Agreement
Agreement* is the word for the correct matching of the subject and the verb in a sentence. (Another way to say this is that the subject and verb go together.) English has very few verb endings and the only one that learners really have to worry about is the -s ending in the present simple tense. As an example let's look at the verb to work:
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st person | I work | We work |
| 2nd person | You work | You work |
| 3rd person | He works She works It works | They work |
It can be seen that the -s is needed in the 3rd person singular*. It has to be: My father works in a bank. My mother drinks green tea for breakfast every day. Oil floats on water.
Of course, the same rule applies when the 3rd person subject is a pronoun. So you have to say: He works in a bank. She drinks green tea for breakfast every day. It floats on water.
You also need to remember the -s in sentences with relative pronouns. So, for example, it must be: Do you know the man who lives in the next apartment? A carnivore is an animal that eats other animals. And don't forget the -s when the verb is used as an auxiliary: Does your mother like English food? She has forgotten her homework again.
Learners often make agreement mistakes when the noun is unexpectedly singular or plural. So, for example, everybody, news and data are singular, whereas people,police and jeans are plural:
- Where is everybody going?
- The news was bad.
- The data is too old to be useful.
- The police are looking for the killer.
- Most people want to be rich.
- Your trousers are too tight!
Similar mistakes of agreement occur between such nouns and their pronouns. It has to be:
- Do you want to hear the news? It's very good!
- You need to buy some new jeans. Those are too tight!
- The police? They are never here when you need them.
