12 English Grammar Demystifi ed
Time and Number: Agreement Between Subject
and Verb
In any list of common errors in English, lack of agreement between subject and verb
ranks high. For example:
The berries in my cereal tastes so sweet.To correct an agreement error, you need to identify both the subject and the verb.
Whenever possible, start by identifying the verb. In the example sentence, the verb
is tastes. Then you can ask, what tastes? The berries tastes. Oops! You just found
the error. Berries is a plural subject and the verb must agree with it. Decide which
is correct:
Berries tastes.Berries taste.Of course it is the latter. Later in this chapter, you will have an opportunity to learn
more about this important concept.
In addition, just ahead, you will discover how the times (tenses) of verbs must be
consistent and logical as verbs follow one another. What’s wrong with the
following?
Yesterday, I reprimanded the children when they run into the street.Obviously, yesterday and reprimanded indicate past time, but run is in the present
time. Change run to the past time—ran:
Yesterday, I reprimanded the children when they ran into the street.Written Practice 1-3
In the following paragraphs, check the tenses of all the verbs for consistency of
time. Find the one verb in each paragraph that needs to be corrected.
Paragraph 1
Children are not always happy to play alone. Does that mean that parents have to
devote all their time to playing with their children? No, it didn’t. Certain techniques
work to encourage children to play on their own.