Sample lesson plan-Subject-Verb Agreement

Topic: Subject-Verb Agreement

I.              Objectives:

At the end of the class discussion, students are expected to

a)    Identify the form of the subject and the verb in the sentence

b)    Choose the correct form of the verb to make it agree with the subject.

c)    Familiarize with the rules of subject-verb agreement.

II.            Subject Matter

English II, Subject-Verb Agreement

III.           Materials:

Pictures, Manila paper, Chalk and Board

IV.          Procedure

a)    Prayer and Greetings

b)   Motivation

      The teacher is going to post pictures of a baby and puppies on the left side of the board. On the right side of the board, pictures of a bone and a bottle of milk will be posted. The pictures on the left side (baby and puppies) will be the consumer and the pictures on right side (bone and bottle of milk) will be the consumer’s proper food.

      The students are expected to identify the proper food for the puppies which is the bone and baby which is the milk.

Teacher’s activities                                                                  Students’ responses

·         Do you agree that milk is good for the baby?                        Yes teacher!

·         Very good, do you agree that milk is good

                   for the puppies?      

·         Very good, do you agree that bones                                       Yes Teacher!

                   is good for the dogs?

·         Since the milk is good for the baby                             No, because baby cannot

                  and the puppies, do you think bones                    get the proper nutrition                          also for babies?                                                        by eating bones is good                                                                                                            for puppies not for                                                                                                                      baby.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

·         Precisely, bones doesn’t fit to the needs                   

                  of the baby ,do you agree?                                                 Yes teacher!

·         Therefore there is always an appropriate

food for every creature. Baby drinks milk

while puppies eat the bone for them to grow healthy.

c)    Presentation of the topic

 Like the need of the baby and the puppies of proper food, language particularly the subject and verb must agree with each other. This is for the purpose of clear and better communication. Today we will be discussing about subject-verb agreement and we will be learning some of the rules to make our verb agree with our subjects.

d)   Proper discussion

The subject and verb must agree in number: both must be singular, or both must be plural.

Notice the difference between singular and plural forms in the following examples:

a)    The baby drinks the milk

b)    The babies drink the milk

In order to find out if our subject and verb agree, there is a need to identify the subject of our sentence. In Sample (a), the subject is singular therefore our verb is singular. In sample (b), our subject is plural therefore our verb is plural. Notice the difference in the formation of subject from singular to plural compared to the formation of verb from singular to plural. When we transform our subject into plural we usually add s or es but in verb, adding s makes the verb singular.

v  General Rule of Subject-Verb Agreement

Singular subjects requires singular verb and plural subjects requires plural subjects.

Additional Rules

1.    If subjects are joined by and, they are considered plural.

Example: The quarterback and the coach are having a conference.

2.    If subjects are joined by or or nor, the verb should agree with the closer subject.

Example: Either the baby or the puppies drink milk.

3.    The relative pronouns (who, whom, which, and that) are either singular or plural, depending on the words they refer to.

Example: The sales manager is a good researcher who spends a great amount of time surfing the Web for information.

4.    Indefinite pronouns (someone, somebody, each, either one, everyone, or anyone) are considered singular and need singular verbs although they convey plural meaning.

Example: Anyone who wants to pursue higher education has to pass entrance exams.

5.    A few subjects look plural but are really singular or vice versa.

Example: The news of the discovery is spreading.

6.    Expressions stating amount of time, money, weight, volume are plural in form but take a singular verb as in:

                              Example: Two hundred dollars is a lot of money.

e)    Enrichment

Things to remember in subject- verb agreement

a)   The trick is to know whether the subject is singular or plural.

b)   The next trick is to recognize whether the verb is singular or plural

V.           Evaluation

Direction: Underline the correct verb inside the parenthesis to make the statement                                 correct. Identify the subject and determine whether it is in singular or plural.

      Example: The survey covering seven colleges (reveal, reveals) a growth in                                         enrollment.

                         Subject: the survey       Form: Singular

1.    My sister and brother (lives. live) in Berlin.

2.    Either the man or his friends (knows, know) the answer.

3.    Three weeks (is, are) a long time.

4.    Lisa is one of the students who (has, have) passed with an A.  

5.    Each student and teacher (was, were) aware of the difficulty.

6.     A car and a bike (is, are) my means of transportation.

7.    My aunt or my uncle (is, are) arriving at the airport.

8.    Neither Jenny nor the others (is, are) available.

9.    The serving bowl or the plates (go, goes) on that shelf.

10. Each of the students (read, reads) well.

11. Five years (is, are) the maximum sentence for that offense.

12. Salma is the scientist who (write, writes) he reports.

13. He is one of the men who (do, does) the work.

14. Mathematics (is, are) my favorite subjects.

15. Mumps (is, are) a viral disease.