00:01Subject-verb agreement is an essential part of learning English and mastering it will help you speak and write English
00:09better.
00:10Some of the most common mistakes in English are with subject-verb agreement.
00:17So what is subject-verb agreement?
00:19Subject-verb agreement means that the subject, and remember the subject is the person or thing that is doing an
00:28action,
00:29and the verb, which is the action word, in a sentence must both be singular or both be plural.
00:39That sounds complicated, so let's look at an example sentence.
00:44The boy plays.
00:46Here we have a singular subject, the boy, one boy, and we have a singular verb, plays.
00:55I know that play ends in S, but this is a singular verb.
01:02Most verbs that end in S's go along with single subjects, he, she, or it.
01:10Compare it with this sentence, the boy's play.
01:16Here we have a plural subject, boys, we have the S at the end, and this has to go along
01:25with a plural verb, play.
01:29We cannot say, the boy's play.
01:33It has to be, the boy's play, or the boy plays.
01:39Let's look at another example.
01:41The cat drinks milk.
01:44Here we have a singular subject, one cat.
01:48So the verb is also singular, drinks.
01:53I know it seems strange that a singular verb ends in S, but that's how it is in English.
02:02And if the subject is plural, the cats, we have a plural verb, which doesn't have an S.
02:10The cats drink milk.
02:13So let's look at some more examples.
02:16So essentially, singular subjects need singular verbs.
02:22And plural subjects need plural verbs.
02:26A lot of this lesson is talking about verbs in the present simple or the present continuous.
02:33I've linked you to my two videos on these topics in the description below, and they may help you understand
02:42this lesson.
02:44So let's look at this chart.
02:47We have singular subject, singular verb, plural subject, plural verb.
02:53The girl walks.
02:55The girls walk.
02:58The dog barks.
03:00The dogs bark.
03:02Notice that usually, singular verbs end in S, and plural verbs do not end in S.
03:13The athlete runs.
03:16The athletes run.
03:18The bird chirps.
03:21The birds chirp.
03:23The wolf howls.
03:25The wolves howl.
03:28The baby naps.
03:30The babies nap.
03:32So you can see that the singular subjects have a singular verb.
03:37And the plural subjects have a plural verb.
03:41The girl would be she.
03:45That's the pronoun for the girl.
03:47And the girls would be they, because it's plural.
03:53Just like the dog is it, and the dogs would be they.
04:00It's a plural pronoun.
04:02It barks.
04:03They bark.
04:05She walks.
04:07They walk.
04:08Now what about compound subjects with and.
04:13This can be confusing for people.
04:16When two singular subjects are joined by the coordinating conjunction and, the verb should be in the plural form.
04:25For example, Jessica and Michael love pizza.
04:32We don't say, Jessica and Michael loves pizza, because we need a plural verb.
04:40Jessica and Michael.
04:43Now it's plural.
04:46This is a compound subject.
04:48We have two singular subjects together.
04:52So now it's not she loves pizza.
04:56It's they love pizza.
04:59So we have to put the verb in the plural form.
05:04Another example, Bethany and David live abroad, not lives abroad.
05:12If we only had David, it would be David lives abroad or Bethany lives abroad.
05:22But when we add the coordinating conjunction and to connect the singular subjects, we have to put the verb in
05:32the plural form.
05:34And also when a singular subject is joined with a plural subject by and, the verb is still in the
05:43plural form to match the plural subject.
05:46For example, the dog and the kids swim in the pool every morning.
05:53We have the singular subject, the dog, and plural subject, the kids.
06:00But the verb is still plural.
06:03And this doesn't change if you switch the order of the singular subject and the plural subject.
06:11For example, the students and the teacher work together to organize a charity event.
06:19In this example, we have the plural subject first, the students, and the singular subject before the verb.
06:28But even though the singular subject is before the verb, it doesn't matter.
06:35We still have to say work and not works.
06:40Because this singular subject is joined by and with the plural subject.
06:48The students and the teacher work.
06:51They work together.
06:55Now, be careful with irregular plural words and exceptions.
07:02So, in English, we have some irregular plural words.
07:07Before, for example, we had the boy plays, the boys play.
07:13But we have some words that are irregular.
07:16For example, the man, the man talks.
07:21However, the plural form of man is not man's.
07:27It's men.
07:28So, we don't say the man's talk.
07:33We say the men talk.
07:36And this can sometimes confuse people because usually we use the plural verb after a subject that ends in S.
07:46So, remember to be careful with irregular plural words.
07:51Even though this is a plural subject, it doesn't end in S because it's irregular.
07:58But the verb is still plural because it is a plural subject.
08:02The woman works.
08:05The women work.
08:08They work.
08:10The child studies.
08:12The children study.
08:16The person dreams.
08:19The people dream.
08:22People is the plural form of person.
08:25The tooth hurts.
08:28The teeth hurt.
08:32Now, a big question I get is what about the pronouns I and you?
08:41And this is where English can be so confusing.
08:45English has some special rules when it comes to the pronouns I and you.
08:53Even though I refers to one person, so it is singular, we always use it with plural forms of verbs.
09:02I know this is complicated.
09:06English is not an easy language.
09:09So, for example, we say I run or I play.
09:16We don't say I runs or I plays.
09:21Even though I is singular, we use the plural form.
09:26Run, I run, I play.
09:30You can be a little tricky because it can refer to one person or more than one person.
09:38I'm talking to you, Stacy.
09:41Or, I'm talking to you, Stacy and Doug.
09:45But, regardless of whether it's singular or plural, you always takes a plural verb.
09:53For example, we say you think, whether we're talking to one person or many people.
10:01We never say you thinks or you plays or you talks.
10:06No.
10:07You think, you play, you talk.
10:11So, this is something to try to remember.
10:14It is an exception.
10:16And before we have our quiz, I do have one more exception for you.
10:22You must also be careful with irregular verbs and exceptions.
10:28So, the pronouns I and you take plural verbs, as I just showed you.
10:36However, there is one verb exception and that is the verb to be.
10:43With the verb to be, in the present tense, we always say, I am.
10:51Not, I are.
10:54Or, I is.
10:57Always, I am.
10:59I am.
11:00We are.
11:03You are.
11:04He, she, or it.
11:07Is.
11:08And they are.
11:10So, with the verb to be, the plural form is always are.
11:17But there are three singular forms of the verb to be.
11:22Am, are, and is.
11:25So, this is something you have to memorize.
11:27And you also have to memorize the forms in the past.
11:32In the past, am becomes was.
11:35I was.
11:37I was.
11:38You were.
11:40He, she, it.
11:42Was.
11:43And are becomes were.
11:46We were.
11:47You were.
11:48They were.
11:49So, this is something you have to memorize.
11:52Aside from this, the pronoun I takes the plural form of the verb with all the other verbs.
12:01Okay, it is time for our subject verb agreement part one, quiz.
12:08There are ten sentences in total.
12:10Some of them need to be corrected.
12:12And others are okay.
12:14You have to correct them.
12:16First, I will read all ten sentences.
12:19And then you'll have some time to correct them.
12:22Before we answer them together.
12:25Number one.
12:26The cat sits on the windowsill.
12:30Number two.
12:31The students listens eagerly in the classroom.
12:35Number three.
12:36She is a talented singer.
12:39Number four.
12:40The birds flies in the sky.
12:43Number five.
12:45The dog and the cat is best friends.
12:48Number six.
12:50The train arrives on time every day.
12:53Number seven.
12:54The apples look delicious.
12:58Number eight.
12:59The men eat steak for dinner every night.
13:03Number nine.
13:05My sister plays the guitar beautifully.
13:08And finally number ten.
13:10The keys to the car is on the table.
13:12Number seven.
13:13Number three.
13:15People are ready to record the language.
13:15Number four.
13:16alleine с пойhurst котят mundo.
13:22llam godarn corazón es sagt о spe forty四楼.
13:23Let's correct these together.
13:25Number one.
13:26Is correct.
13:27Number two.
13:28We have a singular subject and a singular verb.
13:31Number two.
13:33Is incorrect.
13:33The correct answer is the students listen.
13:38We have a plural subject, so we need a plural verb.
13:43Number three is correct.
13:45Number four is incorrect.
13:48We have a plural subject, the birds, so we need a plural verb, fly.
13:55Number five is also incorrect.
13:57We have a compound subject, the dog and the cat.
14:02Remember, when we join two subjects together with the coordinating conjunction and, we
14:09must have a plural form of the verb.
14:12In this case, are, the dog and the cat are best friends.
14:18Number six is correct.
14:21Number seven is also correct.
14:24Number eight is incorrect.
14:27We have a plural subject, the men.
14:32Remember, this is an irregular plural word.
14:36Man is singular.
14:38Men is plural.
14:40And we need a plural verb, eat.
14:43The men eat steak for dinner.
14:46Number nine is correct.
14:48And number ten is incorrect.
14:51This is a tricky one.
14:54The keys to the car are on the table.
14:58And that's because the subject of the sentence is the word keys.
15:05The keys.
15:06The car is not the subject.
15:09The car is not on the table.
15:11The keys are on the table.
15:14So keys must have a plural subject, which is R.
15:21Okay, let me know in the comment section how many you got correct out of ten.
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