Subject-Verb Agreement

\Basic Principle: Singular subjects need singular verbs; plural subjects need plural verbs. My brother is a nutritionist. My sisters are mathematicians.

See the section on Plurals for additional help with subject-verb agreement.

1. The indefinite pronouns anyone, everyone, someone, no one, nobody are always singular and, therefore, require singular verbs.

·         Everyone has done his or her homework.

·         Somebody has left her purse.

Some indefinite pronouns — such as all, some — are singular or plural depending on what they're referring to. (Is the thing referred to countable or not?) Be careful choosing a verb to accompany such pronouns.

·         Some of the beads are missing.

·         Some of the water is gone.

On the other hand, there is one indefinite pronoun, none, that can be either singular or plural; it often doesn't matter whether you use a singular or a plural verb — unless something else in the sentence determines its number. (Writers generally think of none as meaning not any and will choose a plural verb, as in "None of the engines are working," but when something else makes us regard none as meaningnot one, we want a singular verb, as in "None of the food is fresh.")

·         None of you claims responsibility for this incident?

·         None of you claim responsibility for this incident?

·         None of the students have done their homework. (In this last example, the word their precludes the use of the singular verb.

2.  Some indefinite pronouns are particularly troublesome Everyone and everybody (listed above, also) certainly feel like more than one person and, therefore, students are sometimes tempted to use a plural verb with them. They are always singular, though. Each is often followed by a prepositional phrase ending in a plural word (Each of the cars), thus confusing the verb choice. Each,too, is always singular and requires a singular verb.

Everyone has finished his or her homework.

You would always say, "Everybody is here." This means that the word is singular and nothing will change that.

Each of the students is responsible for doing his or her work in the library.

Don't let the word "students" confuse you; the subject is each and each is always singular — Each is responsible.

3. Phrases such as together with, as well as, and along with are not the same as and. The phrase introduced by as well as or along with will modify the earlier word (mayor in this case), but it does not compound the subjects (as the word and would do).

·         The mayor as well as his brothers is going to prison.

·         The mayor and his brothers are going to jail.

4. The pronouns neither and either are singular and require singular verbs even though they seem to be referring, in a sense, to two things.

·         Neither of the two traffic lights is working.

·         Which shirt do you want for Christmas?
Either is fine with me.

In informal writing, neither and either sometimes take a plural verb when these pronouns are followed by a prepositional phrase beginning with of. This is particularly true of interrogative constructions: "Haveeither of you two clowns read the assignment?" "Are either of you taking this seriously?" Burchfield calls this "a clash between notional and actual agreement."*

5. The conjunction or does not conjoin (as and does): when nor or or is used the subject closer to the verb determines the number of the verb. Whether the subject comes before or after the verb doesn't matter; the proximity determines the number.

·         Either my father or my brothers are going to sell the house.

·         Neither my brothers nor my father is going to sell the house.

·         Are either my brothers or my father responsible?

·         Is either my father or my brothers responsible?

Because a sentence like "Neither my brothers nor my father is going to sell the house" sounds peculiar, it is probably a good idea to put the plural subject closer to the verb whenever that is possible.

6.  The words there and here are never subjects.

·         There are two reasons [plural subject] for this.

·         There is no reason for this.

·         Here are two apples.

With these constructions (called expletive constructions), the subject follows the verb but still determines the number of the verb.

7.  Verbs in the present tense for third-person, singular subjects (he, she, it and anything those words can stand for) have s-endings. Other verbs do not add s-endings.

He loves and she loves and they love_ and . . . .

8.  Sometimes modifiers will get betwen a subject and its verb, but these modifiers must not confuse the agreement between the subject and its verb.

The mayor, who has been convicted along with his four brothers on four counts of various crimes but who also seems, like a cat, to have several political lives, is finally going to jail.

9. Sometimes nouns take weird forms and can fool us into thinking they're plural when they're really singular and vice-versa. Consult the section on the Plural Forms of Nouns and the section onCollective Nouns for additional help. Words such as glasses, pants, pliers, and scissors are regarded as plural (and require plural verbs) unless they're preceded the phrase pair of (in which case the word pair becomes the subject).

·         My glasses were on the bed.

·         My pants were torn.

·         A pair of plaid trousers is in the closet.

10. Some words end in -s and appear to be plural but are really singular and require singular verbs.

·         The news from the front is bad.

·         Measles is a dangerous disease for pregnant women.

On the other hand, some words ending in -s refer to a single thing but are nonetheless plural and require a plural verb.

·         My assets were wiped out in the depression.

·         The average worker's earnings have gone up dramatically.

·         Our thanks go to the workers who supported the union.

The names of sports teams that do not end in "s" will take a plural verb: the Miami Heat have been looking … , The Connecticut Sun are hoping that new talent … . See the section on plurals for help with this problem.

11. Fractional expressions such as half of, a part of, a percentage of, a majority of are sometimes singular and sometimes plural, depending on the meaning. (The same is true, of course, when all, any, more, most and some act as subjects.) Sums and products of mathematical processes are expressed as singular and require singular verbs. The expression "more than one" (oddly enough) takes a singular verb: "More than one student has tried this."

·         Some of the voters are still angry.

·         A large percentage of the older population is voting against her.

·         Two-fifths of the troops were lost in the battle.

·         Two-fifths of the vineyard was destroyed by fire.

·         Forty percent of the students are in favor of changing the policy.

·         Forty percent of the student body is in favor of changing the policy.

·         Two and two is four.

·         Four times four divided by two is eight.

12. If your sentence compounds a positive and a negative subject and one is plural, the other singular, the verb should agree with the positive subject.

·         The department members but not the chair have decided not to teach on Valentine's Day.

·         It is not the faculty members but the president who decides this issue.

·         It was the speaker, not his ideas, that has provoked the students to riot.

Online  Exercise  :  http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/cgi-shl/quiz.pl/sv_agr_quiz.htm

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/exercises/5/13/34

Active and Passive

Active/Passive Voices

Voice    หมายถึงวิธีพูด     Active Voice  หมายถึงรูปกริยาซึ่งประธานเป็นผู้กระทำหรือแสดงกริยานั้นโดยตรง   เช่น

The dog bit the boy.  สุนัขกัดเด็กชาย  ( สุนัขเป็นประธานผู้กระทำโดยตรง และเด็กชายเป็นกรรม)
Dara will present her research at the conference.
Susan is cooking dinner.
They are going to build  a new house  soon.

Passive Voice  หมายถึงรูปกริยาซึ่งประธานเป็นผู้ถูกกระทำกริยานั้นโดยผู้อื่น  

หลักการใช้  Passive Voice มีดังนี้

• ให้ความสำคัญกับกรรม  ( object ) ของประโยคหรือสิ่งที่ถูกกระทำมากกว่าประธาน   หรือไม่สนใจว่าใครทำแต่สนใจผลที่เกิดขึ้น เช่น
  Your bicycle has been damaged.  รถจักรยานของคุณถูกทำเสียหาย
  ( ประโยคนี้ไม่สนใจว่าใครเป็นคนทำ  สนใจแต่เพียงว่ามีการเสียหายเกิดขึ้น  เช่นเดียวกับประโยคต่อไป)
  Rules are made to be broken. ( by ? )
  Police are being notified ( by? ) that three prisoners have escaped.
  Everything will have been done by Tuesday.

• ไม่จำเป็นต้องเอ่ยถึงผู้กระทำ เนื่องจากรู้กันอยู่แล้ว
  The thieves were all arrested .  ( เป็นทั่รู้กันอยู่ว่าผู้จับน่าจะเป็นตำรวจ )
  English is spoken here.  ( ผู้ที่พูดคือคนโดยทั่วไป )

• เมื่อไม่ทราบว่าใครเป็นผู้กระทำ
  Printing was invented in China. ( ผู้คิดค้นเป็นใครไม่ทราบ )

การทำ Active Voice  ให้เป็น Passive Voice

I.  ประโยคที่มีกรรมตัวเดียว ( Direct Object )

• เอากรรมของประโยคขึ้นมาเป็นประธาน
• ใช้ verb to be ให้ถูกต้องตามประธาน
• กริยาแท้ในประโยคให้เปลี่ยนเป็นช่อง 3  ( past participle )
• เอาประธานของประโยค Active  ไปเป็นกรรมหลัง by

เช่น
The boy was bitten by  the dog. ( เอากรรมคือเด็กชายขึ้นมาเป็นประธาน ) 
Research will be  presented by Dara at the conference. 
Dinner is being cooked by Susan. 
A new house is going to be  built . ( by them )
หมายเหตุ      ผู้กระทำในประโยค  Passive  ที่เป็น phrase  " by the......"  อาจจะละไว้ก็ได้
สรุปการใช้ประโยค Passive Voice ของ  Tenses ต่างๆ

Tenses	ประธาน	กริยาช่วย		Past  Participle
		เอกพจน์	พหูพจน์
Present	The car/cars	is	are	designed.
Present perfect	The car/cars	has been	have been	designed.
Past	The car/cars	was	were	designed.
Past perfect	The car/cars	had been	had been	designed.
Future	The car/cars	will be	will be	designed.
Future perfect	The car/cars	will have been	will have been	designed.
Present progressive	The car/cars	is being	are being	designed.
Past progressive	The car/cars	was being	were being	designed.

II. ประโยคที่มีกรรมตรง และกรรมรอง ( Direct  & indirect object)

เมื่อประโยค Active มีกรรม 2 ตัวคืือ

กรรมตรง ( Direct Object )  =  สิ่งของ

กรรมรอง ( Indirect object )    =  บุคคล

เมื่อจะเปลี่ยนเป็น Passive  นิยมเอากรรมรอง คือบุคคลขึ้นเป็นประธาน  ถ้าจะเอากรรมตรงเป็นประธานก็ได้ แต่ต้องใส่บุพบท to ข้างหน้ากรรมรองที่เหลืออยู่ด้วย เช่น

Active:The teacher gave me a book.
Passive: I was given a book by the teacher. ( กรรมรองเป็นประธาน )
Passive : A book was given to me by the teacher.  ( กรรมตรงเป็นประธาน )

Active: My father gave ten dollars to my sister.
Passive : My sister was given ten dollars by my father. ( กรรมรองเป็นประธาน )
Passive : Ten dollars were given to my sister by my father. ( กรรมตรงเป็นประธาน )

Active: The guide will show you the museum.
Passive: You will be shown the museum by the guide. ( กรรมรองเป็นประธาน )
Passive: The museum will be shown to you by the guide. ( กรรมตรงเป็นประธาน )

ตัวอย่างกริยาที่มีกรรมได้ 2 ตัวได้แก่

give	answer	show	tell
send	buy	call	teach
ask	sell	write	lend

III  คำกริยาที่ไม่สามารถทำให้เป็นประโยค Passive ได้คือ

กริยาที่ไม่สมบูรณ์ด้วยตัวเองซึ่งเราเรียกว่า Linking verbs ( Copular Verbs)  เป็นคำกริยาที่ ต้องมีส่วนสมบูรณ์ ( complement ) เข้ามาช่วยจึงจะได้ความหมายสมบูรณ์โดยไม่ต้องมีกรรม   คำเหล่านี้ได้แก่

be	keep	sound	get	prove
seem	stay	smell	go	turn
appear	look	taste	come	turn out
remain	feel	become	grow	end up, wind up

เช่น

Active voice : He became a successful business man.
จะเปลี่ียนเป็น  A  successful business man was become by  him. ไม่ได้

ตัวอย่างของประโยคที่คำกริยาเป็น linking verb  เช่น

You look lovely.
My hand feel cold.
That sounds good to me.
It smells funny in this room.

IV   ใช้ get แทน  be ในประโยค Passive  ( ในการใช้อย่างไม่เป็นทางการ )

คำกริยาต่อไปนี้ อาจใช้กับ get แทน verb to be

tire	dress	upset	invite	pay	do	marry,divorce
hurt	accustom	confuse	bore	hire	disgust	stuck
lose	worry	drink	pack	fire	engage	hit

He was lost  = He got  lost.
She wasn't invited  = She didn't get invited. 
They were married last year. = They got married last year.
I didn't stay for the end of the movie because I got bored.
There was an accident, but luckily nobody got hurt.

การใช้ประโยคโดยทั่วไปจะใช้เป็น   Active  Voice   และหลีกเลี่ยงการใช้  Passive เท่าที่จะทำได้    แต่หากจะมีการใช้ Passive Voice ก็มักจะใช้ในการเขียนเอกสารที่เป็นทางการ ข่าว และรายงาน ทางวิทยาศาสตร์.

เช่น ในข่าวในหนังสือพิมพ์

The woman was killed at. . . . 
The boy was struck by. . . ."
President Kennedy was killed.   (  ไม่ใช้ Oswald killed President Kennedy.)
It was reported that. . . . 
It was recommended that. . . .. 
It is reported that......
This letter will confirm. . . .     ( ไมใช่ I write this letter to confirm. . . . )
He was jailed for three months.

ในรายงานการศึกษาวิจัย ซึ่งผู้อ่านจะสนใจผลมากกว่าสนใจผู้กระทำ

It can be seen that.......
Heart disease is considered the leading cause of death in the United States
The interviews were conducted in groups.
The sample was weighed to find its dry weight .

Online  Exercise  :  http://www.englishpractice.com/grammar/active-passive-voice-exercise-3/
http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=1373
http://www.englishdaily626.com/passive_voice.php?024

Tenses

Verb Tenses There are 12 verb tenses in English. The verb action can take place in the past, the present or the future. There are usually word clues that give a guide as to when the verb action occurs. Within each of these times, there are four different situations that occur. Simple tenses occur at a point in time, or on a repeated or habitual basis. A progressive or continuous tense indicates that the action takes place over time and these tenses always use part of the verb “be” as the first part of the verb phrase and end with the main verb + ing. A perfect tense always uses part of “have” as the first part of the verb phrase and ends with the past form of the main verb. A perfect progressive tense starts with the relevant part of the verb “have” followed by “been” and ends with the main verb + ing. If you remember these basic rules, you can always identify the verb tense being used, or use the verb tense you need without having to continually refer to a text book or table. Meanwhile, a chart like the one given here, can provide a quick and easy reference until you feel comfortable using the various verb tenses. Also pay attention to the time clues in the following chart; while some of them can be used with more than one verb tense, they do restrict the number of possibilities and help you to understand which verb tense is being used, or which verb tense you should use.

Chart—Active Verb Tenses

	Past	Present	Future
Simple	An action that ended at a point in the past.	An action that exists , is usual, or is repeated.	A plan for future action.
	cooked	cook / cooks	will cook
(time clue)*	e.g. He cooked yesterday.	e.g. He cooks dinner every Friday.	e.g. He will cook tomorrow.
Progressive be + main verb +ing	An action was happening (past progressive) when another action happened (simple past).	An action that is happening now.	An action that will be happening over time, in the future, when something else happens.
	was / were cooking	am / is / are cooking	will be cooking
(time clue)*	e.g. He was cooking when the phone rang.	e.g. He is cooking now.	e.g. He will be cooking when you come.
Perfect have + past participle	An action that ended before another action or time in the past.	An action that happened at an unspecified time in the past.	An action that will end before another action or time in the future.
	had cooked	has / have cooked	will have cooked
(time clue)*	e.g. He had cooked the dinner when the phone rang.	e.g. He has cooked many meals.	e.g. He will have cooked dinner by the time you come.
Perfect Progressive have + been + main verb + ing	An action that happened over time, in the past, before another time or action in the past.	An action occurring over time that started in the past and continues into the present.	An action occurring over time, in the future, before another action or time in the future.
	had been cooking	has / have been cooking	will have been cooking
(time clue)*	e.g. He had been cooking for a long time before he took lessons.	e.g. He has been cooking for over an hour.	e.g. He will have been cooking all day by the time she gets home.

*Time clues: these are words that give some information about when an action occurs. Some examples are:

yesterday   every day tomorrow  while now

simple past simple present simple future past progressive present progressive

.

There are many words that are time clues; some can be used to indicate a number of tenses, for instance that something happened in the past or that it will happen in the future. If you learn to recognize these time clues, you will find them very helpful. Note that some time clues can be used with more than one verb tense and also that this table is not a complete listing of all the time clues that can be used with all of the tenses

Chart—Time Clues and Verb Tense

	Past	Present	Future
Simple	Simple Past	Simple Present	Simple Future
	yesterday last year/ month/ etc. before  for five weeks/days/etc. one year/ month ago	every morning / day / etc. always usually frequently sometimes	tomorrow tonight next week/month/etc. soon in the future
Progressive	Past Progressive	Present Progressive	Future progressive
	while when	now right now this week/minute/etc.	when after as soon as before
Perfect	Past Perfect	Present Perfect	Future Perfect
	before already by the time until then/last week/etc. after	until now since ever never many times/ weeks/years/etc. for three hours/ minutes/etc/	by the time you go (somewhere) by the time you do (something) already
Perfect Progressive	Past Perfect progressive	Present Perfect Progressive	Future Perfect Progressive
	before for one week/hour/etc. since	for the past year/ month/ etc. for the last 2 months/ weeks/etc. up to now for 6 weeks/hours/etc. since	by the time for ten days/weeks/etc. by

Online  Exercise  :  http://www.myenglishpages.com/site_php_files/grammar-exercise-tenses.php
http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/tenses/will_going_to_future.htm