Agreement with Simple Subjects: Tips for Clear and Effective Writing
When it comes to writing clear and effective sentences, one key element is ensuring that your subject and verb agree. This might seem like a basic rule, but even experienced writers can sometimes slip up – especially when dealing with simple subjects. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at subject-verb agreement with simple subjects, and provide some tips for ensuring that your sentences are grammatically correct and easy to read.
Understanding Simple Subjects
First, let’s define what we mean by “simple subjects”. In a sentence, the subject is the person, place, thing or idea that the sentence is about. The simple subject is the most basic form of the subject – in other words, it is the core word or phrase that identifies the topic of the sentence. For example, in the sentence “The dog barked at the mailman”, the simple subject is “dog”.
Subject-Verb Agreement
Once you have identified the simple subject of your sentence, you need to ensure that the verb agrees with it in number and tense. Essentially, this means that if your subject is singular, your verb should be singular as well, and if your subject is plural, your verb should be plural. For example:
– Incorrect: The team plays well together.
– Correct: The team play well together.
In the first example, the singular subject “team” is paired with the singular verb “plays”. However, “team” is actually a collective noun, which means it refers to a group of people. In this case, the group is plural, so the verb should also be plural – “play”. This is a subtle but important distinction to remember when dealing with simple subjects.
Another common mistake is to forget about verb tense when matching the subject. For example:
– Incorrect: The cat runs across the yard and jumps on the fence.
– Correct: The cat runs across the yard and jumps on the fence.
In this case, the present tense verb “runs” matches the singular subject “cat”, but the second verb “jumps” should also be present tense to maintain consistency. However, this can be a bit trickier when dealing with compound subjects – that is, when two or more simple subjects are joined by “and”. In this case, the verb should be plural to match the combined subjects, as in:
– Incorrect: The cat and the dog chases each other around the yard.
– Correct: The cat and the dog chase each other around the yard.
Here, the plural verb “chase” agrees with the plural compound subject “cat and dog”.
Tips for Correct Subject-Verb Agreement
To avoid common errors and ensure that your sentences are grammatically correct, try these tips:
– Identify the simple subject: Before you start writing, make sure you identify the most basic form of your subject. Sometimes this might be a single word, other times it might be a noun phrase.
– Check for collective nouns: Be aware of collective nouns, which refer to a group of people or things but are treated as singular. Some examples include “team”, “family”, and “group”.
– Pay attention to verb tense: Make sure your verb tense matches the tense of your subject and the rest of your sentence.
– Be consistent with compound subjects: When dealing with compound subjects, make sure the verb is plural to match the combined subjects.
– Proofread carefully: Check your work for subject-verb agreement errors, and if possible, ask a colleague or friend to review your writing as well.
By following these tips, you can ensure that your writing is clear, concise, and grammatically correct. Remember – subject-verb agreement might seem like a small detail, but it can have a big impact on the clarity and professionalism of your writing.