Download Unit 2 Verbs and the five sentences patterns

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Essential English Grammar
Teaching Notes - Unit 2
Table of Contents
Verbs
-
Action verbs
-
Linking verbs
-
The subject
-
The object
-
Transitive verbs
-
Intransitive verbs
-
The complement
-
The five sentence patterns
-
The subject-complement
-
The object complement
Subject-verb agreement
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Singular and plural
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Some special cases
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Collective nouns
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Essential English Grammar
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Unit 2
Verbs
We use verbs to say what people and things do. Verbs express an action.
Action verbs (AV)
The woodcutter sat on the bank. (What did he do?)
She showed him a gold axe. (What did she do?)
‘That’s mine,’ said the woodcutter. (What did he do?)
The girls go to school every day. (What do they do?)
Sometimes we use two words for a verb.
AV
The poor woodcutter was cutting a piece of wood. (What was he doing?)
AV
I have lost my axe. (What has he done?)
AV
I will give you the gold axe and the silver axe. (What will she do?)
Linking verbs (LV)
Some verbs don’t express an action. They just say people or things are something. The chief of
these is the verb be (am, is, are, was, were, been, being, be). These verbs often have an adjective or a
noun after them.
LV
The woodcutter was a poor man (noun).
LV
The woodcutter was very sad (adjective).
LV
The fairy said, ‘You are honest (adjective).’
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Exercises
A. Pick out the verbs expressing an action in the following sentences.
Example: The train stopped at a station.
Answer:
stopped
1.
The clerk ran out of the office.
2.
The project finished in 2001..
3.
The secretary gave us a letter.
4.
We signed the contract.
5.
The manager smokes a pipe.
B.
Pick out the two-word verbs in these sentences.
Example: Is he writing a letter?
Answer:
Is…..writing
1.
The secretary is typing.
2.
The machines are running.
3.
The salesman is giving us a presentation.
4.
The boss will give us a talk.
5.
The salesperson has given us a sample.
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Sentences and phrases
Sentences
When we want to express our thoughts we use a group of words.
A group of words that makes
complete sense is a sentence. There is always a verb in a sentence.
1.
Tommy has a bicycle. (statement)
2.
Where are you going? (question)
3.
Open the door. (command)
So, you see, a sentence can do one of three things.
1.
Make a statement to tell us something.
2.
Ask a question
3.
Give a command.
Phrases
A phrase is formed with TWO or more words:
very fast
quite heavy
an old man
at night
dark clouds
You may have a group of words that makes sense but not complete sense, for example:
into the house
at nine o’clock
for eighty pence
Groups of words like these are phrases. A sentence has a verb in it; a phrase hasn’t.
Most phrases starts with a proposition. They are called prepositional phrases.
You may say that a verb forms a sentence, or a sentence must have a VERB.
Two or more words form a phrase, and a phrase doesn’t have a VERB.
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The subject of a sentence (S)
.
Subject
I
The manager
The plane
The girl
The workman
Predicate
can type these letters.
arrives on time.
leaves at 9:00.
slept all through the meeting.
is unhappy.
The head subject is underlined.
The subject
The word or group of words that we speak about in a sentence is called the subject. The subject is
the “doer” of the action.
The predicate
The predicate of a sentence is the word or group of words telling us something about the subject.
Exercise
Pick out the subject of each of the following sentences:
1.
Rebecca works at the reception desk.
2.
The government has announced a decrease in income tax.
3.
Passengers must not smoke during take-off.
4.
Retailers may not sell below cost price in some countries.
5.
A contract is signed by both the employer and the employees.
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The object of a verb (O)
The object of a verb is a noun or pronoun which tells us the person or thing that the action of the
verb happened to. The object is the “receiver” of the action.
Examples:
The shopkeeper sells bicycles.
The dog killed a rat.
Transitive Verbs (tv)
Verbs that take objects are called transitive verbs.
Examples:
S
V
O
The shopkeeper sells bicycles.
S
V
O
The dog killed a rat.
Intransitive Verbs (iv)
But there are some verbs that don’t have objects. They are intransitive verbs.
Examples:
S
V
The dog growled.
S
V
The rat died.
About 10% of verbs don’t affect others. We say these verbs are intransitive verbs:
Walk, run, sleep, die, laugh, sigh, swim, live, come, go, cry, fly, sit, rise, shine, bark, …
These verbs don’t need a noun, because they don’t affect a noun, don’t take a noun, and don’t
govern a noun. In short, they don’t need an object. (An object must be a noun, same as a
subject must be a noun too.)
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Exercises
A. Pick out the objects in these sentences.
1.
We’ve just lowered the price.
2.
The men have finished their work.
3.
These tables give very precise information.
4.
She has left her briefcase in the office.
5.
I can see him over there by the news stand.
B. Pick out the verbs in the following sentences. Put the transitive verbs in one column and the
intransitive verbs in another column. We have done the first two verbs for you.
Transitive
1. The little boy hurt his foot.
2. He cried bitterly.
Intransitive
hurt
cried
3. The sun is shining.
4. The boys saw the football match.
5. She puts everything in her handbag.
6. The Prime Minister lives at 10 Downing Street.
7. He works in the city of London.
8. London stands on the river Thames.
9. A taxi will take you to the airport.
10. We drove through Baltimore on our way
to Washington.
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Verbs that can be used with or without objects.
Some common English verbs can be used with or without an object (transitively or intransitively):
We begin the lesson at six o'clock.
The lesson begins at six o'clock.
They are selling cars abroad in large numbers.
Cars are selling abroad in large numbers.
Note that these sentences do not necessarily have the same meaning.
Exercise
Change the following sentences in the same way as in the example. It will be necessary to leave out
the subjects and use the words in italics as the new subjects:
Example :
They spread false rumours .-throughout the country.
= False rumours spread throughout the country.
1. The lightning started fires in many parts of the town.
2. He is improving his knowledge of English every day.
3. The new headmaster will meet his staff next week.
4. He dropped a stone into the well.
5. The pilot flew his plane low over the city.
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The complement (C)
‘That man is’ isn’t a complete sentence. It needs something to make it complete. Perhaps, ‘That
man is a detective.’ We say that ‘detective’ is not an object of ‘is’. The man doesn’t do anything to
the detective. He is the detective; man=detective.
S
V
C
The man is a detective.
We give a special name to words or phrases which complete a sentence after verbs like ‘be, seem,
become’. They are complements. A complement is used after a linking verb.
Linking verbs
A few verbs don’t express an action. They are the following:
The chief of these is the verb ‘be’.
‘Be’ has 8 members: ( Learners must remember them. )
be
( future tense )
am
( present tense, 1st person, singular number )
is
( present tense, 3rd person, singular number )
are
( present tense, we are, you are, they are )
was
( past tense, I was, he was )
were
( past tense, we were, you were, they were )
being
( continuous tense, the doctor is being careful in the operation. )
been
( perfect tense, we have been here )
Other linking verbs
Feel, look, prove, remain, sound, stay, become, grow, turn, smell, taste
Examples:
I feel cold
I am cold.
It looks good.
It is good.
He becomes a teacher.
He is a teacher.
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A complement can be an adjective or a noun.
I feel warm.
( ‘warm’ – adjective )
I am happy.
( ‘happy’ – adjective)
I am a girl.
( ‘girl’ – noun)
Exercise
Complete these sentences by adding a complement.
Example: The teacher’s mother seems _________.
Answer:
The teacher’s mother seems old.
1.
Anne Carter is ____________.
2.
She was ________, but now she is _____________.
3.
Today is ________, and tomorrow will be _______.
4.
Mary was ______, but she has become _________.
5.
Is your brother ___________, or is he __________?
Noun or adjective?
When we use the noun ‘student’, we mean the 2 words ‘Joe’ and ‘student’ refer to the same
person or thing.
Joe is a student.
(Joe = student)
When the 2 words do not refer to the same person or thing, the second word must be an
adjective.
 Joe is laziness.
(Joe  laziness)
Joe is a man, and laziness is an abstract noun. They are different things.
So we must use the adjective form ‘lazy’.
 Joe is lazy.
( = lazy Joe / a lazy person)
This is actually a short way to write:
Joe is a lazy person.
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The five sentence patterns
(1) SV
(2) SVO
(3) SVC
(4) SVOO
(5) SVOC
(subject + intransitive verb)
The dog
growled.
The rat
died.
(subject
+ transitive verb + object)
The dog
killed
the rat.
The shopkeeper
sells
bicycles.
(subject + verb + complement)
Susan
is
the manager
Susan
is
rich.
(subject + verb + object +
object)
Tom
gave
Susan
a present
He
lends
me
some money
(subject + verb
+ object + complement)
They
elected
him
president.
They
made
her
unhappy
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Exercise
Find out the sentence pattern of each of the following sentences.
1.
The baby is crying..
2.
Sue is sick.
3.
They send e-mail messages.
4.
She is the champion.
5.
Tiffany feels bad.
6.
It grows dark.
7.
Are you happy?
8.
Do you like this job?
9.
I live here.
10.
I am here.
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Exercise
Underline the verbs in the following passage and state whether they are action verbs or linking
verbs.
Once Albert Einstein, the world-famous scientist, was traveling by train. At
dinnertime he went to the dining car. Menu in hand, he suddenly realized that he had
forgotten his glasses in his compartment. He shrugged. Unwilling to go back, he tried
his best to identify the fine letters. However, his effort was in vain. He returned the
menu to the waiter near him, “Would you please read this menu for me?” The waiter
murmured to Mr. Einstein, “Sir, I’m terribly sorry. I am illiterate too.”
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Subject-complement
In the previous session, we learned that a linking verb is followed by a complement, and this
complement is usually a Noun or an Adjective.
Linking verb including 'be' are not many:
be, feel, grow, seem, smell, remain, appear, go, prove,
get, sound, stay, look, taste, turn, become, keep
After a 'linking verb', a noun is same person or the same thing with the subject. If it is an adjective,
this adjective qualifies the subject:
Mary is a model. (Mary = model)
John became a priest. (John = priest)
Jane seems happy. (' Happy' qualifies ' Jane'.)
The cake tastes nice.
The pie smells good.
The weather turns out fine again.
I feel wonderful.
The underlined are subject-complements. Linking verbs introduce only subject-complements, not
object-complements.
Object-complement
a. Some transitive verbs take TWO objects. The 1st one is indirect object which is person or
animal; the 2nd one is direct object which is thing.
He taught me (indirect object - person) English (direct object - thing).
b. Some transitive verbs take a direct object and a complement.
People elected him (direct object) president (complement).
Examples of transitive verbs that take TWO objects - the 1st indirect object (person) and the 2nd
direct object (thing):
I forgave him his faults,
(him – indirect obj.; faults-- direct obj.)
The machine saves me much trouble.
He promised me his help.
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You answered me nothing.
He did me a great kindness.
The bank refused me a loan.
Examples of transitive verbs that take a direct object and a complement:
A complement can be a noun or an adjective.
They made him king. (him = king, so 'king' is object-complement)
They chose me their captain.
I can prove you wrong.
The worker painted the walls green.
I like my coffee black.
People presume the president dead.
The underlined are object-complements. (Adjectives describe the objects.)
Distinguish a direct object and an object-complement:
He called her a star.
(her = star, so 'star' is an object-complement.)
He called her a taxi,
(her  taxi, so 'taxi' is a direct object.)
The father made his children a tree house.
(a tree house = direct object)
The father made his wife his business partner.
I made my business a gold mine.
I gave your business some help.
(his business partner = object-complement)
(Business = gold mine - object-complement)
(Help = direct object)
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Complements
We've learned that the linking verbs including 'be' have a noun or an adjective come after them, and
we call this noun or adjective subject-complement. In fact, we may also call this noun or adjective
complement of the linking verb.
We now come to understand other elements can also become complements after the linking verbs:
Subject
Linking Verbs
Complement
A horse
is
a four-legged animal.
Noun
The beggar
turned out
a thief.
Noun
The man
has fallen
sick.
Adjective
The dog
went
mad.
Adjective
The man
appeared
pleased.
Participle
The horse
continued
running and jumping
Participle
Your coat
is
of many colors.
Prep. With Obj.
This book
proved
of no use.
Prep. With Obj.
The flower
seems
to be fading.
Infinite
You
appear
to have forgotten me
Infinite
The results
are
what we expected.
Noun clause
My hope
is
that you support me.
Noun clause
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Object-complement
Subject
Verbs
Object
Complement
They
made
him
king.
Noun
The judge
set
the prisoner
free.
Adjective
They
found
her
still weeping.
Participle
I
like
the thief
to be punished.
Infinitive
We
have made
him
what he is.
Noun Clause
Exercise
State whether the underlined is a direct object, object-complement, or subject-complement.
1.
Are you calling me a liar?
2.
Kim told her parents the sad news.
3.
They made me a birthday cake.
4.
They made me manager of the shop.
5.
I like the soup hot.
6.
The child turns naughty.
7.
I found the boy funny?
8.
They made me angry.
9.
They have appointed me their representative.
10.
The weather grew warm.
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Subject-Verb agreement
(1) The verbs agrees with the subject, not with the elements in the modifier of the subject.
Each of the sofas is ninety inches long.
A swarm of bees is coming towards us.
The men in the district office have organized a ball team.
[Sofas, bees, and office stand close to the verb, but they do not control the form of the
verb; the subject does.]
(2) The verb agrees with the subject, not with the following complement.
The greatest nuisance is the refunds we have to make.
The children of today are the hope of tomorrow.
[The complement nouns refunds and hope do not control the verb form.]
(3) If for any reason the subject is moved out of the subject position; it will still control the verb
form.
Ramon and Eduardo are at the game.
Where are Ramon and Eduardo? [The sentence has been transformed into a question, and Ramon and
Eduardo is still the subject of the sentence.]
There were twelve players on the field. [‘There’ has been moved into the subject position, but it means nothing;
and twelve players is still the subject of the sentence as is ‘a fight’ in the following sentence.
There was a fight on the field. The subjects control the verb forms.
* When making a verb agree with its subject, what is important is whether the subject is
grammatically singular or plural, not how many people or things the subject refers to:
Every student has a computer. (singular subject)
Each student has a computer. (singular subject)
All the students have a computer. (plural subject)
Similarly:
Everyone is here. ('Everyone' is singular although it refers to several people.)
Everybody knows that. ('Everybody' is singular.)
Nobody was listening to her. ('Nobody' is singular.)
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* Plural nouns denoting quantities or amounts are usually treated as singular:
Three kilos of carrots is far too much.
Six thousand dollars seems a lot of money to pay for a painting.
Ten shillings is the same as fifty pence.
Twenty-five miles is a long way to walk in one day.
Five days is a long time to wait.
* Although it looks as if it ought to be singular, a number of is in fact treated as plural and should
be followed by a plural verb:
A number of passengers were injured when the bus crashed.
= many passengers were injured when the bus crashed.
A number of animals have escaped from the zoo.
= Many animals have escaped from the zoo.
Similarly, when a lot of and the rest of are followed by a plural noun or pronoun, they are also
followed by a plural verb:
A lot of strange things have been happening recently.
A lot of us are not sure why we're here.
The rest of us have to stay here.
The rest of the children were rescued by the fire brigade.
* When a lot of and the rest of are followed by a singular noun or pronoun, the verb is in singular
form:
A lot of the work has already been done.
The rest of it is to be finished by tomorrow.
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* When verbs are made to agree with their subjects, particular care must be taken with nouns that
are plural in form but which are usually treated as singular:
Maths is not as interesting as history.
Billiards is a very similar game to snooker.
Measles was a common childhood disease.
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy.
Tiddlywinks is played with small round plastic counters.
Numismatics is a fancy word for the study of coins and medals.
* Words in this category are nouns referring to:
Subjects of study, such as economics, electronics, ethics, linguistics, mechanics, phonetics, physics,
politics and semantics;
Activities, such as aerobics, athletics and gymnastics;
Games, such as charades, darts, dominoes, musical chairs, noughts and crosses, quoits, rounders
and snakes and ladders;
Diseases, such as mumps, rabies, rickets and shingles. Some of the words in the 'subjects of study'
list can also be used in the plural when they are not referring to a single subject:
Politics is boring, (subject of study)
Her politics are quite beyond me. ( = political beliefs)
Mechanics is one of the subjects I studied at university. (subject of study)
The mechanics of this process are quite complex. (= mechanical operations)
Mathematics is her favourite subject. (subject of study)
The mathematics are clear: the cost of a refill can be as low as a tenth of the cost of a
new cartridge. (= mathematical facts)
I think your mathematics is/are wrong. (= mathematical calculations)
* Similarly, there are nouns which appear to be singular but which are in fact plural and must be
followed by a plural verb. Common examples are:
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The police are on their way.
The cattle were in the barn.
People are silly, aren't they?
Folk do things like that, don't they?
The youth of today are less interested in taking part in sport than we were at their age.
The clergy are forever complaining about the morals of young people today.
* Nouns denoting groups of people or animals, such as aristocracy, army, audience, class, club, committee,
family, flock, government, group, herd, Jury, public, staff, team, etc can be thought of as referring either to a
number of individuals or to one single body.
When they are thought of as referring to a number of individuals, they are in British English
treated as plural nouns and followed by plural verb:
The audience were obviously enjoying the performance.
The committee have decided not to accept your resignation.
Our class have all had flu.
The general public know very little about the causes of inflation.
He could see that the flock were getting restless.
However, when such nouns are felt to be referring to single entities rather than numbers of
separate individuals, they are in British English usually treated as singular nouns and followed by
singular verbs:
The audience was larger than I had expected.
The committee has decided not to accept your resignation.
Our class has been chosen to represent the school.
The public is all too easily fooled.
The jury finds the defendant not guilty.
The government has no right to act without consulting parliament.
Did you know?
In American English, it is more common to treat collective nouns as singular
nouns than as plural nouns.
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Exercise
A. Find the true or complete subject of each of the following sentences, decide whether it is
singular or plural, and select the correct form of the verb to agree with it.
1. She and I ______ close friends.
(was, were)
2. Both Jenny and May ______ ice-cream. (likes, like)
3. Several bars of chocolate ______ been stolen.
4. Tom and his brother ______ like football.
5. You and she______ very alike.
(has, have)
(doesn't, don't)
(am, is, are)
6. One set of exam papers______ gone missing.
(has, have)
7. Tea and coffee______ popular drinks.
(am, is, are)
8. Gin and tonic______ a popular drink.
(am, is, are)
B. Choose the correct verb from the brackets to complete the following sentences
1. A lot of women______ their hair.
(dyes, dye)
2. Everybody ______ somebody to love.
(needs, need)
3. A squadron of fighters______ been sent to the Middle East.
(has, have)
4. Three squadrons of fighters______ been sent to the Middle East.
5. Five pounds______ a lot of money when I was young.
6. No one______ you.
(has, have)
(was, were)
(believes, believe)
7. A lot of paint______ been wasted. (has, have)
8. The rest of the players ______ to be chosen tomorrow. (is, are)
9. A thousand of his supporters______ planning to march through the town in protest. (is, are)
10. None of the bread______ mouldy.
(was, were)
11. A dozen eggs______ needed for this recipe. (is, are)
12. A dozen eggs ______ far too much.
(seems, seem)
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13. A large number of children ______ found to be suffering from malnutrition.
(was, were)
14. There______$100 in that envelope.
(was, were)
15. There ______ a hundred angry women waiting to see him.
(was, were)
C Choose the correct form of the verb to complete the following sentences.
1. People meeting her ______ really infuriating.
2. Shingles______ very unpleasant.
3. Snakes ______ me.
(is, are)
(is, are)
(terrifies, terrify)
4. A member of the clergy______ seen entering the building.
5. His politics ______ very right-wing.
(was, were)
(is, are)
6. Physics and chemistry ______ the two science subjects I chose.
7. The police______ called to the scene.
8. Our ladders______ in the garage.
(was, were)
(was, were)
(is, are)
9. Draughts______ played on the same type of board as chess. (is, are)
10. There______ a plate of biscuits on the table.
(was, were)
11. Snakes and ladders______ a favourite game of ours. (is, are)
12. The draughts in this room ______ dreadful.
(is, are)
13. A number of protesters ______ arrested. (was, were)
14. Mathematics______ merely a tool.
(is, are)
15. Some of the plants______ killed by the frost. (was. were)
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Some Special Cases
The chart below summarizes some potentially troublesome cases in subject-verb agreement.
Quantity / Addition
Example Sentence
Rule / Explanation
a number of
1. A number of foreign visitors
* A number of means "many" so a
vs.
are surprised by tipping customs
plural verb is used as in (1).
the number of
2. The number of customers
* The number of means "the
is 75.
amount" so a singular verb is used
with this expression as in (2).
percents / fractions
3. 20% is preferable.
*A singular verb follows percentages,
amounts / distances
4. Half is given to the busboy.
fractions, amounts, and distances when
5. $3.35 is the minimum wage.
they are not followed by an "of
6. Five miles is an average distance
phrase"
for me to run.
amounts + of phrases
7. Half of the tables are occupied
* When an of phrase follows a
8. The majority of the customers
percentage, distance, fraction, or
are happy.
amount, the verb agrees with the noun
9. A quarter of the cake is gone!
closest to the verb. Therefore, in (7)
10. 21% of the population is poor.
the verb agrees with tables, a plural
(population - singular)
noun and in (9), the verb agrees with
11. 21% of the books are paperback, cake, a singular noun.
(book - plural)
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none
12. None of the workers receives a
tip.
13. None of the workers receive a
tip. (less formal)
* Usually, a singular verb follows
none, even if the noun following
it is plural (12). * In conversational
English, a plural noun has become
acceptable, as in(13).
as well as/
14. France, as well as other European * With these expressions, the first
in addition to/
countries, has a tip-included
noun determines if the verb is singular
together with
policy.
or plural. In (14), France is the
15. Waiters, in addition to others
subject of the sentence and not other
who work for tips, are usually
European countries so the plural is
generous tippers.
singular.
* Note how these expressions are set
off by commas.
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Essential English Grammar
Lesson 2 Page 25
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Collective Nouns
A collective noun refers to a group of something. Examples of collective nouns include audience,
class, government, committee, family, flock, herd, etc. Collective nouns may be followed by either
singular or plural verbs. Note the difference in use in the following examples.
EXAMPLE SENTENCE
EXPLANATION
1. The family arrives together at 7:00.
* When a singular verb is used with a collective noun,
it emphasizes the group as a unit. In (1), the family
2. John just arrived and now the family are all
here
will arrive together as one group.
*When a plural verb is used with a collective noun, it
emphasizes that the group members are acting
individually. In (2), group members have arrived
separately, so a plural noun is used.
Exceptions:
3. The police carry guns in the U.S.
These collective nouns are always plural.
4. The military often retire at 45.
5. The people don't trust the news.
(1) Some nouns in the plural form can be singular in meaning, or they can be plural in meaning.
Trousers, tongs, wages, tactics, pliers, scissors, odds and barracks are plural in meaning. Therefore they
require a plural verb.
The scissors are in the left hand drawer.
Billiards, news, mathematics, linguistics, mumps, and measles are singular in meaning. Therefore they require
a singular verb.
Measles is a communicable disease. [Some people do say, however, that Measles are catching.]
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(2) Some nouns which specify an amount of something are singular when the things or people
involved are regarded as a unit. In this case, they take a singular verb.
Two plus two is four.
Two-thirds of the sweater has been completed.
Eight pounds of grapes seems a lot.
Ten percent of their capital has been absorbed already, (capital – singular)
Ten percent of the men drafted are over thirty. (men - plural)
[Here the men are regarded as individuals, not as a unit.]
has
Two-thirds of the park have burned.
(park - singular)
(Two-thirds refers to the single unit of the park that burned).
were
Two-thirds of the students was commuters. (students - plural.)
(Two-thirds here refers to the students who commuted as many individuals.)
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Essential English Grammar
Lesson 2 Page 27
Maria English Society
(Revised 2016)
Exercise
U.S. Visitors Tripping on Our Way of Tipping
1 A number of tourists visiting the U.S. face more than the language barrier when they visit
New York or other large American cities. The intricacies of tipping have some of them
baffled.
2
France, as well as many other European countries, has a "tip-included" policy which
means the service is included in the bill. But if a customer is especially satisfied with the
service, he or she might leave an extra franc or two on the table.
3 A tourism official tells the story of a French visitor who felt insulted when an American
waiter followed him to the door, handed him the dollar he had left on the table as a tip and
told him: "I think you need this dollar more than I do. Take it." The French visitor had
assumed, of course, that the tip had already been included in the bill.
4 In many countries in Asia, there is basically no tipping, so none of the waiters expects to
find a tip on the table after serving customers. In spite of these differences, foreign visitors
learn quickly about U.S. tipping customs.
5 Just how much should a person tip? "Fifteen percent is acceptable and twenty percent is
preferable" says John Turchiano, spokesman for the Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union
Local.
6 Lawrence Goldberg, an official at the Taxi Drivers and Allied Workers' Union, said that
for taxi drivers, $25.00 a day in tips is the average for a large city. This represents about 25-30
percent of his income. When Goldberg was asked who the worst tippers were, he replied,
"Those rich old ladies out shopping on Fifth Ave"
Locate the following subjects in the preview text, underline them and write the verb which follows
them in the space provided.
a. "A number of tourists" ___________________ (paragraph 1)
b. "The intricacies of tipping" ___________________ (paragraph 1)
c. "France, as well as other European countries" ______________ (paragraph 2)
d. "None of the waiters" ____________________ (paragraph 4)
e. "Fifteen percent" ___________________ (paragraph 5)
f.
"$25.00 a day" ___________________ (paragraph 6)
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Lesson 2 Page 28
Maria English Society
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Exercise
Read the following paragraph, which provides statistics on women around the world. Correct any
errors in subject-verb agreement clearly.
Facts about Women around the World
Women's lifespan varies around the world. For example, 64 years are the average age
around the globe, but 40 years is the average age in Sierra Leone. A Japanese woman,
as well as an American or French woman, has an expected lifespan of around 80.
The majority of women lives in Asia. 13% lives in Africa, while only 5% of the
world's women lives in North America. The fewest number of women in the world
lives in Oceania.
The average wage of women are substantially less than that earned by men. Forty
cents for every dollar are what the average worker in Bangladesh earns. In Sweden it is
much better; almost 90% of male wages is paid to women there. The average
percentage of all countries is 75.
There are FOUR mistakes on subject-verb agreement.
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Essential English Grammar
Lesson 2 Page 29
Maria English Society
(Revised 2016)