Concord of Person Subject and Verb Agreement

17 Besides, Langan 1996 adds if subjects in a sentence are joined by and, they would be followed by a plural verb p. 340. The examples are: [14] Desya, Clarina, and Rio are very smart students in the class. [15] The shirt, the skirt, and the hat are new. In addition, Greenbaum 1989 states if and is not present in a sentence, the subject is still decided as plural p. 211. [16] Desya, Clarina, Rio are very smart students in the class. [17] The shirt, the skirt, the hat are new. However, Greenbaum 1989 also states if the noun phrases are introduced by every or each, the subjects are considered singular p. 211. [18] Every man and every woman has the same right. [19] Each girl and each boy in the seventh-grade is a great student.

b. Concord of Person

According to Leech and Svartvik 1994, in the present tense there are three be as the form, they are I am I am a student, HeSheIt is She is very beautiful, WeYouThey are You are a dentist p. 264. In a sentence, be form is not only has the present tense form, but also it has eight different forms in common. They are am, is, are, was, were, being, and been. These be forms are used in every sentence based on the tense that is used. Leech and Svartvik made a table that would help students to learn easily. In the table 2.1. below shows the forms of be which is proposed by Leech and Svartvik 1994. 18 Table 2.1: The Forms of Be Leech Svartvik, 1994, p. 243 Non-negative Uncontracted negative Contracted negative Base be Present 1 st person singular 3 rd person singular 2 nd person singular and all persons plural am, ‘m is, ‘s are, ‘re am not, ‘m not is not, ‘s not are not, ‘re not ain’t isn’t aren’t Past 1 st and 3 rd person singular 2 nd person singular and plural 1 st and 3 rd person plural was were were was not were not were not wasn’t weren’t weren’t -ing form being not being -ed form been Then, according to Leech and Svartvik 1994, main verbs have only two forms in the present tense p. 264, for example, [20] Hesheour friend etc. likes cooking [21] Iyouwetheyour friends etc. like cooking Sentence [20] shows the 3 rd person singular subject, while sentence [21] does not show the 3 rd person singular subject. Leech and Svartvik 1994 also add that modal auxiliaries only have one form p. 264. It means that modal auxiliaries cannot be added by –s form, -ing form, or –ed participle, for example, [22] Iweyouhesheour friendour friends etc. will cook dinner today. 19 For modals can, may, shall, and will have a special past forms could, might, should, and would. While the others must, dare, need, ought to, used to do not have any forms. The table 2.2. below is the examples of modal auxiliaries. Table 2.2: The Modal Auxiliaries Leech Svartvik, 1994, p. 244 Non-negative Uncontracted negative Contracted negative Can could may might shall should will, ‘ll would, ‘d must ought to used to c need c dare c Cannot, can not Could not May not Might not Shall not Should not Will not, ‘ll not Would not, ‘d not Must not Ought not to Used not to Need not Dare not Can’t Couldn’t mayn’t a Mightn’t Shan’t b Shouldn’t Won’t Wouldn’t Mustn’t Oughtn’t to Didn’t used to, usedn’t to Needn’t Daren’t a mayn’t is rare b shan’t is rare, especially in American English c used to, need, and dare as auxiliaries are rare in all forms

3. Subject in English