Subject-Verb Agreement and
Verb Tense and Verb Form
Pasco-Hernando Community College
Tutorial Series
Vocabulary
 These are the vocabulary words for this module. Read
through carefully and print out if possible. Don't be
overwhelmed. The information will be repeated
throughout the module, and there will be practice
exercises.
Vocabulary
 subject - the doer of the action or state of being in a
sentence or clause in a sentence.
 verb - when used with the term subject, verb refers to
the predicate in the sentence or clause in a sentence.
 agreement - a term in grammar which refers to the
consistency in gender, number, and person.
 subject-verb agreement - the consistency in singular or
plural (number) between the subject and predicate in
a sentence or clause in a sentence: a singular noun
must have a singular verb.
Vocabulary
 singular nouns - nouns (person, place, thing, or idea)
indicating only one, generally not ending in the letter
s: ship (singular); ships (plural - more than one).
 plural nouns - nouns (person, place, thing, or idea)
indicating more than one, generally ending in the
letter s: (ship (singular); ships (plural - more than
one). Irregular plural nouns: children, men, women,
oxen, syllabi
Vocabulary
 singular verbs - action words or state of being
conveying action or state of being of one subject,
generally ends in the letter -s in the present tense: She
goes, He rides
 plural verbs - action words or state of being conveying
action of state of being of more than one subject,
generally not ending in the letter -s in the present
tense: They ride, They explore
Vocabulary
 prepositional phrases - a word group beginning with a
preposition (a word showing position) and an object:
by the sea, in the house, under the tree. Occasionally,
a prepositional phrase is between a subject and verb in
a sentence or clause in the sentence.
 relative pronoun phrase - a word group beginning with
a relative pronoun (such as who, whom, which,
whichever, whose, that) such as who is in the dining
room or that will be taken
Vocabulary
 indefinite pronoun - a pronoun (a word that can take
the place of a noun) which does not indicate whether
it is singular or plural.
 Some are always singular such as each, either, neither,
and words that end in -body (anybody, somebody).
 Some indefinite pronouns are always plural such as few,
many, several, both.
Vocabulary
 Either/or; Neither/nor - separately the words either
and neither are always singular. When used with the
words or or nor, the verb agrees with the part of the
subject which is closest.
 Some indefinite pronouns are based on context: all,
any, none, most, some. The number (singular or
plural) depends upon what noun these words are
referring to in the sentence.
Vocabulary
 verb tense - variations of verbs to indicate time of
action: past, present, future, progressive, and perfect
 incorrect shifts in tense - where the tense in one part
of the sentence does not reflect the literal time of the
action in relation to the other part of the sentence
 correct shifts in tense - where the tense in one part of
the sentence reflects the literal time of the action in
relation to the other part of the sentence
Vocabulary
 verb form - Verb form refers to the variety of a verb
can be expressed:
 base form of verb – the simplest form of a verb: see, run,




think
the -s form of the verb – third person present form – She
reads
present participle – the -ing form of a verb
past form of the verb – the past tense
the past participle – generally the same as the past tense
– the -ed form of the verb