ENGLISH 1 FOR MANAGEMENT
Subject-Verb Agreement
Ika Tri Susilowati, M.Pd
Universitas Alma
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Inspiring almaata.ac.id
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What is Subject-Verb Agreement?
Agreement berarti kesesuaian.
Jadi secara sederhana dapat disimpulkan bahwa
subject-verb agreement adalah kesesuaian antara
subject dan verb dalam sebuah kalimat.
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There are four (4) simple rules about subject-verb
agreement:
1. A verb agrees with its subject in number.
2. Agreement after prepositional phrases.
3. Some subejct always take a singular verb even
though the meaning seem plural.
4. Agreement after expression of quantity.
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Rule 1:
A verb agrees with its subject in number
Singular subjects take singular verbs:
1. The car stays in the garage.
Car adalah subject (tunggal) sudah sesuai
dengan verb (stays) yg juga tunggal.
2. The flower smells good.
Flower adalah subject (tunggal), sudah sesuai
dengan verb (smells) yg tunggal.
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Rule 2:
Agreement after prepositional phrases
Apa itu preposisi? Yaitu kata depan, seperti in, on, at,
to, of, with, by, behind, etc. Preposisi bisa membuat
kita bingung jika terletak di antara subject dan verb.
Contoh:
1. The door (to the rooms) are locked.
Subject kalimat tersebut adalah the door (tunggal)
dan verb-nya adalah are (to be; jamak)
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Diantara subject dan verb, ada preposisi (to
the rooms). Kadang kita menjadi salah fokus
jika melihat kata ‘rooms’. Rooms itu jamak.
Kita jadi berpikir, bahwa kalimat tersebut sdh
betul dgn verb (are). Padahal ‘to the room’ di
kalimat itu berfungi sbg preposisi. Kalimat
tersebut menjadi salah karena subject (the
door) belum sesuai dengan verb (to be--> are).
Harusnya subject ‘the door’ berpasangan dgn
verb ‘is’ yg sama-sama tunggal.
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Another example:
One of the eggs is broken.
Apakah kalimat tersebut sudah betul?
Kalimat di atas mempunyai subject ‘one’ (tunggal)
dgn verb (to be) ‘is’ (tunggal). Diantara subject dan
verb ada preposisi, yaitu ‘of the eggs’. Jadi kalimat
diatas sudah betul.
* Harus diingat preposisi-nya ya?
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Rule 3:
Some subejct always take a singular verb even
though the meaning seem plural.
These subjects always take singular verbs:
Anybody everybody nobody each
Anyone everyone no one either
Anything everything nothing neither
Somebody
Karena mereka semua adalah subject
Someone tunggal jadi harus di pasangkan dengan
Something verb yang tunggal juga.
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Contoh:
1. Anybody are welcome at the party.
Kalimat tersebut menjadi salah karena subject
(anybody) tunggal, tidak sesuai dengan verb (to be:
are) jamak. Harusnya verb-nya bukan are tapi ‘is’
2. No one here is afraid of skydiving.
Kalimat tersebut sudah betul. Subject ‘no one’ sudah
sesuai dengan verb (to be) ‘is’
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Rule 4:
Agreement after expression of quantity
all
most
some of the (object) V
half
part
Example: All of the flowers were yellow.
*flowers dalam kalimat tersebut jamak, maka sudah
sesuai dengan verb (to be: were)yg juga jamak.
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Another example:
Part of the soup is left on the stove.
*soup dalam kalimat tersebut tunggal, sudah
sesuai dengan verb (to be: is) yg juga tunggal.
Intinya dalam expression of quantity, kita
harus melihat noun yang mengikutinya.
Flowers, soup. Jika noun-nya tunggal, verb-nya
juga hrs tunggal, jika noun-nya jamak, verb-
nya juga hrs jamak.
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Note:
• Untuk uncountable noun/ benda2 yg tdk bisa kita
hitung, misalnya art, sand, air, money, information,
assistance , verb yang digunakan adalah verb
singular/ tunggal.
Example:
All of the information was interesting.
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Exercises:
1. Annie and her brothers _____ at school.
a. Is
b. Are
c. Am
2. George and Tamara _____ want to see that movie.
d. don’t
e. doesn’t
f. Does
3. One of my sisters _______ going on a trip.
g. Is
h. Are
i. aren’t
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4. The man with all the birds ______ on my street.
a. Lives
b. Live
5. When the fire alarm goes off, all of the students ______ out the nearest
exit.
c. Walking
d. Walk
e. Walks
f. are walking
6. Nobody in the class _____ the homework assignment last night.
a. doesn’t
b. Do
c. Did
d. Does
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7. The flowers in that garden _____ water.
a. Need
b. Needs
8. None of the trucks _____ arrived yet.
c. Have
d. Has
9. My best friend at school _____ live in our neighborhood.
e. Doesn’t
f. Do
10. My brother and I often _____ checkers together.
g. Play
h. Plays
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The Globe Inspiring University almaata.ac.id
