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2.4.1. Subject Verb Agreement
Azar1999:10,Subject-verbagreementmeans thatthesubjectandverb
endingsagreeinnumber.Determining singularorpluralendingscanbeconfusing
becausean-sendingonanounindicatesplural,whereasan-sendingonaverb indicates
singular form.For examples: -Thedog barkseverynight. Onedog=singular verb
-Thedogsbark everynight. More than onedog=pluralverb Thesubjectofevery
sentenceiseithersingularorplural,andthat determinestheendingof theverb.
-SINGULAR: -I chew.You laugh.Waterdrips. Timeflies. Hesings.
-Themansittingon thesteps worksin thelibrary. -PLURAL:
-Weknow. Theystretch. Thestampsstick. -Themen sittingon thesteps work in thelibrary.
-COMPOUNDSUBJECTS
Subjectsjoined byand takeapluralverb.For example: -Myaunt and mysistervisit me every year.
Whenthesubjectwordsarejoinedby either... or,neither...nor,ornot only. . . but,theverbagrees with thesubjectclosest to it.For examples:
-Either her brothersor herfather hasthemoney. -Neither her mother nor her sistershave the money.
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-BURIEDSUBJECTS
Whenwordgroupsseparatethesubjectandtheverb,locatethesubject word to determinewhether to useasingular or pluralverb.For examples:
-The tulipsin thepoton thebalconyneed watering. -High levelsof air pollutioncausedamageto therespiratorytract.
-Everyonein our family, includingmysister, hastaken pianolessons. Phrasesstartingwith thefollowingwordsare normallynot part of the
subject:including,alongwith,togetherwith,accompaniedby,inadditionto,as wellas, except, with, no lessthan.
-CLAUSES ANDPHRASESASSUBJECTS
Whenawholeclauseorphraseisthesubject,useasingularverb.For examples: -WhatI want to know is whyIcant trythetest again.
-To livehappilyseemslikeaworthwhilegoal. Whenwho,which,andthatareusedasasubject,theverbagreeswiththe word
thatwho, which,orthatrefersto.Forexamples: -Theyare thestudentswho studyhard.
-He isthestudentwho studiesthehardest. -Thepeople in my classwho arestudyinghard do a lotof extrareading.
-Thestudent in my classwho is sitting inthe corner doesa lotof reading.
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-SUBJECTSAFTERVERBS
Whenasentencebegins with
thereplus aformofbethereis, thereare,
therewas,ortherewere,thesubjectalwaysfollowstheverb.Theverbagrees with this
subject.For examples:
-There isagood movieon TVtonight. -Therearetoo manyold movieson TV.
Ifthenormalorderofverbfollowingsubjectis reversed,theverbagrees with
thesubjectitfollows.For example: -At theback of theroom arethreewindowsand a doorto theoffice.
-SUBJECTSWITHSINGULARVERBS
Somewords thatseemtohavepluralmeanings
takeasingular verb:anybody,anyone,each,either,
every,everybody,everyone,everything, neither,none, no one, nobody, somebody, someone, something.In additition, the
following wordsareconsideredassingular:-ing forms;somenounsending
in-s, suchas news,physics,measles,politics,series;andsubjectclauses beginning with
what. Collectivenouns
suchas jury,committee,club,audience,crowd,class,
team,troop,family,andcoupleareusually treatedassingular.Whenthesubjectis
an amount, theverb is singular.
-Twenty-five centsisone-fourth of adollar. When oneofisfollowed byapluralnoun,theverb is singular.
-Oneof her sonshelpsin thestore.
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Titles, companynames, and wordsused asterms, usesingularverbs.
2.4.2. SingularPlural
A singular noun refersto1oneonly;apluralnoun refersto2twoor
more.There are two thingsto note aboutsingular and pluralnouns. Thefirst isthat theychangetheirformdependingonwhethertheyaresingularorplural.Every
change isnot alwaysthesamebecauseEnglish hasitsformulated rules:
-REGULAR NOUNS Mostsingular nounsform thepluralbyadding-s.For examples:
Singular Plural
boat boats
house houses
cat cats
river rivers
Asingularnounendingin s,x,z,ch,sh makesthepluralbyadding-es. For
examples:
Singular Plural
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Singular Plural
bus buses
wish wishes
pitch pitches
box boxes
Asingularnounendinginaconsonantandthenymakesthepluralby droppingtheyand adding-ies.For examples:
Singular Plural
penny pennies
spy spies
baby babies
city cities
daisy daisies
-IRREGULAR NOUNS
There aresomeirregular noun plurals.theseare the examples:
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Singular Plural
woman women
man men
child children
tooth teeth
foot feet
Somenounshavethesameforminthesingularandtheplural.Theseare someof thewords:
Singular Plural
sheep sheep
fish fish
deer deer
species species
aircraft aircraft
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-IRREGULAR VERBNOUNAGREEMENT
Somenounshaveapluralformbuttakeasingular verb.Look at thebelow someof thewords:
PluralNounsUsed witha Singular
Verb Sentence
News Thenewsisat6.30 p.m.
athletics Athleticsisgood foryoungpeople.
linguistics Linguisticsisthestudyof language.
Darts Dartsisapopular gamein England.
billiards Billiardsisplayed allover theworld.
Somenounshaveafixedpluralformandtakeapluralverb.They arenot
usedinthesingular,orthey haveadifferentmeaninginthesingular.Nounslike this
include:trousers, jeans, glasses, savings, thanks, steps, stairs, customs, congratulations, tropics, wages, spectacles, outskirts, goods, wits.
PluralNounwithPlural Verb
Sentence
trousers Mytrousersare too tight.
Jeans Her jeansareblack.
glasses Thoseglassesarehis.
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2.4.3. ToInfinitive
Theinfinitiveisagrammar termthatreferstoabasicverbformthatoften
actsasanounandisoftenprecededby thewordto”
www.yourdictionary.cominfinitive.Thesearetherulesofuse‘toinfinitive’ verb in sentence.
-Verbfollowedwith‘ToInfinitive’
There aresomeverbs that mustbefollowedwith‘toinfinitive’.For examples: -Theyintended to renovate their house.
-Shepretendsto besick. Theresomeverbsmustbefollowedwithobjectandthen‘toinfinitive’.
For examples:
-Hewantsme to leavehimalone. -Heforced usto do hishomework.
-‘ToInfinitive’ UsedafterNounandAdjective
Whensentenceismade,notewhetheritisnounoradjective,‘toinfinitive’ verbmustbe applied. For examples:
-The tree istoo highto climb. -Heneedsaknifeto cutthecake.
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-‘ToInfinitive’ Usedafter QuestionWordsin NounClause
NounClauseisasubordinateclauseinordertomakethesentenceoften usequestion words.For examples:
-Idon’tknowwhereto go. -He learned how to fixcarsfromhisfather.
2.4.4. PassiveVoice
Typically, therearetwokinds ofsentence,activeandpassivesentence.
Activesentenceis usedwhen thefocus is onsubjectbutpassivesentenceis used whenthefocusison theaction. Itisnotimportantornotknown,however,whoor what
isperformingtheaction .
In English,each timesomeonewantsto usepassive sentence, pastparticipleverband‘to be’mustbeapplied.Theuseof‘tobe’ depends onused tense.
This thepattern must be followed to make passive sentence:“Subject+finite formofto be+Past Participle”. For examples:
-Active: We clean thehouseeveryday. Passive:Thehouse iscleaned byusevery day
.
-Active:Theywillfinish thereportsoon. Passive:Thereportwillbefinished bythem.
2.4.5. Formsof Adjective
AdjectiveisThepartofspeech or wordclassthatmodifiesanoun or a pronoun. In English, there are three forms of adjective, namely: PositiveNegative
Degree, Comparative Degree, and Superlative
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Degree.PositiveNegativeDegreeisused toindicate likeor unlike.Thisisthe pattern: “SubjectPronoun+tobe+ asadjectiveas+ObjectPronoun”.For examples:
-Mybrother isas strongasmyfather. -Iamnot asbeautiful asmymother.
ComparativeDegreeisaformused tocompareanatureof twothingswhere one ismore than theother one.For examples:
-Myfather is smarter than mybrother. -Sisca ismorediligent than Rebecca.
ForComparativeDegree,onething mustbenoticed,if theadjectiveisone- syllable, at the end of its word mustbe added ‘er’.For examples:
-My shoesischeaper than his shoes. -Andiworksharder than Clark.
Andifanadjectiveconsistsoftwo-syllablesanditisendedwith‘le’,‘ow’, ‘er’,‘some’,and‘y’,addedwith‘er’.For‘y’,itmustbedroppedandaddedwith
‘ier’.For examples: -Mycoffee isbitterer than hiscoffee
-Ryan isnaughtier than Bobby. Thesametreatmentwillbeapplied to SuperlativeDegreebut thedifferent is one-
syllabeaddedwith‘est’andifitswordisendedwith: ‘le’,‘ow’,‘er’,‘some’, and‘y’,addedwith‘est’butnotfor‘y’,itmustbedropped and addedwith ‘iest’. For
examples: -She istherichest in thisvillage.
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-Jane isthe mostbeautifulgirl in ourclass. -Andre isthehappiestperson intheworld.
2.4.6. Redundancy
Johnson2001:56saysthat:“Redundancyortautologyistheaddingof wordsorphrasesthataddnothingtotheoverallmeaningbecausetheirsenses
havealreadybeen expressed”.From thestatement, it can besaid thatredundancy incorrect.For examples:
-Incorrect :Thenew innovationsattheWorld’sFair werefascinating.
-Correct :The innovationsat theWorld’sFair werefascinating.
-Incorrect :The moneyIhave issufficient enough formyneeds.
-Correct :The moneyIhave issufficientfor myneeds.
2.4.7. Preposition
Prepositionisapartofspeechgoverning,andusually precedinganounor pronounandexpressing arelation
toanotherwordor element
inthe clause.
Prepositionhasmany functionsandtypesinsentences,sointhisthesis,thewriter isgoingtoanalyzeprepositionoftimeandplace.Inindicatingtimeandplace,
therearefiveprepositionsused,they are:at,in,on,for,andsince.Tablebelow
will explain usageof thoseprepositions:
Preposition Time
At 1.Timeof Clock.
-at5 o’clock.
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2.Short and PreciseTime. -atnoon, atsunset.
1.Month or Year. -in January, in 1945.
2.Particulartime of day, month,or In
year. -in morning, in summer.
3.Specifictime in past,century, or etc. -in 21st century, in past.
1.Day. -on Monday.
On 2.Date.
-on 5th of March, on March 5. 3.ParticularDay.
-onIndependenceDay. For
1.Duration of Time. -for two hours.
Since 1.Fromacertainpointoftimepast- now.
-sinceyesterday.
Preposition Place
At 1.Used for Confined Place.
-athome, at thiscollege, at theschool In
1.Place Having
some Boundary
Physicalor VirtualBoundary.
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-inAmerica,inabuilding,ingarden, etc. On
.Surfaceof Soething. -at the entrance,atfrontofchair,etc.
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2.4.8. ParallelismStructure
Richard2006:259Parallelismissimilarity ofstructureinapairorseries ofrelatedwords,phrases,orclauses.Parallelismsentenceorstructureiswords
usedtodescribeorindicatesomething wherepartsofspeechmustbethesame,in
ordertoconnectit,usingconjunctionandtheconjunctionhasbeenformulated. These
aretheformulas:
Parallelism Examples
-Notonly But also
-Both And
- And
-She isnot only beautiful but also smart.
-He isboth a guitaristand a vocalist. -My sisterdecides to study and to work
neither nor
-Neither mybrother nor my sisters loveplayingchesslike me.
verbaux N1
N2 +
either or
-Either theworkers or the system needsto beimproved.
Verb, determined byN2
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2.4.9. MissplacedWord
Grammarconductslanguageusertoconstructanappropriatesentenceto deliverhismeaningtoothers.Themeaningwillneversendcorrectly ifword arrangement
isincorrector calledit
missplaced word.Missplacedword
isaword, phrase,orclausethatdoesnotclearlyrelatetowhatitisintendedtomodify. These aresome
examplesof missplaced words: -Incorrect
:Andrewtoldusaftertheholidaythatheintendstostop drinking. -Correct
:Andrewtoldusthatheintendstostopdrinkingafterthe holiday. -Incorrect
:Jack can hearJillwhen shewhispersclearly. -Correct
:Jack canclearlyhear Jillwhen shewhispers.
2.5. TheImpact ofGrammaticalErrorinEssay
Theexistenceofgrammarincommunicatingactivity,tohelppeopleso thatthesharingactivity
canrunfluently andasaresult,everygoalwouldliketo
achievecanaccomplish.Unfortunately,eventhoughlanguageiscommonthing forpeople,communicationismissedsincetheydonotusetherightstructure.
AfterelaboratingfewpartofEnglishgrammar,thewriterwouldliketoexposeif
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grammarisnotappliedtotellordescribesomethinginessay.Thewriterhas collected somedatas which informpeopleif grammaticalerror in writing.
-Grammatical errorcan cause intended meaningdistorted. -Grammatical error will change the meaning.
-Grammaticalerrormakesthemeaningishighlyunlikelyorcompletely ridiculous.
-Grammatical errorcausesreadersdifficult to understand. -Grammaticalerrorcausesthesentenceseemawkwardanddoesnotmake sense.
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