In the last lesson, we started to identify nouns, pronouns, and verbs in present tense sentences. We then learned to identify the subject-verb combination in sentences, saying that S – V – O (or C) is the usual word order in statements. And that the subject of a sentence is usually the first noun in the sentence.
Remember the importance of finding the subject – verb combination, so we can make sure there is a good match with endings!
It looks like we are building a process for checking our work!!!
1) Find the subject and verb combination in the sentence
2) Check to make sure there is a match – we call this subject – verb agreement. Do your subject and verb agree in number and person.
Remember how we set up our table to check for this agreement. This table is based on singular/plural pronouns and nouns. Look at this
| Singular pronoun/nouns | Plural nouns/pronouns |
| I | We |
| You | You (plural) |
| He (John)
She (Maria) It (The dog) |
They |
Now we look at the same thing, but add the verbs with their correct endings. Use these tables to check your work. Look at an example with the word, “work”
| Singular pronoun/nouns | Plural nouns/pronouns |
| I work | We work |
| You work | You (plural) work |
| He (John) works
She (Maria) works It (The dog) works |
They work |
How does the verb change to match the “person” and “number” of the noun/pronoun?
Can we come up with a grammar rule about how to correctly form the verb? When does the verb change? When does it stay the same?
ESL in York 