1. Subject-Verb Agreement
Why is it important that subjects and verbs agree in sentences?

2. Basics about Subject-Verb Agreement
The subject and the main verb in a sentence must match in number.
Singular subjects have singular verbs.
Plural subjects have plural verbs.

3. Singular (one) Our baby sleeps more than 10 hours a day.
There is one baby
The verb “to sleep” changes to “sleeps” when paired with one baby.
Pronoun
To sleep I
Sleep
You
She/He/It - Singular
Sleeps We
They – Plural
Past Tense
Slept

4. Plural (more than one) Some babies sleep even longer.
There are multiple babies in this sentence.
The verb “to sleep” becomes just “sleep” when paired with multiple babies.
Pronoun
To sleep I
Sleep
You
She/He/It - Singular
Sleeps We
They – Plural , babies
Past Tense
Slept

5. Words between the Subject and Verb
Sometimes prepositional phrases come between the subject and verb.
A prepositional phrase is a group of words that begins with a preposition and ends in a noun.
Common prepositions: about, after, at, before, betweenby, during, for, from, in, into, like, of, on, outside, over, through, to, toward, with, without, under, above
The verb should agree with the subject NOT the noun in a prepositional phrase.
You must always look our for prepositional phrases. They are the number one reason that people mess up with their subject verb agreement.
You will probably have to memorize the common prepositions. Do you think you could make up a song or rap?

6. Examples of SV Agreement with Prepositional Phrases
A small bag of potato chips contains 440 calories.
The tomatoes in this salad are brown and mushy.
Books about baseball fill my son’s room.
Example 1 – In this sentence, the subject and verb are separated by the prepositional phrase “of potato chips.” The verb must agree with the singular subject “bag” – not with a word in the prepositional phrase.
Example 2 – Because the subject tomatoes is plural, the verb must also be plural. The prepositional phrase “in this salad” has no effect on subject and verb agreement.
Example 3 – The plural subject “books” takes the plural verb “fill”. “About baseball” is a prepositional phrase.
If the kids are having trouble seeing singular and plural verbs, draw verb charts.
to contain to be to fill
I contain am fill
You contain are fill
He/She/it contains is fills SINGULAR
They contain are fill PLURAL
We contain are fill

7. Compound Subjects
A compound subject is made up of two nouns connected by a joining word.
Subjects joined by AND take a PLURAL verb, or the verb that matches with they.
The plural form of a regular verb has NO “s” at the end.
Plural subjects automatically get the plural verb
A compound subject has two singular nouns joined by AND. When this happens, it is treated like a plural subject and gets a plural verb.

8. Examples of Compound Subjects
Running and lifting weights are good ways to keep in shape.
Fear and ignorance have a lot to do with hatred.
To have
To Be
He/She/It - Singular
has is
They – Plural , compound
have
are

9. Check Your Understanding
Sentence
Mistake in SV Agreement?
1. The students in Teron’s class is very young.
YES, are
2. These boys and girls attends the school’s prekindergarten class.
YES, attend
3. Most of them can’t read yet. NO
4. But Teron and their other teachers reads to them every day.
YES, read
5. Being read to is one way children learn to read themselves.
6. The boy on Teron’s right love to read about insects.
YES, loves
7. Beetles and mosquitoes doesn’t bother him!
YES, don’t bother
8. He thinks that some someday he might like to be a scientist who studies bugs.
You can do this out loud together very quickly. The subjects and verbs are marked. The corrections are not in the sentence but in the right hand column of the chart.

10. Practice 1, part 1
Complete Practice 1 with a partner. Then you will check your answers with your teacher.
Recess time!
Reading and writing are important parts of the school day.
But games on the playground are, too.
The little kids in Teron’s class love racing around on these scooter-boards.
The exercise and fresh air benefits their bodies and minds.
The sentence with mistakes have the correction in RED.

11. Practice 1, part 2 It’s time to head back into class.
The smiles on the kids’ faces make Teron feel good.
They remind him of why he is a teacher.
Teron grew up in a poor neighborhood without his father around.
Drugs and crime were everywhere he looked.
The teachers in his own life were very important to him.
They let him know they believed he could succeed in life.
Adult support and encouragement make a big difference in the life of a child.
Teron wants to provide that kind of support to the children he teaches.
The sentence with mistakes have the correction in RED.

12. Practice 1, Part 3
Boys and girls learn how to be adults from observing grownups around them.
Teron saw lots of negative role models, such as drug dealers, as he was growing up.
But he focused on the positive people in his life.
He hopes the kids in his class do the same thing.
The sentence with mistakes have the correction in RED.

13. Practice 2, Complete independently
When complete, you will check your answers with your teacher.

14. Practice 2 Answers Taste – compound subject Wear – plural subject
Have – compound subject
Speak – plural subject
See – compound subject
Surround – compound subject
Are – plural subject
Sleep – compound subject
Live – compound subject
Do – plural subject