Present tense
A verb and its subject must agree in number.
Table of Contents
To agree means that if the subject is singular, the verb must be in singular form.
If the subject is plural, the verb form must be plural.
Examples:
The baby cries every morning – Singular
The babies cry every morning – Plural
Rules for subject-verb Agreement
- Singular subject. The man drives a bus.
Add -s or -es to the verb. She teaches in a primary school.
He studies his map.
- Plural subject: The men drive buses.
Do not add -s or –es. They teach in primary schools.
To the verb. We study our maps.
- For I or You. I hate books.
Do not add -s or -es to the verb. You like dogs.
I admire actors.
When a sentence has a compound subject i.e.two subjects joined by and, the plural form of the verb is used.
Examples: John and James work at Navel Supermarket.
The teachers and the students respect one another a lot.
Subject-verb agreement with be and have
The verbs be and have change their forms in special ways in order to agree with their subjects.
Various ways in which be and have change in order to agree with their subjects.
Subject Be Have
Singular subjects:
I
You
He, she, it
Singular Noun
Am, was
Are, were
Is, was
Have, had
Has, had
Plural subjects:
We
You
They
Plural Noun
We, were
Are, were
Have, had
Exercise
Put appropriate Present tense verbs in the blank spaces in the following sentences.
Ensure that the subject agrees with the verb and that the sentence makes sense.
- The dogs _______________ their owners.
- She ______________ at the door.
- They ______________ the road at the Zebra-crossing.
- Many blind people ___________________ dogs as guides.
- We ________________ dogs every day.
- Mark always _______________ his house.
- I often _______________ with June.
- Mr. Mwangi __________________ his aunt in Mombasa.
- He and Jane ________________ next month.
- The directors ______________ the company.
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