SUBJECT - VERB AGREEMENT

SUBJECT AND VERB AGREEMENT

In the English Grammar, Subject and Verb agreement is important, because associated with the preparation of a sentence (grammatical) and disclosure (pronounciation). There are some standard rules that bind and absolutely must be met in order to speak English, among others, on the Subject that contains the pronoun, namely:
Subject Subject is divided into two namely singular pronoun (singular) and plural subject pronoun (plural), the following table showing the classification:

Singular	Plural
I	We
He, She, It	They
You

Especially for Subject "You", at its basic is a plural, but in certain conditions can be Singular, depending on the context of the sentence.

There are basically two types of the verb: Auxiliary Verb (Helping Verb) and Full Verb (Verb Ordinary), but in use, especially in the case of Parts of Speech (class word) there is one kind of another Linking Verb, that all three are distinguished by function and its use.

1.       To be/Auxiliary Verb/Helping Verb

Auxiiliary known Verb Helping Verb also serves to help the Ordinary verb which is generally located in front of him. Auxiliary Verb is usually useful in the formation of progressive verb tenses (continuous), the following form of the Auxiliary Verb To be, To have.

Subjects	To be		To have
	Present	Past	Present	Past
I	am	Was	Have	Had
You	are	Were
We
They
He	is	Was	Has
She
It

ex. : She is looking for her bike

           S       V                 O

Is looking Verb is one unit, but can be divided into two types of Verb, Namely:

- To be is merupakan Auxiliary Verb

      - Looking merupakan Ordinary Verb.

2.       Action Verb/Full Verb/Ordinary Verb

This verb serves to express what the subject and what is happening on the Subject.

ex.: We watch the movie every Sunday

         S       V          O           Adv

Watch a full verb, which is pure and does not require a Verb To be or To have (Auxiliary Verb) in sentence formation.

3.       Linking Verb

In the event of this discussion, Linking Verb is one of the hot issues discussed, and a bit of debate. Here is the conclusion of the discussion of the results: 

• Linking Verb used to connect the subject and the next word, which is generally in the form Adjective or Noun (usually accompanied determiner)

• well as the Auxiliary Verb, generally in the form of Linking Verb To be.

• Verb Linking Verb can also be full verb, it's just that the conditions after full Verb Adjective must be followed, and with no Object.

ex.: - I am a Teacher (am a Linking Verb and Noun followed)

       - The soup smells good (smells Linking Verb, because afterwards Adjective)

Compound Subject

The word “compound” means “made up of two or more parts.”  Two or more words can be compounded or linked by joining them with any of three words:

                                             and, or, and nor

Here are some examples of compounding:

             

Compound nouns can function as a “compound subject.”  In some instances, a compound subject poses special problems for the subject-verb agreement rule (+s, -s).

However, instead of using two sentences (as above), we may choose to give the above information in one sentence.

                     

This sentence makes use of a compound subject (two subject nouns joined by and), illustrating a new rule about subject-verb agreement.

Although each part of the compound subject is singular (ranger and camper), taken together (joined by and), each one becomes a part of a plural structure and, therefore, must take a plural verb (see) to agree in the sentence.

SUBJECT-VERB RULE #1 – Two or more singular (or plural) subjects joined by and act as a plural compound subject and take a plural verb (singular + singular = plural).

You can check the verb by substituting the pronoun they for the compound subject.

                       

Or and nor as joiners word somewhat differently from and.  While the word and seems to ADD things together, or and nor do not.  They suggest a CHOICE.

                   

Look at this sentence.

                  

This sentence makes use of a compound subject (two subject nouns joined together by or).  Each part of the compound subject (ranger, camper) is singular.  Even though both words function together as subject (joined by or), the subject still remains SINGULAR (ranger or camper) since a CHOICE is implied.

This compound subject, therefore, requires a singular verb to agree with it.

SUBJECT-VERB RULE #2 – Two or more SINGULAR subjects joined by or (or nor) act as a singular compound subject and, therefore, take a singular verb to agree.

Note:  Two or more plural subjects joined by or (or nor) would naturally take a plural verb to agree.

                         

However, or and nor can pose a more difficult problem.

Thus far we have been working with compound subjects whose individual parts are both either singular or plural

       

What if one part of the compound subject is singular and the other part is plural?

             

What form of a verb should be used in this case?  Should the verb be singular to agree with one word?  Or should the verb be plural to agree with the other?

Solution:

1.      If the individual parts of the compound subject are joined by and, always use a plural verb.

                       

2.      If the individual parts of the compound subject are joined by or or nor, use the verb form (singular or plural) which will agree with the subject closer to the verb.

      

Sumber : http://www.towson.edu/ows/moduleSVAGR.htm
              http://www.grammarbook.com/grammar/subjectVerbAgree.asp