Subject and Verb Agreement When you use a verb, you have to say who or what is doing the action. This ‘who or what’ is the subject of the verb. The subject and the verb match each other. You say that the subject and the verb agree when they match each other. Use a singular verb if the subject is a singular noun. For example, the subjects ‘my dad’ or ‘our school’, or any of the pronouns he, she or it, require a singular verb. Most singular verbs end in s. Look at the subjects …show more content…
Some examples are verbs that end in sh, ch, ss, x, zz and o. brushes watches kisses fixes rushes reaches misses mixes polishes teaches passes buzzes crashes catches presses does Here are some sentences with verbs in their third person singular form. The subjects are in bold and the verbs are in color. She always brushes her teeth at bedtime.
Dad polishes his shoes until they shine.
My brother watches television after school.
Kim catches the ball with one hand.
Dad mixes flour and water when he makes bread.
The bee buzzes around the flowers.
My friend Sanjay goes to the same school as I do.
How do you make the third person singular form of most verbs that end in y? Usually, you just change the y to an i and then add es. carry – carries hurry – hurries copy – copies cry – cries fly – flies marry – marries study – studies worry – worries bully – bullies A cat carries its kitten with its mouth.
Mr. Chen hurries to work every morning.
The baby cries a lot at night.
This plane flies to the island every day.
Alice tries hard at school.
She copies all the questions in her …show more content…
She is the person who does the action: she eats. The object of the verb is a banana. A banana is affected by the action of the verb. So in this sentence, the object of the verb ‘eat ’ is ‘a banana’. Verbs that have objects are called transitive verbs. Here are some sentences with transitive verbs. The verbs are printed in bold and their objects are printed in color. John likes apples.
Sam knows the answer to the question.
My sister cooks all our meals.
My brother rides his bike in the street.
Dad buys tea at the market.
Mom writes stories in her spare time.
Some verbs don’t have an object. A verb that does not have an object is called an intransitive verb. Here are some sentences with intransitive verbs. In China, lots of people walk to work.
The boys play in the yard after school.
Mr. Carter always drives very carefully.
Doris is a very successful businesswoman.
Michael and I both entered the race. He won but I lost.
Some verbs can be either transitive or intransitive. Notice that the transitive meaning and the intransitive meaning are sometimes different. transitive verbs intransitive verbs
The pilot flies the plane very