Adverbs and Subject Verb Agreement

2 February 2012

Another presentation for grammar from Nabila’s group about adverbs and subject verb agreement.


Adverbs are words that modify

1.      a verb (He drove slowly. — How did he drive?)

2.      an adjective (He drove a very fast car. — How fast was his car?)

3.      another adverb (She moved quite slowly down the aisle. — How slowly did she move?)

As we will see, adverbs often tell when, where, why, or under what conditions something happens or happened. Adverbs frequently end in -ly; however, many words and phrases not ending in -ly serve an adverbial function and an -ly ending is not a guarantee that a word is an adverb. 

Adverbs can modify adjectives, but an adjective cannot modify an adverb. Thus we would say that "the students showed a really wonderful attitude" and that "the students showed a wonderfully casual attitude" and that "my professor is really tall, but not "He ran real fast."

Like adjectives, adverbs can have comparative and superlative forms to show degree.

·         Walk faster if you want to keep up with me.

·         The student who reads fastest will finish first.

We often use more and most, less and least to show degree with adverbs:

·         With sneakers on, she could move more quickly among the patients.

·         The flowers were the most beautifully arranged creations I've ever seen.

·         She worked less confidently after her accident.

·         That was the least skillfully done performance I've seen in years. 

SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT

Form

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.

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.

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.

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.

At the end of this presentation, we are divided into 2 group. For each who are asked to answer a question will get food whether he/she answer correctly or not for the question.Hurray!! There is no winner as both of the group get a same marks.