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Hello! Welcome to this Quick Tips workshop on Sentence Essentials from the
Kaplan University Writing Center. My name is Chrissine Rios, and I am a full
time Writing Tutor from the KUWC.
To view the recorded workshop, please click this link:
http://khe2.adobeconnect.com/p8u0cs47xv4/
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Our objectives for this workshop are to review the essential parts of a sentence,
examine subjects and verbs and the way they must ―agree‖; and in the process
of looking at some common issues with subject-verb agreement, you’ll have the
chance to practice editing subject-verb agreement errors. I will also show you
where to find additional resources and examples on sentence grammar and
editing in the Kaplan University Writing Center.
.
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A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought. Every
sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with an exclamation point,
question mark, or period.
Examples
It’s harvest time!
Do you know what the farmer will harvest today?
She will harvest corn.
Writing tip: Exclamation marks are rarely used in college-level papers. To
show emphasis or strong emotion, select words that accurately convey your
meaning.
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The parts of a sentence shape the meaning of ideas. To understand how to
avoid common problems with subject-verb agreement, a writer must be able to
identify the subject and verb in the sentence along with the other essential parts
that may be needed to complete the thought.
For the purpose of this workshop, we will look most closely at the subject and
verb with the understanding that more information may be needed for the
sentence to be complete. We are also looking at simple sentences. We’ll look at
more complex sentences where we might have two subject-verb clauses in the
sentence in our next sentence essentials workshop this month.
The essential elements of a simple sentence, which is one complete clause are
a subject, a predicate with a conjugated verb, and an object or complement as
needed to complete the idea.
Examples
Henry left his suitcase on the curb. In this sentence, Henry is the subject and
left is the verb. What did he leave? His suitcase. That’s the object. Where did
he leave it? On the curb. That’s a prepositional phrase providing more
information about the verb.
Cats sit where they want. In this sentence, cats is the subject. Sit is the object,
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and where they want is an adverbial that tells more information about the verb.
It tells where the action happens.
The children’s choir sings. In this sentence, the subject is the noun phrase, the
children’s choir, and sings is the verb.
Macaroni and chees is my favorite. This sentence has a subject, verb, and
because the verb is a linking verb—it conveys a sense of being rather than an
action—what follows is a complement that renames the noun.
So the subject is what the sentence is about. The verb is the action or state of
being. The object tells what or who receives the action of the verb. A
complement renames the subject. And an adverbial is a word or a group of
words that tells where, when, why or how therefore giving more detail about the
action or verb.
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Typically, the subject of a sentence is a noun, noun phrase, or compound noun.
Nouns are people, places, things, and ideas.
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Subjects might also be pronouns or verbals:
They (pronoun) are writing a blog.
Walking and running (gerund) relieve stress.
To own a spa (infinitive) is awesome.
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After the subject in a sentence comes the predicate, and the verb is the main
component. When editing sentences, you want to look to the verb first to see if
you have a complete idea. Verbs convey the action of the subject, or the verb
can also link the subject to the rest of the sentence.
The examples provide two examples of each type. The first two, my aunt won
the shuffleboard competition, and her victory dance embarrassed our family,
have verbs, won and embarrassed, that convey the action of the subjects aunt
and victory dance. In the second examples, Grandpa Bob was a grumpy old
man, and my hound dog, Charles, is sleepy, the verb links the subjects to their
complements that provide more information about the subjects.
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Now that we’ve reviewed subject and verbs as sentence essentials, let’s look at
how they must agree with each other to be grammatical and to avoid clarity
issues. Agreement refers to both the subject and verb being in either a plural
form or singular form. The subject, again, is the main player of the sentence,
and the verb is either the action or an expression of the subject’s state of
being—the subject either ―is‖ or ―has‖ something. In the first sentence, ―Anna is
pleased that her children came home for dinner,‖ there is only one Anna, so
―Anna‖ is singular. The verb ―is‖ is therefore also singular. In the sentence
sentence, ―her children are happy that dinner is ready,‖ children is plural, so the
verb is plural as well. ―Are‖ is the plural form of the verb ―be‖ and ―is‖ is the
singular form of ―be.‖
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What gets some writers confused is that a singular subject does not end in –s
or –es, but a singular present tense verb does end in –s. Additionally, a plural
subject typically ends in –s or –es, but a plural present tense verb does not end
in –s. There are exceptions, but this the general guideline that will help you edit
for subject-verb agreement.
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In addition to subject and verbs having opposite formations when it comes to
using s, there are other issues that come up with subject-verb agreement. One
of these is when the subject and verb are separated by a phrase. Let’s look at
the example: ―Traditional media outlets like the print newspaper is of little
interest to youth today.‖ Let’s examine the subject-verb agreement in this
sentence by first identifying the verb. What is the main verb of this sentence?
Next, identify the subject. What is the subject of this sentence?
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In this sentence, the subject, ―traditional media outlets‖ and the verb, ―is,‖ are
separated by the phrase ―like the print newspaper,‖ so a writer might accidently
form the verb so it agrees with the closest noun to it, ―newspaper,‖ instead of
the subject noun, ―traditional media outlets.‖
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To edit the sentence so it has correct subject-verb agreement, we therefor need
to edit the subject so it’s singular and goes with ―is‖ or the verb so it’s plural to
match ―outlets.‖
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Writers also have problems with subject-verb agreement when the subject is an
indefinite pronoun. Many of these types of pronouns end in –one or –body as in
anybody, anyone, somebody, someone, everybody, and everyone. Because
these words refer to ―one‖ person or one body, they are singular. Other
examples of indefinite pronouns are each, something, neither, and either, all of
which are singular.
In these sample sentences, a student has used a singular indefinite pronoun as
a subject with a plural verb, creating a problem with subject-verb agreement.
The subject ―everybody‖ is singular, but the verb ―have‖ is plural. They do not
agree. In the second example, the subject ―each‖ is singular, but the verb ―are‖
is plural. How would you edit these? Let’s keep the subjects as they are and
edit only the verbs. Type the correct verb forms for these two sentences in the
chat.
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Here are the corrected versions. Everybody at the café has laptops or iPads,
and each of the musicians is playing tonight.
Subject is an indefinite pronoun
Everybody at the café have laptops or iPads.
Everybody at the café has laptops or iPads.
Each of the musicians are playing tonight.
Each of the musicians is playing tonight.
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Another issue comes up when a writer inverts the traditional sentence order to
add variety to a passage of text. Although this practice can make writing more
dramatic and interesting, the writer must also be aware of subject-verb
agreement. These topsy-turvy sentences might make it difficult to isolate the
subject.
Let’s find the main verbs of these two sentences first. What’s the verb for the
first sentence? What’s that verb’s subject?
Now look at the second sentence: In the shadows lurk a strange figure. What is
the verb? What is that verb’s subject? Who is doing the action?
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Inverted sentence order: verb comes before subject
There is several excuses that I could make for not going.
In the first sentence, the pronoun ―there‖ serves as a placeholder for the
subject, which is given after the verb: several excuses, which is plural; however,
the verb here is singular, which is incorrect.
In the shadows lurk a strange figure.
In the second sentence, the subject is ―a strange figure,‖ which is singular, but
the verb, ―lurk,‖ which is plural. The verb needs to be singular to agree with the
subject.
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Edited, the first sentence would be ―there are several excuses that I could make
for not going.‖ And the second sentence would be ―in the shadows lurks a
strange figure,‖ which could also be written ―a strange figure lurks in the
shadows.‖
Inverted sentence order: verb comes before subject
There is several excuses that I could make for not going.
There are several excuses that I could make for not going.
In the shadows lurk a strange figure.
In the shadows lurks a strange figure
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Compound subjects also cause problems for writers. A compound subject can
be considered either singular or plural, depending on the conjunction that joins
the subject. Subjects joined by ―and‖ are considered plural in most cases. In the
example, the subject is ―Pat and Lisa,‖ which are two people, so it’s plural. The
verb must then also be plural. Sometimes a compound subject joined by ―and‖
is singular, however, as in the case of ―rhythm and blues‖ or ―macaroni and
cheese.‖ These are names of singular things, so they would take singular
verbs.
When two subjects are joined by ―or,‖ the verb agrees with the closest subject.
In the first example, ―either Sue or her three children‖ are going on the trip,‖ the
subject ―her three children‖ a plural noun phrase is closest to the verb, so the
verb needs to be in a plural form. In the second example, the singular subject,
―Sue,‖ is closest to the verb, so the verb would then need to be singular.
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We’ve covered the most common situation that cause problems with subjectverb agreement, but there are a few more structures that cause students
trouble with verb forms. Clauses with relative pronouns such as that, which,
who, and whom. In the sample sentence, He is among those who study or
studies the hardest, requires the writer to determine if who refers to the singular
noun ―the student‖ or to ―those,‖ which is a plural pronoun.
Which sounds right to you? He is among the ones who studies the hardest or
he is among the ones who study the hardest?
In this case, who refers to the ones which is plural, so you would select the
plural verb: study.
Collective nouns also cause problems. Collective nouns refer to a group of
things or people, which can be considered singular or plural depending on
whether the group is working together as a whole or if to the actions of the
individuals within the group. If the group is working as a whole, the collective
noun is singular.
The team is winning by one goal.
The team are going to their own homes
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Subject-verb agreement errors also happen with singular nouns that end in s.
Gymnastics is great exercise.
The congress has adjourned.
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Singular subjects (I, you, he, she, it) take singular verbs. Singular, present
tense verbs often end in –s. Plural subjects (we, they) take plural verbs. Plural,
present tense verbs do not usually end in –s. Remember to ignore words
between the the subject and verb
Watch for tricky nouns!
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The best time to do a paper review in the Kaplan University Writing Center is
after you have written your first draft. When you come to us early, we can help
you the most by helping you with the structure of your paper. Many students
send papers at the last minute because they want us to simply proofread their
paper. However, KUWC writing tutors do not simply proofread the paper for
you; we want to help you learn to write and proofread your own papers. Since
you can come to the Writing Center 6 times a term, you can submit a first draft,
then submit a later draft if you need further help on an assignment.
If you need help before you write the first draft, you can use live tutoring. During
live tutoring, you can ask questions and brainstorm with a tutor. Live tutors can
help you with other stages in the paper writing process as well. Come visit us.
We can be found under the My Studies tab, then under Academic Support
Center.
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On the main Academic Support Center page, you will see the Writing Center
links. These include Live Tutoring, Paper Review Service, the Writing
Reference Library, Citation Guidelines, Workshops, English Language Learner,
and Fundamental writing help. Notice, you can access the Kaplan Guide to
Successful Writing on the right hand side in both print and audio form. Come
visit us.
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Contact Information
Melody Pickle [email protected]
[email protected]
Additional Kaplan University Writing Center Resources
Introductory Video
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