Subject-Verb Agreement Rules for Seventh Graders

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Rules for Subject-Verb Agreement

·      Nouns joined with  “and” take a plural verb.

·      Singular nouns joined with “or”  or “nor” take a singular verb.

·      When a singular  and a plural noun are joined by “or,”  the one closest to the verb tells you whether the verb is singular or plural. 

·      “Don’t” is plural and “Doesn’t” is singular.

·      If a subject is followed by a prepositional phrase, cross out the prepositional phrase before you decide what the verb should be.  Example:  One of the students (a. is / b. are) absent.

o   Prepositions include  at, by, for, from, in, of , on, to, with and others.

·      Sometimes groups of words beginning with  the words “who. . . ,” “as well as. . .  ,”  or “including. . . . ,” or others come between the subject and the verb.  Cross them out before you decide what the verb should be.

o   Examples:   My aunt, who loves to eat raw tomatoes, (a. grow / b. grows) a huge garden.

§  My aunts and uncles, including  Aunt Hermione, (a. live / b. lives) in Utah.

§  My Aunt Hermione, as well as Uncles Ron and Harry, ((a. live / b. lives)  in Orem. 

·      Some words that end in “s” are singular, such as mathematics, civics, dollars, measles, and news. 

·      Some words that end in “s” are plural, such as scissors, tweezers, shears, and trousers.

·      The words each, each one, either, neither, everyone, everybody, anybody, anyone, nobody, somebody, someone, and no one are singular and require a singular verb.

·      Stop that pen!  Don’t cross out the prepositional phrase if it goes with these words:

o   All, any, half, most, none, and some are plural unless they are followed by a  prepositional phrase with a singular noun. 

§  Most have already been eaten.

§  Most of the pies have already been eaten.

§  Most of the pie has already been eaten.

·      When a sentence begins with “here” or  “there,”  turn the sentence around in your mind so the subject  comes first.   Example:  There (a. was /b. were)  bats living in the ceiling.   Change it to “Bats were living in the ceiling.”

Subject-Verb Agreement

Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentines' Day!

Reminder: Book of the Month Project due this Friday, February 18.

Bell-Ringer:   Problems with Subject-verb Agreement
Problem 1:  I get confused by words that are stuck in between the subject and the verb!
Sometimes an "intervening expression" comes between the subject and the verb.  You need to mark out the "intervening expression" before you check for subject-verb agreement.

Example:
The famous rock star along with his many fans was trying to enter the Energy Solutions Arena.
The famous rock star along with his many fans was trying to enter the Energy Solutions Arena. 
subject: rock star    verb: was 

Now, try it yourself: Cross out the words that come between the subject of the sentence and the verb.  Then circle the verb that agrees with the subject.

1. A young mother with three small children (want, wants) to get on the bus.
subject: _________________   verb:  ____________________

2. The student who brings the most dark chocolate for Ms. Dorsey (receive, receives)  the best grade in the class.  (Just kidding!)
subject: _________________   verb:  ____________________

3. Taylor as well as many other students ( enjoy, enjoys) going to the school dances.
subject: _________________   verb:  ____________________

4. Forty-five teachers at American Fork Junior High including Ms. Dorsey (think, thinks) that school should start later in the morning because teenagers need more sleep.   (This is a made-up statistic.)
subject: _________________   verb:  ____________________


Watch out though, because if the conjunction "and" is used, the in between words become part of the subject.
Example:
The famous rock star and his many fans were trying to enter the Energy Solutions Arena.

subject: rock star and fans   verb:  were

This will go in your composition book, folded over and taped in. 
___________________________________________________


Video: 
A1 from   "I knew help would come, but to be your, Lena, how wonderful" to the end.  Read to the end of the book if you've been absent.


A2  from  Lena after she comes back from Hawk's Hill to end.   Read to the end of the book if you've been absent.


A3 from  Lena at Hawk's Hill , Claudie puts the cow in the barn and runs back into the house, Lena at the fence -- crossing the barbed wire, finds wagon  to the end.
Read to the end of the book if you've been absent.


A4 from  Lena leaving to find her father to the end.
Read to the end of the book if you've been absent.

___________________________________________________

Short Story: "Song of the Trees" by Mildred Taylor -- Theme and comparing with Words By Heart.

Make two charts in your composition book.
One will be titled "Song of the Trees"
Fill it in for 
Setting:     time and place
Characters:
Themes:

On another page, divide the page into three parts:
Title this page Comparing and Contrasting
Label them "Just Words By Heart," "Both," and "Just Song of the Trees."
As you read, fill in the charts.  

A1 to page 35,  2nd column, paragraph 3  (You should have at least 7 characters.)
A2 to  page 35,  2nd column, paragraph 3  (You should have at least 7 characters.)
A3 to page 32, top of 2nd column (You should have at least 6 characters so far.)
A4 to page 31, 2nd column, to "Big Ma's voice drifted. . . . . "


Fill in the charts as you listen to and read (in class) "Song of the Trees"  or, if you were absent,  as you read the story.  You could do this during Cave Time.

Reminder:  I'm concerned for many of you who don't seem to have started on your January/February book project which is due this Friday!   
     See the tab above for Book-of-the-Month. 

See an example of a student who is working on his project at http://a2cavemen2011.pbworks.com/w/page/35264438/Adam-P-Historical-Fiction 

http://a3cavemen2011.pbworks.com/w/page/35267564/Eric-F-Historical-Fiction 

 This student has finished her project! She has earned extra credit.

http://a4cavemen2011.pbworks.com/w/page/35268843/Alicia-J-Historical-Fiction

Subject-Verb Agreement

Here's a great place to go for an explanation of Subject-Verb Agreement:
http://www.towson.edu/ows/moduleSVAGR.htm

Here's another way to look at it. This one includes quizzes to check your understanding.
You could print a quiz and take it our visa-versa. Turn it in for extra credit.
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/sv_agr.htm

And another --
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/esl/eslsubverb.html

And another quiz -- (This could also be for extra credit. It's easier than the quizzes above.
http://www.eslcafe.com/quiz/sva1.html


This very clever cartoon is from www.andertoons.com.

Originally posted 5/19/11.  Reposted 2-7-11. 

Antarctica Subject-Verb Agreement Exercise

Answer:

Answer:

Key for Antarctic Subject-Verb Agreement  

                                                                                                                                                                           is                                                                                               is

       There 1. are a place on earth where few creatures can survive.  The land 2. are covered with ice and

                                         are

 snow, and temperatures 3. is far below freezing for most of the year.   Beyond the warm lands of South

                                                                     lie

America, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand 4. lies the cold waters of the Antarctic Ocean.  If all the ice

                          cover                       were

 and snow that 5. covers Antarctica 6. was to melt, the world's seas would rise about 250 feet.

                                             inhabit                                  are

     The only creatures that 7. inhabits Antarctica's interior 8. is insects.  However, thousands of penguins

     live

9. lives on the continent's frozen coasts.  Skuas, which you might remember from the movie Happy Feet,

     are                                                                                              live      

10. is probably the penguins' worst enemy.  Whales and seals also 11. lives in the waters surrounding the

                                                                                   are

continent.    Most of the people who live in Antarctic  12. is scientists.

Subject-Verb Agreement

This very clever cartoon is from www.andertoons.com.

We will take a test on subject-verb agreement on May 20/21.

May 6/7, 2010

May 6/7, 2010
 

Self-Starter for “Three Skeleton Key” by George C. Toudouze

Step 1.  Look at the title and illustration on page 65.

Step 2.  Silently read page 64.

Step 3.  Do the quickwrite on page 64.   Write it in your composition book.

Step 4.  Exercise for subject-verb agreement:  Copy the following sentences into your composition book,  and then make needed corrections:  (Do not change verb tense.)

1)  There is also magical creatures.

2) The characters was another thing I liked. 

3)  Each of the characters are completely different.  

4) They decides to go to the new candy store that just opened down the street form there school.

Note:  B1, A1, A4 still need to do similes from "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi."] 
A1 did not do figurative language yet.  B1, A1 did not start "I Know Three Skeleton Key."

   

Step 5a.  In your  composition book, write this heading:

Figurative Language in “Three Skeleton Key.”

 When you find a metaphor, simile, or other figurative language in the story, write it down, as well as the page number and column where you found it.
Step 5b.  Watch for the parts of the plot. 

See the plot line we created for Three Skeleton Key here:

Three Skeleton Key Plot

Still to do:

• master the irregular verb "lie/lay"
• recognize the subject and verb in a sentence (and other parts of speech)  [paper plates?]
• What's it about? (subject)
• What's happening? (verb)
• master subject/verb agreement
• practice recognizing and understanding  elements of literature in short stories 
• understanding literal language vs. figurative language
• reading and writing sensory language
• writing: responding to reading 
• writing complete sentences with varied beginnings
• preparing a summer reading list

May 4/5, 2010

May 4/5, 2010

Don't forget to take the SRI if you haven't done it within the past couple of weeks.  You may do it during CaveTime in Lab 223.  Bring me your print out. 

Finding figurative language in "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi"
[B2 and B4 found similes on page 13. B1, A1, A4 still need to do similes.]
A2 needs to correct sentences.  Look also at the use of lie/lay.]

Topics for today:  Subject-Verb Agreement / Finding subject and verb in a sentence / Lie-lay verbs
Short Story -- Plot Line/Character
B1 -- not yet covered character.   

Find plot outlines for our short stories and more about plot here. 

The Major Parts of a Plot:
Exposition (introduces characters and setting and the basic situation)
Rising Action (conflict and complications are shown)
Climax (This is the highest point -- the point of greatest tension.  At the point of climax, something important changes -- usually the conflict is resolved.)
Falling Action (Tells what happens after the climax.  This is a winding up
Resolution -- How did everything end up.  "And they all lived happily every after" is a resolution.  In "Rikki-
Tikki-Tavi"  the resolution tells us that from then on Rikki kept the garden free from snakes. 

"The Smallest Dragon Boy" by Anne McCaffrey -- filling in a plot line  (33:31)
If you are absent, to read the story and write in your composition book, come in for Cave Time intervention or come after school.
You can read it here:  http://ebookbrowse.com/anne-mccaffrey-pern-series-15-the-smallest-dragonboy-pdf-d185149984

Self-Starter: ("The Smallest Dragon Boy")
A.  In your textbook, on page 46, read "Make a Connection" and "Quickwrite."  Write the quickwrite in your composition book.

See an article about "underdogs" here.

B.  Subject-Verb Agreement exercise: Copy these sentences into your composition book, and make corrections.
1. That make Percy a target to monsters.
2. There's magic item's in the book.
3. Ares ask them to go and retrieve his sword.
4. Grover get approval to become a searcher to search for Pan.

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C.  Read the “Background” on page 46.

D.  If you have time, read page 45 about metacognition.

Plot for "The Smallest Dragon Boy" by Anne McCaffrey

 

Dragonriders of Pern books by Anne McCaffrey -- a list of Dragonriders of Pern books. 

 

 

Finding subject and verb in a sentence.

April 30/May 3, 2010

April 30/May 3, 2010

Write in composition book a response to a prompt and a grammar exercise for subject-verb agreement.
Build background knowledge for a short story.
Listen to/read a short story, watching for plot and word choice (sensory and figurative language)
[B2 and B4 found similes on page 13. B1, A1 still need to do similes.]
A2 needs to correct sentences.

Today:

Self-Starter for “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi”:

1. Write in your composition book.  Respond to this prompt (under writing) : (If you were absent, you may write these responses on lined paper and tape that into your composition book when you return.)

            If you were facing a bully, would you

§       run the other way?

§       get help from your friends and/or family?

§       face your opponent and fight?

§       try to use logic and reasoning to reach an agreement?

§       use a strategy other than the ones listed above?

Explain what you would probably do and why?  Or, if you have faced a bully in the past, write about what you did.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

2.  In your composition book (under writing), copy and correct these sentences from a student book-of-the-month project:

Underline the subject(s) in each sentence.

           

a. There is so many different creature’s.

b. There is 2 main characters.

c. The boys name is Marcus and the girls name is kyja.

3.  Turn to page 3 in the literature textbook, and look through the story (pages 3 through 15) at the external text features:  photos, captions, footnotes, text-boxes.

4. Pair share when directed to.

5. While listening to/reading  the story, jot in your composition book notes on any questions or comments you have.
If you were absent, you can find the text at   http://www.readbookonline.net/read/486/10065/  
or a free audio version of the story at http://storynory.com/2007/01/22/rikki-tikki-tavi-part-one/

As we read the story, we will watch for the plot, figurative language [such as “all eaten up with curiosity], and sensory language.

figurative:  featherbrained -- synonyms: airheaded, dizzy, empty-headed, dizzy, giddy,light-headed

Find similes in the second column of page 13.  (If you were absent, find 5 similes anywhere in the story.  Copy them and hand them in when you return to class.  Also do the lie/lay exercise below.)

Lie/lay:   Which is the correct form to use in each of these sentences?  
   " When he revived, he was (laying, lying) in the hot sun in the middle of a garden path. . . "
   "The head was (laying, lying) a little clear of the water jar. . . " 
  

 “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” Story Summary

Setting:  India, around 1900.

            In this famous story, a little mongoose has been washed out of his burrow (a hole the mongoose family lives in).  He is found and taken into their house by a British family.¹ 

            The name of the mongoose, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, comes from the sound he makes, which the author, Rudyard Kipling, calls his “war-cry.”

            When the mongoose learns from other animals that two cobras, Nag and his wife, Nagaina, live in the family garden, he knows he must kill them.

That is the beginning of the conflict.

            Rikki hears the cobras taking about the cobra’s plan to kill the family.  He ambushes and kills Nag in the bungalow (house) bathroom. 

            To prevent a new generation of cobras from taking over the garden, Rikki destroys all but one of the cobra eggs.  He uses the last egg to lure (lead) Nagaina away from Teddy, the family’s little son. 

            Nagaina grabs the egg and disappears into a hole in the ground.  Rikki bravely follows.   The climax of the story is when . . . .

         

(footnote) -- 

  1. The country of Great Britain ruled India from 1858 to 1947.  Many British military officers and civil servants came with their families to live in India.

Read about cobras (after you practice on tigers) at this site.

Still to do:

• master the irregular verb "lie/lay"
• recognize the subject and verb in a sentence (and other parts of speech)  [paper plates?]
• What's it about? (subject)
• What's happening? (verb)
• master subject/verb agreement
• practice recognizing and understanding  elements of literature in short stories 
• understanding literal language vs. figurative language
• reading and writing sensory language
• writing: responding to reading 
• writing complete sentences with varied beginnings
• preparing a summer reading list

April 16/19, 2010

April 16/19, 2010

Retake subject-verb agreement quiz (required for those who got below 16/20) on the original quiz.

Subject-Verb Agreement

and

Subject and Verb Agreement in Number

See also this page on our wiki. 

Preparing for Core Testing.
Internal Text Structures
commas in a series
more lie/lay
reading external text features
using resource books such as the dictionary, atlas, and thesaurus (That was commas in a series!)
More Poetry
summarizing

We may discuss figurative language vs. literal language, and types of figurative language.
The types seventh graders must understand are simile and metaphor.
See

Literal and Figurative Meanings of Words

  Just for fun, you can see a simile generator at http://www.vigoschools.org/~mjm3/activities/simile.htm

Subject and Verb Agreement in Number

See Subject and Verb Agreement in Number  on this PB wiki page.

See also these links:
Rules and helps for subject-verb agreement from Purdue.


GrammarBook.com on subject-verb agreement

This site includes rules and quizzes. If you are assigned to complete the practice quizzes, this is the site to go to.

March 30/31, 2010

March 30/31, 2010
Bring your science fiction or fantasy book-of-the-month club book to class.

Practicing using apostrophes to show possession. 

Subject-Verb Agreement -- Individual quiz on subject-verb agreement (verbs agree with a singular or plural subject) to see if understand it yet.
Link: This site includes rules and quizzes. If you are assigned to complete the practice quizzes (or if you received less than 18/20 on the in-class quiz on March 30/31), this is the site to go to.  

Also, see examples of singular and plural at our PB wiki.

More Love That Dog and writing based on it.

Love That Dog assignments in your composition book:
Write a poem imitating "The Red Wheelbarrow."
Write a poem imitating "Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright."
Write a stanza imitating "Stopping By Woods":  "Whose woods these are, I think I know. . . "
List sounds you would hear in a place you know well. (Based on "Street Music.") 
Collect words and phrases you could use to describe a pet or another animal when it is sitting, running, sleeping, or performing some other action.
Write a poem imitating "Love That Boy."

See  Poems to Imitate, to be INSPIRED BY

Some classes have read the poem "A Slice of Life" and written in response to it.

A Slice of Life What's as confusing as last week's science lab? Can be as sweet as sugar? Then, sharp as a knife? Comes quickly But with no instructions on how to handle it? Can take you up to the stars Or throw you sprawling against a rock? Just when you think you've got it figured out, It takes an unexpected turn. Those who have lived it Either warn you about the dangers it brings, Or tell you to live it to the fullest, Perhaps you know what I am talking about. Don't let it pass by without making a mark Or saving a memory, because It will only come once, and soon the opportunities, The moments, the dreams Will all just be a slice of your past The piece of life that we call Adolescence. Katherine T. 1.  Write quickly for 2-3 minutes about all that this poem brings to mind for you.

 2. Borrow one line from the poem and write again, this time focusing on that line, using it as the basis as a passage that will perhaps be poetic. 
3. Write about what adolescence has been like for you so far.

ad·o·les·cence

 /ˌædlˈɛsəns/ Show Spelled[ad-l-es-uhns] 

–noun

1.

the transitional period between puberty and adulthood in human development, extending mainly over the teen years and terminating legally when the age of majority is reached; youth.

2.

the process or state of growing to maturity.

3.

a period or stage of development, as of a society, preceding maturity.

March 26/29, 2010

March 26/29, 2010
Bring your science fiction or fantasy book-of-the-month club book to class.

More on subject/verb agreement:  students individually or in pairs work on finding the subject (getting prepositional phrases out of the way), and choosing the correct verb to agree with the subject. 

Bring your book-of-the-month to read.

More poetry --read more of (and write more based on)  Love That Dog  See the poems at 

Poems to Imitate, to be INSPIRED BY

March 22/23, 2010

March 22/23, 2010

Editing Self-Starter: 
Subject-Verb Agreement exercise taped into composition books, edited carefully, and corrected together

New seating assignments

We watched more of the Shackleton DVD.   B4 finished the DVD.

March 10/11, 2009

March 10/11, 2009

** If you haven't yet, turn in your portfolio assignments and personal narratives. Friday is the last day to hand in late work. The term ends on the 20th.

Students added dialogue to comic strips to show that they know how to use the verbs lie and lay.

Students read Ice Story in small groups through chapter 12.

Students created a time line for Ice Story so far. They created their own External Text Feature!

Student Targets for the Time Line:
Summarizing,
Chronological Internal Text Structure,
Creating an EXTERNAL TEXT FEATURE

Subject/Verb Review

image from http://paulbuckley14059.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/calvin-and-hobbes.jpg