Subject-Verb Agreement 
Materials: pencils, paper, computer, overhead
Date: 3-17-06
Student population: A level 1, 17 yr. old ninth grade boy from China/in U.S. for 5 mo.
  A level 2, 14 yr. old eighth grade girl from India/in U.S. for 1 mo.
  A level 3 12 yr. old sixth grade girl from Mexico/in U.S. for 3 yrs.
  A level 3 12 yr. old sixth grade boy from Vietnam/in U.S. for 9yrs.
 
VA SOL’s:
4.8 The student will edit writing for correct grammar, capitalization, spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure.
a) Use subject-verb agreement.
6.7 The student will edit writing for correct grammar, capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and sentence structure.
b) Use subject-verb agreement with intervening phrases and clauses.
7.9 The student will edit writing for correct grammar, capitalization, punctuation, spelling, sentence structure, and paragraphing.
d) Use subject-verb agreement with intervening phrases and clauses.
 
VA LEP’s:
LEP 2.10 The student will write to communicate ideas.
d. Edit and revise writing.
LEP 3.10 The student will write stories, letters, simple explanations, and
short reports across all content areas.
b. Edit and revise writing.
LEP 4.9 The student will use English mechanics and usage.
c. Use subject-verb agreement.
 
TESOL’s:
Goal 2, Standard 2 to use English to achieve academically in all content areas; Students will use English to obtain, process, construct, and provide subject matter information in spoken and written form
* Understanding and producing technical vocabulary and text features according to content area
Goal 2, Standard 2 to use English to achieve academically in all content areas; Students will use appropriate strategies to construct and apply academic knowledge
* Applying self-monitoring and self-corrective strategies to build and expand a knowledge base
* Actively connecting new information to previously learned information
 
Purpose: After the conclusion of our animal report lesson, I noticed that the most difficult aspect of the English language for this particular group of students was getting their subjects and verbs to agree. This was not only a problem for my newly arrived students, but it was also a major concern for my student who had been here most of his life.  
 
Presentation: 
Explain to students that the subject is the naming part of the sentence, and the verb is the doing part of the sentence. Give some specific examples using your students as your subjects. Tell students that the subject of a sentence must work together with the verb to make the sentence work. Now let students know you are going to prepare them with a few rules about making verbs and subjects agree that they will use to make their writing better.
 
Draw a simple chart on the board to show examples of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person singular and plural subjects. You should probably define the meaning of singular and plural just to make sure all students are on the same page.
 
Attention: 
Rules for changing singular into plurals:
Rule #1 Add s to most verbs.
Rule #2 Add es to verbs ending in ss, ch, sh, x, or z.
Rule #3 When you have a word ending in y, look at the letter before it. If it is a consonant, change the y to an i and add es. If it is a vowel, simply add s.
Ex. Fly-flies, play-plays
 
Rules for how to know when to use singular and plural verbs:
Rule # 1: Singular subjects must have singular verbs. Plural subjects must have plural verbs.
 
Rule #2: Indefinite pronouns like everyone and everybody sound like plural nouns, but they are in fact singular. Ex. Everyone is happy to be here today.
 
Rule #3: When it comes to words like some or all, the verb will depend on whether the subject is something that can be counted.
Ex: Some of the pennies in my jar are very old.
All of the cereal has been eaten.
“Pennies” is countable, whereas cereal is not.
 
Rule #4: Phrases such as “together with,” “as well as,” and “along with” sound like they would connect subjects, but they do not. The verb should only agree with the actual subject.
The vegetables, as well as that one banana, look good.
 
Rule #5: Neither and either without or and nor is a singular subject that needs a singular verb. 
Ex. Neither of my brothers is here today.
 
Rule #6: When you have either and neither with or and nor, the subjects that is the closest one to the verb is the one you make agree with the verb.
Ex. Neither the teacher nor the students know how many gumballs were in the jar.
 
Rule #7: Use singular verbs with money or periods of time.
Ex. Ten dollars buys eight cars. Two months equals 61 days.
 
Rule #8: In sentences beginning with there is or there are, the subject follows the verb. 
There are students in my class.
There is a car in the driveway.
 
Co-Construct:
Webquest: 
Go read the story about a witch at 
 
http://www.magickeys.com/books/witchstw/index.html
 
Read the story. Write 3 subjects and verbs from the story below.
_________________________________
 
_________________________________
 
_________________________________
 
 
Now, go to the ESL quiz center, and take the quiz on this page. Write your percent correct on the line below.
 
http://www.pacificnet.net/~sperling/quiz/sva1.html
 
 
____________________________________________
 
 
Your next job is to find five interesting pictures on the web about anything school appropriate. Use Google to search if you need help. Print out the five pictures, and write one good sentence on the back of each picture with subject-verb agreement.
 
If time allows, help the terrible teacher edit his terrible essay on this website:
 
http://www.clta.on.ca/EaOnline/TerribleTeacher/tt-sv.html
 
 
Write your score here__________________
 
Extension activities:
A quiz that is offered for ESL students on subject/verb agreement is here:
 
http://a4esl.org/q/h/9901/cw-svagreement.html
 
 
Students may take a more challenging grammar quiz at: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/cgi-shl/quiz.pl/sv_agr_quiz.htm
 
 
Students may go here to play a subject-verb agreement game:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/grammar/sentencebasics/verbsubjectagreement/game.shtml
 
 
Students may go back and check their animal reports now for any subject-verb disagreement.
 
Practice worksheets can be found here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/grammar/sentencebasics/verbsubjectagreement/worksheet.shtml
 
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/grammar/subverag.html
 
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/esl/eslsubverb.html
 
http://aliscot.com/bigdog/agreement_sv.htm
 
http://webnz.co.nz/checkers/SubjectVerbAgree.html
 
 

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