GRAMMAR REVIEW: VERBS AND VERBALS (2) BUILDING SUPPORTING SKILLS CAMBRIDGE PREPARATION FOR THE TOEFL® IBT TEST

 

CAMBRIDGE PREPARATION FOR THE TOEFL® IBT TEST BUILDING SUPPORTING SKILLS GRAMMAR REVIEW: VERBS AND VERBALS (2)

 

Subject-verb agreement The subject of a sentence must agree with the verb in person and number: Note the following subject-verb agreement rules: 1 A prepositional phrase does not affect the verb: 2 The following expressions do not affect the verb: 3 Subjects joined by and or both …. and …. Take a plural verb: 4 When several, many, both, and few are used as pronouns, they take a plural verb: 5 When the following phrases are used, the verb agrees with the subject that is closer to the verb in the sentence: 6 The expression a number of (meaning several) is plural. The expression the number of is singular. 7 When a word indicating nationality refers to a language, it is singular. When it refers to the people, it is plural: 8 When clauses, infinitives, or gerunds are used as subjects, they usually take a singular verb: 9 Sometimes a speaker wants to focus on the type of information that is expressed by an adjective. Since an adjective cannot be used in a subject position, the word it is used as the subject: 10 Sometimes a speaker wants to emphasize a noun and its relative clause. The speaker uses it  in the subject position followed by the verb be: 11 Sometimes a speaker wants to say that something exists or wants to mention the presence of something. The word there is used as the subject, and the verb agrees with the noun or noun phrase.   Modals Look at the list of modals below: Modals are always followed by the base form of a verb. Modals have many meanings and cab be used for a variety of purposes.     Active and passive forms An active sentence focuses on the person or thing doing the action. A passive sentence focuses on the person or thing affected by the action: The passive voice is formed by the verb be in the appropriate tense followed by the past participle of the verb.