Grammar Guide

A verb should agree in person and number with its subject. A pronoun should agree in person, number, and gender with its antecedent. The following sentences contain subject-verb agreement errors:

Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon Days recount the history of a mythical Minnesota town. (Use singular verbs with titles.) [answer]

The stories from this humorous book captures small-town American life. (Do not allow phrases or clauses that come between a subject and a verb to affect the number of a verb.) [answer]

In the printed version of the stories, Keillor's warm voice and infectious laugh is missing, his infrequent verbal slips do not occur, and the sound effects are missing. (Use a plural verb with a compund subject.) [answer]

Dorothy of the Chatterbox Cafe together with Ralph of Ralph's Pretty Good Grocery appear in the book. (Do not allow phrases or clauses, such as along with and including, that come between a subject and a verb to affect the number of a verb.) [answer]

Neither Dorothy nor Ralph serve customers with modern efficiency. (After a compound subject with or, nor, either...or, neither...nor, make the verb agree in number and person with the nearer part of the subject.) [answer]

Exercise

Edit the following passage to make verbs agree with their subjects. Take special care when identifying the subject.

Canada, along with Europe and many cities in the United States, have found great success in curbing the spread of AIDS through needle exchange programs. These kinds of programs is an effective way to slow down the spread of the virus among intravenous drug users. There are many who are convinced that providing addicts with clean needles does not result in increased drug use. Others, who think that such programs encourage the use of drugs and sends the wrong message to young people, remains firmly opposed. To this group, free needles and free drug use is one and the same. But, supporters of the idea points out, one of the most important points of needle exchange programs are educating users about the dangers of sharing needles. After all, intravenous drug users is a segment of the population with an expecially high rate of HIV infection, which causes AIDS. And the spread of AIDS and other infectious diseases are a matter of concern for all people. [answer]

Answer Key

1. recounts

2. capture

3. [. . . ] infectious laugh are missing [ . . .}

4. appears

5. serves

6. Canada, along with Europe and many cities in the United States, has found great success in curbing the spread of AIDS through needle exchange programs. These kinds of programs are an effective way to slow down the spread of the virus among intravenous drug users. There are many who are convinced that providing addicts with clean needles does not result in increased drug use. Others, who think that such programs encourage the use of drugs and send the wrong message to young people, remain firmly opposed. To this group, free needles and free drug use are one and the same. But, supporters of the idea point out, one of the most important points of needle exchange programs is educating users about the dangers of sharing needles. After all, intravenous drug users are a segment of the population with an expecially high rate of HIV infection, which causes AIDS. And the spread of AIDS and other infectious diseases are a matter of concern for all people.

Callaway North 205A | (404) 727-0886


	Subject/Verb Agreement A verb should agree in person and number with its subject. A pronoun should agree in person, number, and gender with its antecedent. The following sentences contain subject-verb agreement errors: Garrison Keillor's *Lake Wobegon Days* recount the history of a mythical Minnesota town. (Use singular verbs with titles.) [answer] The stories from this humorous book captures small-town American life. (Do not allow phrases or clauses that come between a subject and a verb to affect the number of a verb.) [answer] In the printed version of the stories, Keillor's warm voice and infectious laugh is missing, his infrequent verbal slips do not occur, and the sound effects are missing. (Use a plural verb with a compund subject.) [answer] Dorothy of the Chatterbox Cafe together with Ralph of Ralph's Pretty Good Grocery appear in the book. (Do not allow phrases or clauses, such as along with and including, that come between a subject and a verb to affect the number of a verb.) [answer] Neither Dorothy nor Ralph serve customers with modern efficiency. (After a compound subject with or, nor, either...or, neither...nor, make the verb agree in number and person with the nearer part of the subject.) [answer] Exercise Edit the following passage to make verbs agree with their subjects. Take special care when identifying the subject. Canada, along with Europe and many cities in the United States, have found great success in curbing the spread of AIDS through needle exchange programs. These kinds of programs is an effective way to slow down the spread of the virus among intravenous drug users. There are many who are convinced that providing addicts with clean needles does not result in increased drug use. Others, who think that such programs encourage the use of drugs and sends the wrong message to young people, remains firmly opposed. To this group, free needles and free drug use is one and the same. But, supporters of the idea points out, one of the most important points of needle exchange programs are educating users about the dangers of sharing needles. After all, intravenous drug users is a segment of the population with an expecially high rate of HIV infection, which causes AIDS. And the spread of AIDS and other infectious diseases are a matter of concern for all people. [answer] Answer Key 1. recounts 2. capture 3. [. . . ] infectious laugh are missing [ . . .} 4. appears 5. serves 6. Canada, along with Europe and many cities in the United States, has found great success in curbing the spread of AIDS through needle exchange programs. These kinds of programs are an effective way to slow down the spread of the virus among intravenous drug users. There are many who are convinced that providing addicts with clean needles does not result in increased drug use. Others, who think that such programs encourage the use of drugs and send the wrong message to young people, remain firmly opposed. To this group, free needles and free drug use are one and the same. But, supporters of the idea point out, one of the most important points of needle exchange programs is educating users about the dangers of sharing needles. After all, intravenous drug users are a segment of the population with an expecially high rate of HIV infection, which causes AIDS. And the spread of AIDS and other infectious diseases are a matter of concern for all people. Callaway North 205A \| (404) 727-0886