EASY GRAMMAR: BACKGROUND TO CONCORD

BACKGROUND TO CONCORD

As earlier taught, a sentence must possess the two features of Subject and Verb. Other parts of a sentence like the Object , Adjunct and Complement may come after the verb.

Subject: The subject can be regarded as the doer/performer of an action, i.e, something or someone that performs an action in a given sentence. The following sentences illustrate what has been said:

a. The man killed the snake . In the sentence, The Man performed an action of "killing" a snake. Thus, The Man is the subject while killed is the verb . The subject is singular because just one person is involved.

b. Emeka and Obinna work for each other. The subject is Emeka and Obinna because they both perform the action "work" (verb). The subject is plural because more than one person is involved.

On the other hand, a Subject can also be regarded a word/phrase or clause that a sentence is built around. In this case, the subject does not show action. The easiest way to learn this particular point is to note that any word, phrase or clause that comes before a verb is its subject. Examples:

a. The buildings are beautiful. "The buildings" is the subject, although the verb "is" does not show action.

b. This is the man I love. "This" is the subject as it comes before the verb, "is."

You may try out your own examples.

SINGULAR VERB / PLURAL VERBS

A verb can be said to be singular if it ends with the letter 's' and it is in present tense while those that do not end with 's' are plural, i.e

Is (singular)=Are(plural)

Was (singular) = Were (plural)

Has (singular) = Have (plural)

RULE 1 GUIDING CONCORD

i. When the subject of a verb is singular and it is a noun, it takes a singular verb, but when the subject is plural and it is a noun, it takes a plural verb, i.e

a. Emeka(singular subject) has (singular verb) a car.

b. The children (plural subject) have (plural verb) a car.

You can suggest more examples.

ii. When two nouns are joined with the conjunction 'and', the verb takes the plural form , i.e

a. Chioma and Sandra have returned.

b. His father and her mother were here today.

iii. When two complementary nouns(nouns that always go together) are joined with the conjunction 'and', the singular verb is used, ie

a. Rice and stew has been served .

b. Tea and bread is delicious.

PRONOUN CONCORD

The following pronouns go with plural verbs when used as subject in a sentence: I, We, You and They. He, She and It MUST go with singular verbs when used in present tense:

I travel to Jamaica everyday.

We travel to Jamaica everyday.

You travel to Jamaica everyday.

They travel to Jamaica everyday.

He travels to Jamaica everyday.

She travels to Jamaica everyday.

It travels to Jamaica everyday.

Next lesson: Concord by Proximity. For questions or suggestions, contact Chukwudi Anagbogu on +2348022255299 or email: chukwunekerichard@gmail.com

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