Verbs and Pronouns

Subject-Verb Agreement

Subject-Verb Agreement “The verb is the business end of a sentence, the sentence’s reason for being. That’s where the action is.”

Subject-Verb Agreement Main Rule #1: Use singular verbs with singular subjects Main Rule #1: Use plural verbs with plural subjects Singular Example: Stephen Curry dribbles the basketball. (instead of dribble) Plural Example: Good teams pass the ball. (not passes)

Subject-Verb Agreement Rule #1 does not apply to the past tense For instance: Messi passed the ball. For instance: Christian Ronaldo and Gareth Bale passed the ball back-and-forth. Ronaldo and Bale

Subject-Verb Agreement Rule #1 does not apply to the following helping verbs when they are used with main verbs (is-are, was-were, has-have, and does-do) For example: Klay Thompson has scored a lot of points in the NBA. For instance: Thompson and Curry have scored a ton of points in the NBA. Klay Thompson

Subject-Verb Agreement

Verbs: Present Perfect and Past Perfect

Present Perfect Tense Present perfect tense expresses: 1. The result of an action (I have fallen off my skateboard before) 2. Actions that started in the past and continue to the present (I have been a vegetarian for almost two years) 3. How long an action has lasted (“I have taught English for 14 years” or “I have played guitar since 1996.”)

Present Perfect Tense Present perfect tense is NOT used to express: 1. Time (replace “I have talked to her yesterday” with the simple past tense: “I talked to her yesterday”

Present Perfect Tense

Past Perfect Tense Past perfect tense expresses: 1. To indicate the sequence of two actions that happened in the past (Michael Jordan had retired twice before Kobe Bryant entered the NBA) Kobe Bryant defends Michael Jordan

Past Perfect Tense: Negative Sentences Sentence: I had finished playing guitar by the time I had to work. Negative: I had not finished playing guitar by the time I had to work. Question: Had he finished jamming by the time he had to work? Led Zeppelin Guitarist Jimmy Page

Past Perfect Tense

Pronoun Agreement

Four Rules to Pronoun Agreement 1. Indefinite pronouns are singular 2. Make sure pronouns agree in gender 3. When a pronoun is compound, the form does not change 4. The number of the pronoun depends on to what it refers

Pronoun Agreement: Indefinite Pronouns Rule #1: Indefinite pronouns are always singular Indefinite Pronouns: anyone, anybody, everyone, someone, somebody, no one, and nobody Example: Anyone who reads a lot also improves their writing. Not: Anyone who read a lot also improve their writing. William Faulkner

Pronoun Agreement: Gender Rule #2: Pronouns must agree in gender Exception: Pluralizing pronouns can avoid excluding either gender or use “somebody” Example: “At night a student should walk to her car with a friend” or ”At night a student should walk to his car with a friend.” Using the exception: “At night students should walk to their cars with a friend.”

Pronoun Agreement: Compound Pronouns Rule #3: Compound pronouns do not change in form First person: myself, ourselves Second person: yourself, yourselves Third person: himself, herself, itself, themselves

Pronoun Agreement: Compound Pronouns Reflexive pronouns reflect an action back onto the subject Example: Her determination to put herself through college paid off. Intensive pronouns emphasize a noun or pronoun in the same sentence Example: I will call him back myself.

Pronoun Agreement: Number Subject Form Possessive Form Object Form Singular He, who His, whose Him, whom Plural They, who Their, whose Them, whom

Pronoun Agreement: Number Rule #4: The number of a pronoun depends on to what it refers Example 1: A person who likes a band should see them play live. Example 2: I do not know with whom I should see the show. The Red Hot Chili Peppers

Pronoun Case and Consistency

Pronoun Case and Consistency: Subjective Pronouns used as subjects: I You He, she, it We They Who

Pronoun Case and Consistency: Objective Pronouns as objects: Me You Him, her, it Us Them Whom

Pronoun Case and Consistency: Possessive Pronouns that show possession: My (mine) Your (yours) His, her (hers), it (its) Our (ours) Their (theirs) Whose

Pronoun Case and Consistency 1) When there are two pronouns, drop the other noun for a moment to see which case you should use For example: Sam and me went to school together. One would not say “me went,” so that sentence should be: Sam and I went to school together.

Pronoun Case and Consistency 2) Comparisons usually follow “than” or “as” For example: -He is shorter than I. -I hope this is as interesting to you as it is to me. -My sister is as loud as I am. The Loud House show

Pronoun Case and Consistency 3) Formal and Informal Writing Rule: Use the subjective form after a form of the verb to be For example: Formal: It is I. Informal: It is me. Rule: Use whom in the objective case Formal: To whom am I speaking? Informal: Who am I speaking to?

Closing Thoughts “The greater part of the world’s troubles are due to questions of grammar”—Michel de Montaigne, The Complete Essays