SENTENCE AGREEMENTS

Sentence agreements are the compositions of English sentences where the parts in the sentence match one to another.

The subject matches the verb and the verb matches the complement, for examples.

This is important since the agreement in the sentence determines the ‘normality’ of the sentence. If the parts do not agree one to another, the sentence will appear awkward, grammatically incorrect, ambiguous, or meaningless.

The main guidelines for this are as follows:

1.    Singular Subjects and Verbs

2.    Plural Subjects and Verbs

3.    Verbs and Time Signal Complement

4.    Verbs and Subjects with Auxiliaries

1.    Singular Subjects and Verbs

The use of subject is definitely determining the verbs should be used along with it. The rules for this are:

a.    A singular subject takes a singular verb.

Since the subject is singular, the verb must be in singular too. In short, the verb must suit the subject so that the meaning is in uniform.

Examples:

a.     He who hesitates is probably right.

b.     Isaac Asimov was the only author to have a book in every Dewey Decimal System category.

c.     One of the resolutions of the United Nation is the banning of flying on the jurisdiction air area of Iraq for civil flights.

d.     Each scholar is responsible to his further education in the higher level.

e.     Donald Trumps had taken a very big leap when he built the Taj Mahal casino in Las Vegas.

b.    Plural subjects that function as a single unit take a singular verb.

There are, sometimes, two or more nouns compounded into one because they are bound in one terminology, such as meals.

Examples:

a.     Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite dish.

b.     Ham and eggs was the breakfast of champions in the 1950s.

c.     White bread and wheat bread is our dinner tonight.

c.     Titles are always singular.

A title of a novel, movie, drama or other artworks will take only singular verbs. This is true since the title is regarded as on single thing or unit. It doesn't matter how long the title is, what it names, or whether or not it sounds plural. As a result, a title always takes a singular verb. Please note that he title uses capital letter for the beginning of main words.

Examples:

a.     The Last Supper was sold for more than one million dollars.

b.     Moby Dick was a whale of a tale.

c.     The Great Pretenders has been sold for more than three thousand copies in its first week.

d.     The Valachi Papers is a good read.

e.     Many critics said that The Matrix was spectacular for its visual effects.

d.    Singular subjects connected by either/or, neither/nor, and not only/but also are dependent on the last subject used.

In this case, the last subject used in the sentence determines the kind of verb (singular or plural) should be used. If the last subject is in singular, the verbs should agree in singular too. The plural verb will agree with the use of plural noun.

Examples:

a.     Either the witness or the defendant was lying.

b.     Either the headmaster or the students are very exhausted.

c.     Either the students or the headmaster is very exhausted.

d.     Not only tiger but also elephant has to be protected.

e.     Not only women but also children have been victimized by men.

f.      Neither Doddy Al-Fayed nor Princess Diana was proved drunk in the car when the accident happened.

g.     Neither his volleys nor his services were satisfaction to the audience.

2.    Plural Subjects and Verbs.

a.    A plural subject takes a plural verb.

Of course, plural subjects require plural verbs too. It is important to notice that some plural nouns have irregular forms instead of adding   –es at the end of the noun.

Examples:

a.     Mosquitoes are more interested in blue than other colors.

b.     It was believed that women were more powerful than men in the ancient times.

c.     Oxen are valuable for trading in Texas and are also as the symbol of wealth.

b.    Collective noun takes plural verbs.

Collective nouns are the nouns which brings the meaning that the noun itself should be consisted of plural component. The noun team is collective nouns since it is impossible to make a team consist of a single person. It must have more than one to build a team. Also the noun family, a family is not possible without, at least, a wife and a husband to form the family in the bound of marriage. It will be perfect if the children are also present. The verbs used are plural verbs.

Examples:

a.     The public are soft.

b.     The police are nice.

c.     The cattle are noisy

c.     Disciplines are regarded as singular and take singular verbs.

Some disciplines are having ending sound as if they were plural but they are actually not. These disciplines take singular verbs.

Examples:

a.     Mathematics is one of the basics disciplines in real social life.

b.     In Indonesia, civics is no longer regarded as the backbone of the education.

c.     Physics was and is very difficult for students in most developed country.

d.    Diseases are regarded as singular though they appear as if they are plural.

Some diseases are written and pronounced in plural form and sound. They are actually singular and take singular verbs.

Examples:

a.     Mumps is not contiguous.

b.     Measles has been very easy to spread.

e.    Ignore words or phrases that come between the subject and the verb.

A phrase or clause that comes between a subject and its verb does not affect subject-verb agreement. You should be focused on the main subject of the sentence. The best way to overcome this problem is by trying to eliminate the phrase and find the real subject to determine the verb should be used.

Examples:

a.     The main purpose of administering an exam in school is to measure the achievement of the students after a period of time.

b.     One of the most important issues discussed in the meeting was the plan of overseas expanding the company.

c.     A part of the sun cells attached on the body of Meer space station is totally significant to the whole system.

3.    Verbs and Time Signal Complement

As it is well understood, the time signals used in the sentence will affect the kind of verb used as the predicate.  Simple present tense agrees the present form verb and Simple past tense time signals agree the he past form of verb.

Examples:

a.     In the sixteenth century, more people believed to the power of technology and knowledge after the finding of steam machine.

b.     By the next Christmas, the expansion project of the Panama Canal will have been completed.

c.     The Romans were regarded as the strongest and most civilized race before the complete revelation of Egypt culture.

d.     Until the late eighteenth century, nobody realized the potential benefit in the cell phone business.

4.    Verbs and Subjects with Auxiliaries

The verbs used in the sentence must consider the auxiliary (ies) used in the sentence. Auxiliary can define the form of the sentence (affirmative positive, affirmative negative, negative or interrogative) or the tense of the sentence (present, past, continuous, perfect, future). The agreement between them is very significant to form the whole sentence; otherwise, the sentence will appear weird and awkward. These are the rules related to this topic:

a.    The Present Simple and Past Simple use DO, DOES, DID.

PRESENT SIMPLE	PAST SIMPLE
I don’t write a letter now. You don’t write a letter. (sl.) You don’t write a letter. (pl.) He doesn’t write a letter now. She doesn’t write a letter now. It doesn’t go away now. We don’t write a letter now. They don’t write a letter now.	I didn’t write a letter last night. You didn’t write a letter last night. You didn’t write a letter last night. He didn’t write a letter last night. She didn’t write a letter last night. It didn’t go away last night. We didn’t write a letter last night. They didn’t write a letter.

b.    The Present Simple uses RESENT VERBS and Past Simple uses PAST VERBS.

PRESENT SIMPLE	PAST SIMPLE
I write a letter now. You write a letter now. (sl.) You write a letter now. (pl.) He writes a letter now. She writes a letter now. It goes away now. We write a letter now. They write a letter now.	I wrote a letter last night. You wrote a letter last night. You wrote a letter last night. He wrote a letter last night. She wrote a letter last night. It went away last night. We wrote a letter last night. They wrote a letter last night.

c.     The Perfect Tenses use HAVE, HAS, HAD and PAST PERFECT VERBS.

PRESENT PERFECT	PAST PERFECT
I have written a letter. You have written a letter.(sl.) You have written a letter. (pl) He has written a letter. She has written a letter. It has gone away. We have written a letter. They have written a letter.	I had written a letter. You had written a letter.(sl.) You had written a letter. (pl) He had written a letter. She had written a letter. It had gone away. We had written a letter. They had written a letter.

d.    The Continuous Tenses use AM, IS, ARE.

PRESENT CONTINUOUS	PAST CONTINUOUS
I am writing a letter now. You are writing a letter. (sl.) You are writing a letter now. (pl) He is writing a letter now. She is writing a letter now. It is going away now. We are writing a letter now. They are writing a letter now.	I was writing a letter yesterday. You were writing a letter. (sl.) You were writing a letter. (pl) He was writing a letter yesterday. She was writing a letter yesterday. It was going away yesterday. We were writing a letter. They are writing a letter.

*) In some occasions, experts label these tenses as PROGRESSIVE tenses without changing the rules and functions.

e.    The Passive Voices use AM, IS, ARE, WAS, WERE, BEEN, BEING, BE and PAST PARTICIPLE VERBS

PRESENT TENSES*)	PAST TENSES*)
I am punished now. She is punished now He is being punished now. They are punished now. They will be punished. They can be punished. I have been punished.	I was punished yesterday. She was punished yesterday. He was being punished. They were punished yesterday. They would be punished. They could be punished. I had been punished.

f.     The Future Tenses use WILL, SHALL, WOULD, BE GOING TO and BASE VERBS.

SIMPLE FUTURE	PAST FUTURE
I shall go abroad tonight.*) We shall go abroad tonight.*) You will go abroad tonight. (sl) You will go abroad tonight. (pl.) He will go abroad tonight. She will go abroad tonight. It will go abroad tonight. They will go abroad tonight.	I should go abroad yesterday.*) We should go abroad yesterday.*) You would go abroad yesterday. You would go abroad yesterday. He would go abroad yesterday. She would go abroad yesterday. It would go abroad yesterday. They would go abroad yesterday.

*) In formal and written situations, subject ‘I’ and ‘We’ use modal SHALL and SHOULD instead of WILL or WOULD. Modals ‘WILL’ and ‘WOULD’ could be used for all subjects in informal situations.

g.    The Modals use BASE VERBS*).

PRESENT MODALS	PAST MODALS
I can do it. We shall use it. You will understand.(sl) You may use it (pl.) He must pay the bills. She is supposed to sleep. She has to pay them. It has to be done. They have to stay. They ought to come on time. He used to have much money.	I could do it. We should use it. You would understand.(sl) You might use it (pl.) He had to pay the bills. She was supposed to sleep.

*) BASE VERBS are the very basic form of the verbs. They are not affected by either subject or tense of the sentence. From the above examples, we can identify that no matter the subjects and the tenses were, the verbs stayed the same.

h.    The MODAL PERFECTS use PAST PARTICIPLE

PERFECT MODALS

I could have done it. We should have used it. You might have used it. He must have paid the bills. They ought to have sent the bills.

5.    Some special words to consider.

There are some words that should use certain verbs not because of the subject but because of their nature.

The words are:

Each Every Most (of) Some All Both

+ Singular Subject and  Verb + Singular Subject and  Verb + Plural Subject and  Verb + Plural Subject and  Verb + Plural Subject and  Verb + Plural Subject and  Verb

Examples:

a.     Each day an HIV patient wakes up in the morning, he will face another day in nightmare and uncomfortably.

b.     Every child in American family has a right to have a special bedroom in the house.

c.     Most sharks will not attack any human until they feel threatened.

d.     Some people usually consider HIV patients as sinners.

e.     All fish are best living in their original habitat.

f.      Both a president and a prime minister are the highest executive leaders in a country.