ELTeCS_PERU

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1. A method of simplifying subject-verb agreement?" Find previous ELTeCS-L postings at:http://mis.britishc ouncil.org/ archives/ eltecs-l. htmland please visit the ELTeCSwebsite at http://www.britishc ouncil.org/ english/eltecs "Sundaresh Savandhi at sundaresh07@ yahoo.com wrote:Whenever we open a text book of grammar to understand the rules of subject-verb agreement,we are given a list of rules about how the helping verbs -[forms of `to be`-is,am, are , was and were, forms of `to do` - do does and did and forms of `to have` - have has and had ]have to be made to agree with the noun subjects and we are just told that`is`, `am` , `was ` , `does` and `has`are singular, and `are ` and ` were` are plural and the others - `have` `do`, `had` and `did` -can be both singular and plural. But it is difficult to remember which is singular and which plural. We can commit the five forms of `to be` and the three forms of `to do `and `to have` to memory but when it comes to remembering the number and person it is not so easy.So, I wonder if the following can be a simple way to find out which helping verb is singular and which plural and also to which person it belongs .
According to the rule of subject-verb agreement a singular subject requires a singular verb and a plural subject requires a plural verb.The verb also has to agree with the subject in person. If the subject is of 1st person the verb is also of 1st person, if it is 2nd or 3rd person the verb is also of 2nd or 3rd person. Incidentally, we can also find the tense of any of the helping verbs. So we can make very simple sentences using the helping verbs to find out their number and person, as the following sentence: "He is here" .From this sentence and from the rule of subject-verb agreement we can say that `is` is third person singular because `he` is singular, third person and is in the present tense.
From the sentence "I am here" We can see that `am` is singular , first person because `I` is singular , first person and it is also in the present tense.
From the sentence "They are here" We can see that `are` is plural , third person because `they` is third person ,plural . This sentence is also in present tense.
From the sentences, "I was here" and `He was here`,we can see that `was` is singular past tense and that it can belong to both first and third person, whereas from the sentences, ` You were here` and `They were here`, we can see that `were` is third person plural and that it can belong to both second and third person. Similarly,by forming very simple sentences we can also find out the number and person of forms of `to do` and ` to have`.Will this help in simplifying the understanding of subject-verb agreement ?. I also have a way of understanding the three persons of the pronouns. I want to send it after this.Please reply soon.
Thanking you,Yours sincerely,
sundaresh.

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