Page 64 - The English Carnival 7

Mastering Grammar

Subject-verb agreement refers to the grammatical concept that the subject of a
sentence must align with the main verb of that same sentence.

Rules

1. Singular subjects require singular verbs e.g. The car runs on diesel.
Here the car is a singular subject and runs is a singular verb.

2. Plural subjects require plural verbs. In the sentence,
“The trains run all night long,” the plural “trains” necessitates the plural verb
“run.”

3. Compound subjects with the word “and” require plural verbs e.g. Rahul and
Karan are friends.

4. Compound subjects with the word “or” or “nor” can take either a singular verb
or a plural verb. Either Priya or Rina knows the answer.

5. Collective nouns can be singular or plural. Collective nouns like “team,” “company,”
“city,” “state,” “government,” “committee,” and “store” are singular nouns and thus
take singular verbs. Collective nouns like “team members,” “company leaders,”
and “city officials” are plural and thus take plural verbs.

1. Insert the correct form of the verbs in the blank spaces in the fol-

lowing sentences :

1. A good dictionary ______________ a lot. (cost)

2. These five chairs ______________ one thousand rupees. (cost)
3. Ten kilometres ______________ a long distance to walk. (be)

4. Sita ______________ next to my house. (live)
5. Bread and butter ______________ a wholesome food. (be)

6. One of these three boys ______________ first in his class every year. (stand)

7. My kite ______________ very high in the sky. (fly)
8. They ______________ gloomy. (look)

9. All the students in this school ______________ English. (learn)
10. My lawn ______________ very beautiful in spring. (look)

2. Rearrange the following into meaningful sentences :

1. all the pupils / English / in our school / learn

62