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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
In this section, the researcher provides some possible subjects in English, since students possibly use various subjects in their writing. From the subject, the
researcher is expected to know whether it is singular or plural.
a. Pronoun 1 Personal Pronouns
According to Lester 1990, personal pronouns have many different forms based on three factors p. 24. The first factor is person. In person, there are first
person, second person, and third person. The first person is a person who is speaking I, we. The second person is a person being spoken to you. The third
person is somebody or something we are talking about she, he, it, they. The
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second factor is number. In this factor it can be singular or plural. Table 2.3. is the
pairs of singular and plural.
Table 2.3: The Modal Auxiliaries Lester, 1990, p. 25 Singular
Plural First person
I me
we us
Subject Object
Second person
you you
you you
Subject Object
Third person
he, she, it him, her, it
they them
Subject Object
The third factor is form. In this factor there are subject, object, and possessive. However, since this research deals with subject-verb agreement, the
researcher would discuss the subject only. According to Lester 1990, subject refers to pronouns used as the subject of sentence, such as I, you, he, she, it, we,
they.
2 Demonstrative Pronouns
Greenbaum 1990 states that there are four demonstrative pronouns that are commonly used p. 131. The demonstrative pronoun this and that can be used
for singular, while these and those are plural. [23] This is your book.
[24] That is your pencil. [25] These are her shirts.
[26] Those are our chairs.
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In addition, Lester 1990 states that the demonstrative pronouns could also be used as modifying adjectives, for example:
[27] I wanted to buy this book. [28] I wanted to buy this.
This in sentence [27] is an adjective modifying book, while in sentence [28] this is pure demonstrative pronoun.
3 Indefinite Pronouns
The following are indefinite pronouns that are composed of any, every, no, and some which are followed by –body, -one, and –thing Lester, 1990, p. 28.
Table 2.4: Indefinite Pronouns followed by –body, -one, and –thing Lester, 1990, p. 28 -body
-one -thing
any anybody
anyone anything
every everybody
everyone everything
no nobody
no one nothing
some somebody
someone something
Lester 1990 adds that everybody, everyone, and everything have a collective meaning, but they are actually singular in grammatical use. For some
beginners, they would think that these pronouns are plural p. 28. The example can be seen as follows.
[29] Everybody in school were there. Lester 1990 also mentions that they are indefinite pronouns that are commonly
used.
Table 2.5: Common Indefinite Pronouns Lester, 1990, p. 28
All Another
Both Each
Either Few
Many More
Most Much
Neither none
One Other
Several Some
Such
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b. Noun 1 Proper Nouns
