EXERCISE 2. IN EACH SENTENCE, UNDERLINE THE CORRECT FORM OF THE VERB.

30. I had never (ate, eaten) chickpeas before yesterday.

Agreement of Subject and Verb

What is agreement?

A verb must agree with its subject in number. That is, if the subject of

a sentence is singular, the verb must also be singular: “The child is

lost.” If the subject is plural, the verb must also be plural: “Your

friends are here.”

SINGULAR

PLURAL

First Person: I enjoy we enjoy

Second Person: you enjoy you enjoy

Third Person: he, she, it enjoys they enjoy

The verb to be, the commonest verb in English, is, unfortunately, irregular. These are

the present tense forms:

First Person: I am we are

Second Person: you are you are

Third Person: he, she, it is they are

These are the past tense forms:

I was we were

you were you were

he, she, it was they were

The important verb to have is worth a look. These are the present tense forms:

First Person: I have we have

Second Person: you have you have

Third Person: he, she, it has they have

I had we had

you had you had

he, she, it had they had

Most native speakers of English tend to use the right form in sentences in which the

verb follows the subject. Here is an example:

A tree stands at the front gate.

In other sentences, subject-verb agreement is not as simple as in the sentence above,

and mistakes are commonly made. Study the following few rules; they will help you avoid

such mistakes.