Subject-verb agreement is an important aspect of grammar that ensures sentences are grammatically correct and easy to understand. A subject-verb disagreement occurs when the subject and verb in a sentence do not agree in number. This can lead to confusion, making the sentence difficult to read and understand.
A simple example of a subject-verb disagreement is: “The dog barks loudly”. In this sentence, “dog” is the subject and “barks” is the verb. The subject and verb are in agreement because they are both singular. However, if we were to change the subject to “dogs”, we would have a disagreement: “The dogs barks loudly”. The correct verb form for “dogs” is “bark”, which is plural. Therefore, the correct sentence should be “The dogs bark loudly”.
Another example is: “The group of students was having a party”. In this sentence, “group” is the subject, and “was having” is the verb. Again, subject and verb are in agreement because “group” is singular. However, if we change the subject to “students”, we create a disagreement: “The group of students were having a party”. The verb “were having” is plural, while the subject “group” is singular. Therefore, the correct sentence should be “The groups of students was having a party”.
Subject-verb disagreement can also occur in compound subjects and indefinite pronouns. Compound subjects are two or more subjects joined by a conjunction (and, or). In this case, the verb must agree with the number of the subject closest to it. For example, “The cat and the dog play together” is correct because both “cat” and “dog” are singular. However, “The cat and the dogs play together” is incorrect because “dogs” is plural, while “cat” is singular. The correct sentence would be “The cat and the dog play together”.
Indefinite pronouns, such as “everyone”, “anyone”, “someone”, and “nobody”, can also lead to subject-verb disagreements. These pronouns are singular and require a singular verb. For example, “Everyone is responsible for their own actions” is correct because “everyone” is singular. However, “Everyone are responsible for their own actions” is incorrect because “are” is plural, while “everyone” is singular. The correct sentence would be “Everyone is responsible for their own actions”.
In conclusion, subject-verb agreement is an essential aspect of grammar. It ensures that sentences are grammatically correct and easy to understand. A subject-verb disagreement occurs when the subject and verb do not agree in number. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to the number of the subject and choose the appropriate verb form to avoid misunderstandings.