Review: subject and verb agreement

REVIEW: Subject and verb agreement I. General Rules : _ Subject (singular) --> Verb (singular) Eg: Mary gets up early. _ Subject (plural) --> Verb (plural) Eg: Mary and Daisy always get up early II. Special Cases : 1. Subject 1 + and + Subject 2 --> Verb (plural) (Nếu S1 và S2 là 2 người hay 2 vật khác nhau) Eg: _ The secretary and the treasurer were present. _ Oil and water do not mix. Subject 1 + and + Subject 2 --> Verb (singular) (Nếu S1 và S2 là cùng 1 người hay 1 vật) Eg : _ The singer and doctor is coming (Người ca sĩ kiêm bác sĩ đang đến) _ Bacon and egg is my favorite dish. 2. Each / either..........................each/ either Many a + Noun (singular) + and + many a + Noun (singular) + Verb (singular) Every.......................................... every Eg: Each boy and each girl has a seat. Many a teacher and many a student has attended the lecture. Nobody / Somebody / Everybody / Everything + Verb (singular) 3. Subject 1 + of + Subject 2 + Verb --> Verb theo Subject 1 Ngoài "of" còn có like, with, along with, together with, in addition to, as well as, no less than, besides. Eg: The study of languages requires time. The president, together with his advisors, is coming. They, no less than Tom, were eager to start. The manager, as well as his assistant, has arrived. The number of students is 40. 4. Either/ Neither/ Not only + Subject 1 + or/ nor/ but also + Subject 2 + Verb ---> Verb theo Subject 2 Eg : Either you or I am wrong. Neither he nor his friends are able to come. 5. Plural Noun of Time (thời gian) ----> Verb (singular) .........................Measure (đo lường) .........................Money (Tiền bạc) .........................Distance (khoảng cách) Eg : Twenty dollars is too much to pay for this book. 6. All ----- referring to things --> Verb (singular) All ----- referring to people ---> Verb (plural) Eg : All is calm. (Mọi vật đều im lặng) All are Vietnamese. 7. None / The majority of/ Fractions + of + Noun + Verb --> Verb tùy thuộc vào Noun sau giới từ. Eg : Half of the money is stolen. Half of the students are English. None of the money is mine. The majority of students speak English. 8. Nouns plural in form (luôn có 's') but singular in meaning --> Verb (singular) _ News, mumps, sickets, measles, mathematics, physics, phonetics, linguistics, politics, athletics... Eg: The news is goods. Mathematics is an important subject. 9. Nouns always in singular --> Verb (singular) _ Furniture, equipment, machinery, traffic, information, knowledge, money, advice, progress, luggage, homework, housework, merchandise... Eg: There is much traffic during rush hours. 10. A title of a book, story --> Verb (singular) The name of a country, town, place --> Verb (singular) Eg: "Gulliver's Travels" is an amusing book. The United States, The Phillipines ... 11. Nouns always in plural --> Verb (plural) _ Cattle, people, police, scissors, pliers, tongs, trousers, pants, shorts, jeans, glasses, goods, compasses... Eg: Cattle are grazing. 12. Adjectives used as nouns --> Verb (plural) _ The blind (người mù), the rich (người giàu) .... Eg : The English are used to driving on the left. (Người Anh quen lái xe bên trái) 13. Collective Noun --> Verb (singular) nếu chỉ 1 đơn vị Collective Noun --> Verb (plural) nếu chỉ từng cá nhân. _ Collective noun : Family, commitee, team, crowd, public, congress, parliarment, class, army. Eg : His family is rich. (chỉ 1 đơn vị) His family are having dinner. (chỉ từng cá nhân) 14. Relative Pronoun --> Verb (singular) or (plural) tùy thuộc vào danh từ nó thay thế. Eg: It is I who am to go. Exercise 1: Choose the best answer 1. Every country (has / have) __________ a national flag. 2. The cattle ( is/ are)_________ going to be sold with the farm. 3. The house is empty. Nobody (live / lives ) _________ there. 4. The old in my country( are/ is) _________ taken care of by their children. 5. Both of Ann’s sisters (is / are) _________ married. 6. Either my answer or your anwers (is / are) __________ wrong. 7. A number of students (is / are) __________ going to the class picnic. 8. Mr. Green, along with his friends (is / are) _________ arriving here tonight. 9. The results of her experiment (was/ were) _________ published in a journal. 10. There ( is/ are) __________ some interesting pictures in today’s newspaper. 11. Each learner of English (need / needs) __________ a good dictionary. 12. He as well as the other students (have / has) _________ learned how to install this. 13. Tom and I didn’t eat anything. Neither of us (was / were) _________ hungry. 14. Ann has got two sisters. Both of them (is / are) _________ married. 15. The captain as well as the passengers (was / were) __________ frightened. 16. My brother and my sister (is / are) _________ engineers. 17. Neither my brothers nor my sister (is / are) ________ too fond of puppet – show. 18. Working for 12 hours a day(make / makes ) _________ her very tired. 19. Ten miles ( is/are) __________ not a long distance. 20. The number of the days in a week ( is / are ) __________ seven. 21. John, along with twenty friends, (is/are) ..planning a party. 22. The picture of the soldiers (bring/brings).. back many memories. 23. The quality of this recordings (is/are) ..not very good. 24. The effects of cigarette smoking (have/has) been proven to be extremely harmful. 25. The use of credit cards in place of cash (have/has) ..increased rapidly in recent years. 26. Neither Bill nor Mary (is/are). going to the play tonight. 27. Anything (is/are) ..better than going to another movie tonight. 28. A number of reporters (was/were). at the conference yesterday. 29. Your glasses (was/were). on the bureau last night. 30. The committee (has/have). already reached a decision. Exercise 2: Choose the best answer (A, B, C or D) for each following sentence. 1. His choice of words ______ very good. A. are B. be C. is D. being 2. The boy, with his two companions, _________ the cherry tree now. A. has split B. have split C. is spliting D. are splitting 3. Neither the mother nor the children __________ aware of the danger. A. were B. was C. is D. has been 4. Pollution together with water erosion _________ its toll on the building. A. are taking B. is taking C. have taking D. have taken 5. The battery, along with the alternator and starter, ___________ up the electrical system of car. A. have made B. made C. makes D. make 6. The news.. quite alarming. A. are B. have C. was D. were 7. Four miles. on the odometer. A. have been recorded B. has been recorded C. have recorded D. has recorded. 8. Thirty-five dollars..too much for this shirt. A. is B. are C. were D. being 9. Neither the local environmentalists nor the mayor.a plan that will satisfy everyone. A. has B. have C. are D. is 10. Three swimmers, Paul, Ed, and Jim..now in competition for medals. A. is B. has been C. had been D. are 11. It these questions that are difficult. A. are B. is C.was D. has 12. The facilities at the new research library, including an excellent microfilm file .. among the best in the country. A. are B. is C. has been D. was 13. The letter was not mailed in time, and. A. neither is the package B. neither was the package C. neither the package is D. neither the package was 14. Fruit and vegetablesgood for you. A. is B. are C. does D. done 15. The staffin the conference room at the moment. A. are meeting B. were meeting C. meet D. is meeting 16. Many parts of our own beautiful city..to look like mini garbage dumps. A. is starting B. do starting C. are starting D. has starting 17. Both viruses and genes made from nucleoproteins. A. are B. is C. were D. has 18. Much of what you were toldinaccurate. A. are B. was C. did D. done 19. None of the work.completed. A. have been B. are be C. have done D. has been 20. Both the whale and the manatee.federal protection. A. needs B. need C. is need D. needing