- •1.The sentence. The structural classification. The simple sentence.
- •2.Communicative types of sentences
- •4. Negation
- •3.Modality.Oblique moods in simple sentences.
- •6. Subjects “It” and “There”.
- •7.The noun. Semantic classification.
- •8. The category of number. Irregular plurals.
- •9. The category of number.Singular and plural invariable nouns.
- •10. Agreement of the predicate with the simple subject. Pronouns as subjects.
- •11. Agreement of the predicate with phrasal and homogeneous subjects.
- •12. The case of noun. The use of the genitive case.
- •13. The use of the indefinite and definite articles with countable nouns.
- •14. The use of articles with material nouns.
- •15. The use of articles with abstract nouns .
- •16. The use of articles with names of persons.
- •17. The use of articles with place names.
- •18. The use of articles with nouns in some syntactic function
- •19. Prepositive noun modifiers. Ways of expressing.
- •20. Postpositive noun modifiers. Ways of expression.
- •21. Verb complementation. Intransitive Verbs and Monotransitive
- •22. Verb Complementation. Complex-transitive and delexical
- •23. The predicate. Ditransitive and copular verbs.
- •24. The Object and Complement. Ways of expressing. Types of objects and complements.
- •25. Predicative complexes that function as objects only
- •26. Adverbials. Ways of expressing. Types and Semantic classes.
- •27. Adjective and adverb modifying
- •28. Predicative complexes that function as adverbials only
- •29. Predicative complexes which can be any part of the sentence
- •5) Adverbial modifier
- •30. The compound sentence. Semantic relations between coordinate clauses.
- •31. Complex sentences with nominal clauses.
- •32. Complex sentences with attributive clauses.
- •33.Oblique moods in nominal and appositive clauses.
- •34. Complex sentences with adverbial clauses
- •35. Oblique moods in adverbial clauses.
- •36. Subjunctive II
- •37. The conditional mood
- •38. The suppositional mood and subjunctive I
- •39. Word order. Emphasis. Inversion.
- •40. Making Texts. Cohesion. Discourse.
- •1. The sentence. The structural classification. The simple sentence.
10. Agreement of the predicate with the simple subject. Pronouns as subjects.
Agreement between the subject and the predicate verb refers to the way the verb has a form appropriate to the number and person of the subject. So the first step is to identify the subject of the sentence.
1. If a sentence has a simple subject, we should recall the grammatical characteristics of the word used as the subject. A singular noun-subject is followed by a singular verb, and a plural noun-subject is followed by a plural verb. 2. If a sentence has a phrasal subject expressed by a word with some dependent words or phrases, the form of the verb is predetermined by the grammatical characteristics of the headword. So we should find the head word first, recall its grammatical characteristics and use a corresponding verb form. Many leading members of the opposition party have tried to justify the decision. When the subject is expressed by a prepositional phrase (i.e. a phrase opening with a preposition) or a phrase with a non-finite form of the verb as the head-word, the predicate is always singular. 3. In case the subject is expressed by a predicative complex, a complex subject, the verb is always singular. For him to defend a woman is the matter of honour. , 4. The subject may also be expressed by a subordinate clause, a clausal subject, then the verb tends to be singular in most cases. However, the meaning of the subordinate clause should
be taken into account.
SIMPLE SUBJECT Some nouns are invariable both in form and in number meaning. l. Invariable singular nouns take a singular predicate. Here belong nouns denoting various fluids: water, oil; solids: ice, bread, paper; gases: air, smoke; particles: dirt, grass, hair, rice; abstract notions: advice, evidence, information, 2. Invariable plural nouns take a plural verb. Here belong nouns denoting groups of individuals (nouns of multitude): cattle, clergy, gentry, police; objects consisting of two parts: braces, glasses, pants, scales, scissors, shorts, tongs; some proper nouns: the Hebrides, the Highlands, the Midlands and a miscellaneous group of nouns most of which end in ~s: antics, archives, ashes, belongings+clothes, contents, earnings, goods, outskirts, etc.
• Some nouns ending in -s have the same form for singular and plural meanings which can be understood from the context. These can be used either with the singular or plural verb: crossroads, headquarters, means, series, species, whereabouts, works, etc. • Some nouns with a singular form can take singular or plural meanings in different contexts and are used with a singular or plural verb. These include collective nouns: audience, class, club, college, committee, community, company, crowd, department, electorate, enemy, family, firm, generation, government, group, jury, orchestra, population, press, public, school, staff, team, university, etc. as well as the names of specific organizations.
PRONOUN SUBJECT
1. If the quantity is expressed by a universal pronoun (everybody, everyone, either, everything, each), negative pronoun (nobody, no one, neither), indefinite pronoun (someone, somebody, anybody, anything) or pronominal phrases — the verb is singular. Care should be taken if a phrasal subject has an of-phrase following the pronoun, like in any of, each of, either of, neither of. In formal written English (such as academic writing) a singular verb is preferable1. The subject with the pronoun none can be followed either by a singular (which is considered formal and rarely used) or a plural verb (which is considered regular, though slightly informal).
None of the group have/has come.
2. The pronoun both as well as phrases with it is logically (and grammatically) plural.