Lesson 10
1/ Subject-Verb Agreement ( Sự hòa hợp giữa chủ ngữ và động từ)
2/ Prepositions (Giới từ)
3/ Mini Test 2
Subject – Verb Agreement
Sự hòa hợp giữa chủ ngữ và động từ
We agree
Rules in Subject-Verb Agreement
Every verb must agree with its subject.
Singular
Subject (chủ ngữ số ít)
Singular
Verb (động từ số ít)
Plural
Subject (chủ ngữ số nhiều
Plural
Verb (động từ số nhiều)
1. The pronoun “YOU” always takes a plural verb.
Examples:

You were invited to come.
You are asked to clean the room.
You sing so well.
To be correct, subjects and verbs must agree…
Do not be confused. 
To make a noun plural, we add –s
Singular: girl
Plural: girls

To make a verb plural, we take away the –s.
Singular: he talks
Plural: they talk
Watch the verb endings!
Singular
I walk
You walk
He/She/It walk s
Joe walks.
The girl walks.
Plural
We walk
You walk
They walk
Joe and Maria walk.
The girls walk.
1. Generally, if the subject doesn’t end in –S, the verb will.
If the subject does end in –S, the verb won’t.

Subject
Verb
Rule Number 1





The girl dances


-S on verb
No –S on subject





The girls dance


No -S on verb
–S on subject
Let’s Practice:
He (talk, talks) quietly.
talks
They (read, reads) their assigned books.
read
Kim (go, goes) to the coffee shop every weekend.
goes
We (write, writes) letters for our friend abroad.
write
Mrs Lan (sing, sings) well.
sings
Let’s Practice:
A car and a bike (is, are) my means of transportation.
The dog and the cat (run, runs) around the house.
Kim and I (spend, spends) our free time reading books.
The teacher and the students (was, were) painting the class at 6.p.m yesterday
The Math book and the notebook (provide, provides) information about the lesson.
3. Do not forget that some common English words have irregular plurals.
The child is doing the assignment.
The children are doing the assignment.

The ox is important to the farmers.
The oxen are important to the farmers.


Rule Number 2: Compound subjects joined by “and”
If there are two or more subjects joined by and, the subject must be plural, so the verb will not get an “s”.

For example:
The boy and the girl dance.

No –S on verb
Examples:

Larry and Mercy are reading novels.
My teacher and friend are here.
Let’s Practice
The cacti (is, are) important for the travelers in the desert.
Bacterium (affect, affects) our immune system.
Parentheses (tell, tells) the readers something.
The criteria for judging (show, shows) that the contest is a tough one.
The alumnus of the school usually (visit, visits) during summer vacation.
Rule Number 4: “There” and “Here”
When sentences start with “there” or “here,”
the subject will always be placed after the
verb, so care needs to be taken to identify it
correctly.

There is a problem with the balance sheet.
There are problems with the balance sheet.
Examples:

Here are the ways on how to preserve meat.
There is a huge gap between the rich and the poor.
Let’s Practice
There (is, are) four coins on top of the fridge.
Here (is, are) the bag that you want to borrow.
Here (is, are) your things needed for your field trip.
There (is, are) three problems that he cannot solve right now.
Here (is, are) your Math book.
Rule Number 5: Expressions about time, money, weight and volume
Expressions stating amount of time, money,
weight, volume are plural in form but take a
singular verb as in:

Three weeks is a long time.
Two hundred dollars is a lot of money.
Let’s Practice