Feb 06, 2014 subject verb agreement rules and tricky scenarios english grammar lesson duration. The subject and verb of every clause independent or dependent, however, must agree in person and number. English exercise collective nouns and animals created by greg100 with the test builder. How do you tell if a collective noun is singular or plural. This is because we often think of the group as people. Once you identify the subject and the verb, you can then determine such agreement of the subject and the verb. Collective nouns exercise english practice learn and. Collective nouns are words used to describe a group of. Where nouns are used to name things, places and people, collective nouns are used to name groups of things, places and people. Subjectverb agreement english grammar learn english. Collective nouns verb agreement worksheets printable.
F ami l y i s a singl e uni t the collective noun has a pl ural meani ng when one want s t o show t hat each i ndi vidual member of the group act s as an i ndi vidual. In the present tense, third person, use verbs ending in s with singular subjects. If it refers to the individuals in the group or the parts that make up the group, then the verb should be plural. Once you identify the subject and the verb, you can then determine such agreement of the subject. In american english, these nouns are typically singular, but sometimes they can be plural if youre referring to the individuals in the group rather than the. A collective noun is a name for a group of people or things such as family, class, pack, bouquet, pair, and flock. For purposes of agreement, collective nouns can be singular or plural, depending on how they are used in a sentence. After that, see what youve learned being used in real life situations and conversations full of subject verb agreement dialogue. Collective nouns generally, use a singular verb form with a collective noun like class, government, family, jury, committee, group, couple or team. Syntactic and semantic definitions for collective nouns have been suggested. What verbs and pronouns do you use with the collective noun. Because team refers to several individual members in this case, it is a plural noun, and therefore requires the plural verb are as a result. Worksheets printable exercises, handouts to print pdf. In linguistics, a collective noun is a collection of things taken as a whole.
They are plural in number if they refer to more than one thing. Showing top 8 worksheets in the category collective nouns verb agreement. Now that you have learned how to use collective nouns, try and invent some of your own. Make the verb agree with its subject, not with the word in between high levels of pollution cause damage to the respiratory tract the subject is levels, not pollution 2. The verb has to agree with the subject in number and person. The noisy students have, has to leave after two warnings. Does a singular collective noun take a singular or plural verb. A quiz on subject verb agreement with collective nouns. After learning the basic fundamentals of subjectverb agreement, read and understand these special rules and after some practice, forming correct sentences will be easy. In british english, most collective nouns can have a singular or plural verb. A collection of english esl subject and verb agreement worksheets for home learning, online practice, distance learning and english classes to teach about.
When a word refers to more than one, it is plural in number. Pdf changes in subjectverb agreement with collective nouns in. Anyone who uses a plural verb with a collective noun must take care to be accurateand also consistent. Module moduleid, moduletitle collective nouns name a group, so it can be difficult to tell whether to use a singular or plural verb.
Jun 05, 2017 group, for example, is a collective noun. A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. A quiz on subjectverb agreement with collective nouns. Use a singular verb when the members of the group are acting together as a unit. A verb is used to describe an action, state or occurrence. So let me give you an example of what it would look. The use of the plural pronoun their in pop quiz question no. The subject verb agreement grammar lesson has a full online video lecture and lesson with guided instruction. The answers follow our pdf worksheet below, which you can download and. Complete the following sentences using a verb form that agrees with the subject. A collective noun is a special noun that names a group of people or things. Grammar rules for using collective nouns there is one grammar rule, however, that is clear.
You have two ways that you can compose the sentence without causing an agreement error. But it can sometimes be difficult to decide if your collective noun is singular or plural. Get feedback on grammar, structure, vocabulary and more. Collective nouns take a singular verb when the noun is referring to a unit. If you are looking for a quiz in subject verb agreement, here are two. Basic noun verb agreement nouns and verbs need to agree on number. Subject and verb agreement quiz 1 subject and verb agreement quiz 2. Most collective nouns in everyday speech are not specific to one kind of thing, such as the word group, which can be applied to people a group of people or dogs a group of dogs or other things. The col l ect i ve noun has a singul ar meani ng when one speaks about a group as a unit. Start is a plural verb, and their is a plural pronoun. When the collective noun is followed immediately by a verb, the noun is treated as singular.
This is because we often think of the group as people, doing things that people do eating, wanting, feeling etc. Subject verb agreement nova southeastern university. In this english lesson, youre going to learn a few more advanced cases of subject verb agreement that confuse many learners. Subject verb agreement agreement is a basic rule of grammar. Occasionally, a collective noun is treated as plural to draw attention to. In this sentence, the collective noun ensemble refers to the individuals that make up the group. Collective nouns are words used to describe a group of nouns.
Nouns english grammar noun with definition nouns and. Many students have troubles with collective nouns and subject verb agreement. Subjectverb agreement and special subjects a collective noun names a group see lesson 1, pp. Collective nouns usually take a singular verb, because they are singular in construction, but they sometimes take a plural verb. See details below for subject verb agreement rules with examples. Use this interactive quiz and worksheet before, during, or after the lesson to cement your knowledge.
Subjects and verbs must agree with one another in number singular or plural. Quirk et al 1985 take collective nouns to be those that can co. Subjectverb agreement students flinders university. Subjectverb agreement worksheet quiz best ged classes. English esl subject and verb agreement worksheets most. The team and staff in your four sentences each appear to be acting as a unit. This worksheet focusing on jobs vocabulary can either be used as an individual or team reading exercise page 1 or as a team game page. Use correct verbs and pronouns with collective nouns. When using collective nouns, writers occasionally face questions of subject verb agreement and pronoun agreement. The longest of the presentations is, are the next group. The collective nouns are descriptive words such as pride, fleet, gaggle, covey, cluster, pack, mischief and many more. Collective nouns are singular, so they must be paired with singular verbs. Invent a creative collective noun for each of the nouns below, and then write a sentence to show the. For example, 52 cards would be known as a deck of cards.
She is the only one of the students who have, has failed the test. In each sentence, circle the correct form of the verb or verb phrase from the choices in parentheses. Aug 10, 2010 percentages are expressed in numerals except when they occur at the beginning of a sentence. English exercise collective nouns created by carlabice47 with the test builder. A common mistake in sv agreement is to assume that present tense verbs ending in s ex. Others are singular in meaning because, like collective nouns, they name singular units.
This test is linked to the entry on collective nouns in grammar monster s glossary. The following sentences do not make sense because the nouns and their verbs do not agree in number. When a word refers to one person or thing, it is singular in number. Understand that a gerund is derived from a verb but functions as a noun. Subject and verb agreement with collective nouns world. Each of these sentences contains a collective noun.
If the sentence indicates more individuality, use a plural verb. The complete subject is a noun phrase, consisting of a noun or nouns. Oct 15, 2012 nouns which are thus used to denote a collection of people or things are called collective nouns. Changes in subjectverb agreement with collective nouns in. As to what verb they will take, theres a difference between british and american english. Here the two nouns together express the same idea and hence we use a singular verb. Subject is the person, place, thing or idea about which we are talking about in the sentence. If these nouns are acting as a unit, use a singular verb. That is, the verb must be singular if its subject is singular, and plural if its subject is plural. Basic nounverb agreement online writing center suny. English esl collective nouns worksheets most downloaded. Two or more singular nouns connected by and usually take a plural verb. Download as doc, pdf, txt or read online from scribd.
A collection of english esl worksheets for home learning, online practice, distance learning and english classes to teach about collective, nouns, collective. When the subject of a sentence is a collective noun, a noun that stands for a group, like. Subject verb agreement with gerunds toefl resources. Pdf agreement with collective nouns in english magnus levin. It is plural when it refers to individual members of a group. In this example, team is a collective noun used to represent a group or cluster of people playing together. Because people behave as both herd animals and solitary creatures, collective nouns can be either singular or plural, depending on context. They are singular in number if they refer to one thing. May 17, 2019 collective nouns singular nouns that refer to more than one being or thing arent consistently treated as either singular or plural in spanish. Students who want to check their understanding of subject verb agreement with uncommon nouns and pronouns can use this quiz and worksheet. After learning the basic fundamentals of subject verb agreement, read and understand these special rules and after some practice, forming correct sentences will be easy. These subject verb agreement exercises with answers cover simple subjects. Following is a list of rules and examples to help guide.
Subjects and verbs must agree in person and number. Choose the correct form of the verb that agrees with the subject. English esl subject and verb agreement worksheets most downloaded 92 results. Legal writers often have to deal with collective nouns, and here are some of the most common. Subject and verb agreement with collective nouns grammar. Some of the worksheets displayed are subject verb agreement, subject verb agreement, agreement of subject and verb, subject verb agreement, subject verb agreement work, packet 6 subject verb agreement, the collective noun, collective nouns are words used. Juul 1975 and crystal 1997 define collective nouns as nouns that can cooccur with a singular or a plural verb. The sentence above describes the fighting that occurs between the individual members of the team. Submit your practice essays for evaluation by the author of this website.
Singular verbs are usually used with nouns that are plural in form but singular in. Syntactic definitions have focused on agreement and partitive constructions. Collective nouns are words that refer to a collection of people, things, animals, insects etc. Crowd, mob, team, flock, herd, army, fleet, jury, family, nation, parliament, committee. Collective nouns may be either singular or plural, depending on their use in the sentence. A12 gramatica da lingua inglesa collective nouns complete the expressions with the following collective nouns. Collective nouns are words that imply more than one person but that are considered singular and take a singular verb, such as group, team, committee, class, and family. We often use singular nouns that refer to groups of people for example. Some rules and then some sentences to practice subject verb agreement. Class is a plural collective noun in this instance.
Decide whether collective nouns are singular or plural. Test your knowledge about collective nouns and the problems they pose. Collective nouns name a group, so it can be difficult to tell whether to use a singular or plural verb. Jane straus is the author of the blue book of grammar and punctuation and developer of. This is a learning quiz because every question has a rule or clue that. Although the students are in the same class, they are beginning their own papers on different sonnets written by shakespeare. Complete the following sentences using a verb form that agrees with the. Test your knowledge about collective nouns proprofs quiz. Subjectverb agreement collective nouns free download as word doc. The rules below will help you avoid subject verb agreement errors.
All of these words are nouns, words that identify the whos, wheres, and whats in language. In american english, most collective nouns take a singular verb. Nov 07, 2018 its important for your subject and your verb to agree, even when a collective noun is used. In a sentence, a collective noun is singular when it names the group as a whole.
Collective nouns used as one unit take a singular verb. Rule 1 when the group acts as a unit, the collective noun. Agreement of subject and verb verbs can change form in tense, person, and number. Do you use a singular or plural verb to match a collective noun such as team or staff. When a collective noun denotes a single group of something whether persons, places or things all acting in unison, it is called a singular collective noun, and its associated verb takes a singular form. Whenever you cannot decide if a collective noun is singular or plural, exercise your options as a writer. Collective nouns are plural when the members of the collective body act as individuals. Worksheets pdf, handouts to print, printable exercises. Subject verb agreement practice mark the appropriate verb choice for each of the following sentences. There are 2 rules to know when using collective nouns so that the nouns and verbs are in agreement. Subject verb agreement and special subjects a collective noun names a group see lesson 1, pp. Subject verb agreement is one of the first things you learn in english class. Collective nouns collective nouns are words used to describe a group of nouns. Complete each sentence by choosing the correct collective noun from the box at the bottom of the page.
Verb to use with a collective noun grammar lessons. Being able to find the right subject and verb will help you correct errors of subject verb agreement. Singular collective nouns singular collective nouns include. You have to think about subject verb agreement when you use collective nouns. A pride of lions sounds more interesting than a group of lions. Fill in the blanks with suitable collective nouns from the list. Interactive exercise here are three randomly selected questions from a larger exercise, which can be edited, printed to create an exercise worksheet, or sent via email to friends or students. Cliffsnotes study guides are written by real teachers and professors, so no matter what youre studying, cliffsnotes can ease your homework headaches and help you score high on exams.
In american english, these nouns are typically singular, but sometimes they can be plural if youre referring to the individuals in the group rather than the group as a whole. If the collective noun refers to the group as a unit, then it takes a singular verb. Unlike with nouns where an s ending signifies plurality, an s ending on a verb actually denotes a singular. Our blog subject and verb agreement with collective nouns states, fractions and percentages, like team and staff, can be either singular or plural depending on. In the following exercise, underline the appropriate verb. Try this fantastic video activity on daily routines. Subject and verb agreement exercise purdue writing lab. Subject verb agreement exercise a singular subject must always be matched with a singular verb, and a plural subject must always be matched with a plural verb. Collective nouns and animals a free english exercise to learn english. Finally, test your knowledge through dozens of examples and exercises with our worksheet pdf. Make the verb agree with its subject, not with the word in between. Packet 6 subject verb agreement all nouns and pronouns have number. Collective nouns some nouns are singular in form but plural in meaning.