of a verb.
  • The 3rd person includes the ‘he’, 'she', 'it' and ‘they’ forms of a verb.
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Subject-verb agreement example

  • Look how the present tense verb endings change depending on the person it relates to.
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Subject-verb agreement

  • The pattern of the endings for each person NEVER changes.
  • You can‘t write in a sentence, ‘they loves the book’
  • You need to write ‘they love the book’ to make sure the subject and the verb ending agree.
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Substituting the subject

  • The pronouns used are usually substituted with the actual noun.
  • E.g. ‘John loves the book’
    • 'John' has been substituted for the pronoun 'he'.
  • E.g. ‘John and Mary love the book.’
    • 'John and Mary' has been substituted for the pronoun 'they'.

Jump to other topics

1Spelling

2Punctuation

3Grammar

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