UNIT

SUBJECT VERB
1
STARTER:
AGREEMENT
What is Subject Verb Agreement ?

Subject-verb agreement means that the sentence is grammatically correct .

Subjects and verbs must AGREE with one another in number (singular or
plural). Thus, if a subject is singular, its verb must also be singular; if a subject is
plural, its verb must also be plural. Subject-verb agreement is very important
because without it, the reader can be confused.

Examples :

The study of languages is very interesting

singular subject singular verb
Several theories on this subject have been proposed
plural subject plural verb

The expressions such as together with, accompanied by, along with, and as
well as have no effect on the verb.

Examples :

The actress, along with her manager and some friends, is going to a party tonight.
singular subject singular verb
Mr. Agus, accompanied by his wife and children, is arriving tonight.
singular subject singular verb

Note : If the conjunction and is used instead of one of these phrases, the verb
would then be plural.

Example :

The actress and her manager are going to a party tonight.

plural subject Plural verb

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Words that always take singular verbs and pronouns

The words in the box below must be followed by singular verbs and pronouns in
formal written English.

any + singular noun no + singular noun some + singular noun

anybody nobody somebody
anyone no one someone
anything nothing something

Every + singular noun each + singular noun

everybody
everyone either*
everything neither*

*either and neither are singular if they are not used with or and nor.

Examples :

Everybody who has not purchased a ticket should be in this line.

Something was under the house.
Nobody works harder than John does.
If either of you take a vacation now, we will not be able to finish the work.

None/No

None can take either a singular or plural verb, depending on the noun which
follows it.

none + of the + non-count noun + singular verb

Example :
None of the counterfeit money has been found.

None + of the + plural count noun + plural verb

Example :
None of the students have finished the exam yet.

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No can take either a singular or plural verb depending on the noun which follows
it.

No + singular noun + singular verb

Non – count noun

Example :
No example is relevant to this case.

No + plural noun + plural verb

Example :
No examples are relevant to this case.

Either / Neither

When either and neither are followed by or and nor, the verb may be singular or
plural, depending on whether the noun following or and nor is singular or plural.
If or and nor appears alone, the same rule applies. Study the following sentences.

Examples :

Either John or his friends are going to the beach today.

plural noun plural verb
Neither John nor his friends are going to the beach today.
plural noun plural verb
Either John or Bill is going to the beach today.
singular noun singular verb
Neither John nor Bill is going to the beach today.
singular noun singular verb
Neither the boys nor Carmen has seen this movie before.
singular noun singular verb
John or George is driving a car.
singular noun singular verb

There is / There are

The following box presents the rules of there is and there are.

there is
there was + singular subject or noun – count noun
there has been

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 there are
there were + plural subject
there have been

Examples :

There was an accident last night.

singular singular
There was water on the floor where he fell.
singular non-count
There has been an increase in the importation of foreign cars.
singular singular
There were too many people at the party last week.
plural plural

Check your understanding

Direction : Choose the correct form of the verb in the following sentences!.

1. Neither Bill nor Mary ( is/are ) going to play tonight.

2. Skating ( is/are ) better than going to another movie tonight.
3. A number of reporters ( was/were ) at the conference yesterday.
4. Your glasses ( was/were ) on bureau last night.
5. A pair of jeans ( was/were ) in the washing machine this morning.
6. Each student ( has/have ) answered the first three questions.
7. The crowd at the basketball game ( was/were ) wild with excitement.
8. There ( has/have ) been too many interruptions in this class.
9. Neither Jill nor her parents ( has/have ) seen this movie before.
10. Either John or his wife ( make/makes ) breakfast each morning.

Exercise – Multiple Choice Questions

1. The man whom I ____ with ____ 11. The regulations of the
the dean of our faculty. administration from the
curriculum.
A) was talking/ were
B) were talking/ were A) stem
C) can talk/ were B) stems
D) was talking/ was C) stemming
D) are stemmed

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2. The aims of the course ____ me 12. Few students who ____ playing
willing to begin. football missed the class.

A) makes A) would be
B) were made B) could be
C) make C) had
D) making D) were

3. Students' minds ____ about the 13. The children of the man who
order of structures. works with me ____broken the
window this morning.

A) has been confused A) were

B) have been confused B) have
C) had confused C) had
D) have confused D) has

4. The weight of the apples ____. 14. The men of the community ____
not support the leader.
A) were varied
B) vary A) does
C) varying B) have
D) varies C) has
D) do

5. The police ____ to be careful since 15. One man among the crew ____
the criminal was dangerous. into the water every week.

A) were told A) can be diving

B) were telling B) dives
C) was telling C) had dived
D) was saying D) is diving

6. Some of the old beautiful buildings 16. Do you know the woman ____
____. next to the window?
A) is being replaced by the new
ones A) stands
B) have been reconstructing for B) stood
the last threedecades C) is standing
C) were concerned with them a lot D) standing
D) are surrounded with new high
ones

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 7. Neither the man nor his son ____ 17. All the furniture I bought ____ at
convinced of theidea. my home now.

A) had A) are
B) has B) was
C) was C) is
D) have D) were

8. Only when each of the committee 18. He and I ____ good friends but
members ____reading the now we ____ anymore.
instructions then can you ____
them to the hall.
A) have been / don't talk
A) would fi nish / took B) am / don't tal king
B) is finishing / be taking C) were / won't talk
C) finish / take D) were / aren't tal king
D) finishes / take

9. Either Hasan or Fatih ____ to the 19. Although every student in my

meeting this evening. class ____ the schedule,
one of my students always ____
A) are coming late to the class.
B) come
C) is coming A) know / come
D) have come B) knows / coming
C) know / comes
D) knows / comes

10. After the meeting, he said a great 20. If he ____ early, we ____ catch
deal of advice ____. the last train on time.

A) were given A) comes / will be able to

B) has been given B) will come / will
C) had been given C) is coming / can
D) have been given D) will come / will

Bibliography

Philips, Deborah. 2004. Longman Introductory Course for the TOEFL Test. New
York: Pearson Education, Inc.
Pyle, Michael A and Page, Mary Ellen Munoz. 2002. Cliffs TOEFL Preparation
Guide. New Delhi: Wiley Dreamtech India pvt. ltd.

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Sharpe, Pamela J. 2001. How to Prepare for the TOEFL. 10th Edition. Galgotia
New Delhi: Publications pvt. Ltd.

Internet
https://www.englishtestonline.com

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 UNIT

PARALLEL
2 STRUCTURES
STARTER: What is the parallel structure ?

Parallel structures mean expressing ideas of equal importance with the same
grammatical structures. The series of parallel structures elements are connected
with the connectives and, or, and but, as well as with the paired conjunctions
both…and, not only…but also, either…or, and neither..nor.

Review of Parallel Words and Phrases

A series of information in a sentence must be put into parallel structures.

Examples :

Words : A word is a single unit of language that can be represented in writing or

speech.

Nouns : We liked both the hamburgers and hotdogs.

Adjectives : He felt neither guilty nor sorry for what he had done.
Adverbs : The students did the task not only carefully but also thoroughly.
Gerunds : Sarah likes both singing and dancing
Infinitives : We need neither to rush nor to linger; we have a schedule to
follow.
Phrases : A phrase is a group (or pairing) of words in English. A phrase can be
short or long, but it does not include the subject-verb pairing necessary to make a
clause.

Participial : Recognizing his weaknesses but not knowing how to overcome

them, he kept making mistakes in his work.
Infinitive : To complete her paper and (to) do it well, Madonna made
thorough research.
Gerund : Daniel enjoys going to the beach or going to the mountains.
Prepositional : His hard work has earned him respect not only from his peers but
also from his professors.
Verb : He has to finish his studies or leave his parent’s house.

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Noun : The visitors admire the beautiful landscape and the varied flower
collections of the botanical garden.

Check your understanding.

Direction : Find the mistakes in the following sentences. Correct them!.

1. On mother’s day, children buy either gifts or give beautiful flowers for
their mothers.
2. The students not only read more books but also they join courses to
prepare them for the final examination.
3. Travelling abroad and try out typical foods from different countries are my
dreams.
4. My friends and I neither hate or enjoyed the math lecture.
5. The tenants can park their cars either in the basement nor in front of the
apartment building.
6. Both strength or courage are needed in the competition.
7. My parents said I had to choose either studying architecture and pursuing a
career in music.
8. Not only adults and teenagers enjoy watching shop operas on TV.
9. The play did not only make people laugh but also shedding tears.
10. The new subject taught is to make students aware of the latest but the more
sophisticated technology.

Exercise – Multiple Choice Questions

1. Not only did Hank despise the 11. When Indah takes her beagle for a
way June chewed with her walk, Maudy enjoys sniffing for
mouth open, _________ edible garbage, _, and lunging at
finding her wet towels all over squirrels.
the bathroom floor.
A) howls at bicyclists
A) but also disliked B) howling at bicyclists
B) but also disliking C) she howls at bicyclists
C) but he also disliked D) she enjoys sniffing
D) but the way June

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2. To protect her delicate hands, 12. Bonkers, our ninety-pound golden
Wijaya will not rake the yard, retriever, chews on furniture,
do the dishes, or __________. __________, and snots up the car
windows—inconveniences we did
A) refuses to scrub the bathtub not anticipate when we adopted
B) won't scrub the bathtub him.
C) scrub the bathtub
D) Protect her delicate A) would drag us around the
neighborhood during walks
B) he drags us around the
neighborhood during walks
C) drags us around the
neighborhood during walks
D) the neighborhood she around
during walks

3. When Delores realized that her 13. After Malika cashes her paycheck,
father had made lima beans and the money goes to her savings
rice for dinner, she ________, account, cappuccino fund, and
claimed to feel nauseous, and __________.
excused herself from the table.
The bag of stale popcorn in her
A) paying her credit card bill
room would tide her over until
B) toward her credit card balance
breakfast.
C) credit card balance
D) cashes her paycheck
A) clutched her stomach
B) was clutching her stomach
C) did clutch her stomach
D) until her over Breakfast

4. We searched the car 14. In Professor Curall's office, Ruben

trunk,________, and the top of feigned the flu. He hoped to be
the refrigerator, but we could excused from class, get an
not find the box of cornflakes extension on his paper, and
that we do remember buying. __________.

A) looked on the pantry

A) spend the afternoon playing
shelves
tennis with his friends
B) on the pantry shelves
B) to spend the afternoon playing
C) the pantry shelves
tennis with his friends
D) D. the box of cornflakes
C) then to spend the afternoon
playing tennis with his friends
D) to spend excused from class

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5. In preparation for her run, 15. Fira saw very little of the horror
Shanti_________, applied movie, for she shut her eyes
sunscreen, and inserted her __________, when she heard the
earbuds. monster's footsteps in the dead
leaves, and when characters started
A) tightened her shoelaces screaming.
B) was tightening her
shoelaces
A) when the violins began to play
C) did tighten her shoelaces
B) while listening to the violins
D) brightening skincare for
play
skin
C) during the violin music
D) of the horror movie

6. Andin was expecting a visit 16. Neither __________ nor the

from her mother, so she spent ineffective air conditioner rattling
the day cleaning the shelves of in the window will deter Tiffany
the refrigerator, scrubbing mold from loving the freedom of her
from the bathroom tile grout, first apartment.
and __________.
A) when the inconsiderate
A) she removed dog hair from neighbors played loud music
the sofa cushions B) the inconsiderate neighbors
B) removing dog hair from the playing loud music
sofa cushions C) playing loud music by the
C) removed dog hair from the inconsiderate neighbors
sofa cushions D) loving first apartment
D) Teresa remove dog hair
from the sofa cushions

7. Aldi not only missed his one- 17. We hate having dinner at Aunt
year anniversary with Adrianna Ida's house because she is a vegan
__________. health nut. Baked tofu, _______,
and decaffeinated tea do not make
a satisfying meal!
A) but he also forgot his
mother's birthday
B) but also forgot his mother's A) vegetables steamed with no oil
birthday or seasoning
C) but also forgetting his B) steamed vegetables
mother's birthday C) vegetables that are flavorless
D) but they also forgot his D) vegetables with oil
mother's birthday

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8. We looked everywhere for the 18. Ola and Astrid bang on Boen's
car keys under the sofa door when they need heavy
cushions, __________, and on furniture moved, after they have
the counters and tabletops. All clogged the garbage disposal, and
along, Andrew had them in the __________.
front pocket of his jeans!
A) having discovered a spider in
A) our search included the the bathtub
trash can B) upon the discovery of a spider
B) searching for them in the in the bathtub
trash can C) if they find a spider in the
C) in the trash can bathtub
D) NewJeans D) need more furniture

9. When Noodle the poodle 19. Syanaz kicked the back of

realized that the leash meant a Vincent’s desk,______, and poked
bath, not a walk to the park, he his arm with her sharp pencil, but
growled, pulled, and he would not bend to the side so
__________. that she could get a glimpse of his
quiz answers.
A) was leaping like a fish on a
line A) blew on his neck
B) he was leaping like a fish B) she blew on his neck
on a line C) blowing on his neck
C) leaped like a fish on a line D) study at work
D) fish on a line

10. With the humans out of the 20. Bathing Noodle, our poodle,
house, Skeeter had to decide requires four arms to hold him in
either to shred a roll of toilet the tub, towels to mop up the
paper or __________. water, and __________.

A) chew another hole in the A) raincoats which will keep us

sofa arm dry
B) chewing another hole in the B) raincoats to keep us dry
sofa arm C) raincoats as protection against
C) if he wanted to chew the oncoming deluge
another hole in the sofa arm D) raincoats pop mie
D) sofa arm with chewing another
hole

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Bibliography

Philips, Deborah. 2004. Longman Introductory Course for the TOEFL Test. New
York: Pearson Education, Inc.
Pyle, Michael A and Page, Mary Ellen Munoz. 2002. Cliffs TOEFL Preparation
Guide. New Delhi: Wiley Dreamtech India pvt. ltd.
Sharpe, Pamela J. 2001. How to Prepare for the TOEFL. 10th Edition. Galgotia
New Delhi: Publications pvt. Ltd.

Internet
https://www.chompchomp.com

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