A. Theory
Subject Verb agreement can be tricky for many people including me. So, What is subject verb agreement?
Subject verb agreement refers to the fact that the subject and verb in a sentence must agree in number. In other words, they both must be singular or they both must be plural. You can’t have a singular subject with a plural verb or vice versa. The tricky part is in knowing the singular and plural forms of subjects and verbs.
Here are some more guidelines for subject verb agreement.
1. Use verbs that agree with a subject, not with a noun that is part of a modifying phrase or clause between verb and subject:
“The pot of eggs is boiling on the stove.”
2. Use singular or plural verbs that agree with the subject, not with the complement of the subject:
“My favorite type of movie is comedies,” but “Comedies are my favorite type of movie.”
3. Use singular verbs with singular indefinite pronouns — each, the “-bodies,” “-ones,” and “-things” (anybody, everyone, nothing), and the like:
“Neither is correct.” (And, just as in rule number 1, the presence of a modifier is irrelevant: “Neither of them is correct.”)
4. Use plural verbs with plural indefinite pronouns:
“Many outcomes are possible.”
5. Use singular verbs with uncountable nouns that follow an indefinite pronoun:
“All the paint is dried up.”
6. Use plural verbs with countable nouns that follow an indefinite pronoun:
“All the nails are spilled on the floor.”
7. Use plural verbs with compound subjects that include and:
“The dog and the cat are outside.”
8. Use plural verbs or singular verbs, depending on the form of the noun nearest the verb, with compound subjects that include nor or or:
“Either the dog or the cats are responsible for the mess.” (“Either the cats or the dog is responsible for the mess” is also technically correct but is awkward.)
9. Use singular verbs with inverted subjects that include singular nouns:
“Why is my hat outside in the rain?”
10. Use plural verbs with inverted subjects (those beginning with the expletive there rather than the actual subject) that include plural nouns:
“There are several hats outside in the rain.”
11. Use singular or plural verbs with collective nouns depending on meaning:
“His staff is assembled,” but “Staff are asked to go to the conference room immediately.” (In the first sentence, the emphasis is on the body of employees; in the second sentence, the focus is on compliance by each individual in the body of employees.)
12. Use singular verbs for designations of entities, such as nations or organizations, or compositions, such as books or films:
“The United Nations is headquartered in New York.”
13. Use singular verbs for subjects plural in form but singular in meaning:
“Physics is my favorite subject.”
14. Use singular or plural verbs for subjects plural in form but plural or singular in meaning depending on the context:
“The economics of the situation are complicated,” but “Economics is a complicated topic.”
15. Use plural verbs for subjects plural in form and meaning:
“The tweezers are in the cupboard.”
16. Use plural verbs in constructions of the form “one of those (blank) who . . .”:
“I am one of those eccentrics who do not tweet.”
17. Use singular verbs in constructions of the form “the only one of those (blank) who . . .”:
“I am the only one of my friends who does not tweet.”
18. Use singular verbs in constructions of the form “the number of (blank) . . .”:
“The number of people here boggles the mind.”
19. Use plural verbs in constructions of the form “a number of (blank) . . .”:
“A number of people here disagree.”
20. Use singular verbs in construction of the forms “every (blank) . . .” and “many a (blank) . . .”:
“Every good boy does fine”; “Many a true word is spoken in jest.”
B. 5 Multiple Choice and discussion about the answer (with bahasa)
1) Septina and I … baking sponge cakes at this time yesterday.
a.were
b.was
Answer: a
Penjelasan: dua atau lebih subjek yang dihubungkan dengan and menggunakan plural verb.
2) Physics … been my favorite subject since I was 15 years old.
a.have
b.has
Answer: b
Penjelasan: cabang keilmuan dengan ending -ics bermakna singular sehingga diikuti singular verb.
3) Mumps usually … through saliva.
a.spread
b.spreads
Answer: b
Penjelasan: nama penyakit dengan ending -s seperti measles atau mumps bermakna singular sehingga menggunakan singular verb.
4) Eighty percentage of his furniture … old.
a.is
b.are
Answer: a
Penjelasan: noun setelah “… percentage of” (fractional expression) menentukan apakah diikuti oleh singular atau plural verb.
5) The central office manager, along with his two assistant, … left the room.
a.have
b.has
Answer: b
Penjelasan: “along with” digunakan bersama subjek tanpa menambah jumlah.
C. 10 Error analysis (explained with bahasa)
1) He drive a minivan.
Answer: drives
Penjelasan: Tambahkan -s ke kata kerja jika subjeknya adalah salah satu dari kata ganti orang ketiga tunggal: he, she, it, this, that.
2). I makes my own rules.
Answer: Make
Penjelasan: Jangan menambahkan -s ke kata kerja jika subjeknya adalah kata ganti I, you, we, atau them
3). Talent develop in quiet places.
Answer: develops
Penjelasan: Tambahkan -s ke kata kerja jika subjeknya adalah kata benda tunggal: kata yang menamai satu orang, tempat, atau benda.
4) Charlie and Hurley enjoys music.
Answer: enjoy
Penjelasan: Jangan tambahkan -s ke kata kerja jika dua subjek digabungkan oleh and.
5) Neither Juan nor Carmen are available.
Answer: Is
Penjelasan: Dua subjek tunggal yang dihubungkan oleh or, either / or, or neither/nor memerlukan kata kerja tunggal.
6) Neither the serving bowl nor the plates went on that shelf.
Answer : Go
Penjelasan: Kata kerja dalam or, either/or, or neither/nor sentence setuju dengan kata benda atau kata ganti yang paling dekat dengannya.
7) Everyone have done his or her homework.
Answer: has
Penjelasan: Kata ganti tak terbatas anyone, everyone, someone, no one, nobody akan selalu tunggal dan, oleh karena itu, membutuhkan kata kerja tunggal juga.
8) The news from the front are bad
Answer : is
Penjelasan: Beberapa kata yang diakhiri dengan -s merujuk pada satu hal tetapi tetap jamak dan membutuhkan kata kerja jamak.
9) It was the speaker, not his ideas, that have provoked the students to riot.
Answer: has
Penjelasan: Jika kalimat Anda memadukan subjek positif dan negatif lalu satu jamak, kemudian lainnya tunggal, maka kata kerjanya harus setuju dengan subjek positif.
10) Here is two apples.
Answer: are
Penjelasan: Dengan konstruksi ini (disebut konstruksi ekspletif), subjek mengikuti kata kerja tetapi masih menentukan jumlah kata kerja.
Referensi:
dailywritingtips
k12reader
dianmaryastuti12
wordsmile
