ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos


Grammar Videos 59 videos

Your vs. You're
4158 Views

Want even more deets on Your vs. You're? Click here to review. Or take a look at our entire grammar section for all the goods.

They as Singular Pronoun––Is It Okay?
767 Views

Want even more deets on "they" as a singular pronoun? Click here to review. Or take a look at our entire grammar section for al the goods.

Then vs. Than
1018 Views

This video clears up the confusion between then and than once and for all. It explains when to use each one (one for time, one for comparison) and...

See All

Subject Verb Agreement 11382 Views


Share It!

Click here to review. Or take a look at our entire grammar section for all the goods.

">

Description:

Want even more deets on Subject Verb Agreement? Click here to review. Or take a look at our entire grammar section for all the goods.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:00

Thank you We sneak in subject verb agreement allah way

00:07

get into disagreements with other people over all sorts of

00:10

silly things like whether a room is too hot or

00:12

too cold or whether a particular restaurant has great food

00:16

or terrible food or whether or not the third godfather

00:19

movie is worth even watching that and subjects in verbs

00:24

on the other hand find it easy to agree All

00:27

it takes is for a singular noun to match up

00:30

with a singular verb and a plural noun to match

00:33

up with a player over Got it for example say

00:36

we have the sentence I am a really good cook

00:39

The word i is a singular now so it needs

00:42

the singular verb And now say we change our example

00:46

to read way are really good cooks The word we

00:51

is a plural noun so it needs the power over

00:53

our way Are the world like that Wow easy right

00:58

This has to be the shortest grammar lesson ever But

01:01

wait there's more Some downs can be tricky leaving us

01:04

unsure it toa whether their singular or plural noun For

01:08

example take the word everyone if we're talking about everyone

01:12

At a professional football game Then we could be referring

01:15

to tens of thousands of people Me and though the

01:18

number of people were referring to doesn't matter grammar rules

01:21

is everyone and its compatriots Everybody anyone anybody no one

01:28

and nobody Our singular noun that require singular verbs got

01:34

that So you treat everybody's whole mass of people football

01:37

game as one thing Thank you Everyone at the game

01:41

in green bay is freezing because everyone is a singular

01:44

noun We match it with the singular verb is or

01:49

say we have the scent No one at the game

01:51

in houston is freezing because no one is singular Now

01:54

we match it with the singular verb is phantom pains

01:58

and team names are usually plural Although some people prefer

02:01

to treat group names that sound plural as plural and

02:05

group names that sound singular as singular So if we

02:08

ever over here a customer of a restaurant say matchbox

02:11

twenty makes great music where the band named matchbox twenty

02:15

is treated as a singular rather than plural well try

02:19

not to wig out Plenty of people talk this way

02:22

are this way Come on and the world hasn't come

02:26

To an end now we come to collective now while

02:29

a word like family may cover a lot of people

02:31

collective noun czar usually treated a singular now for example

02:35

say we have the sentence in the school orchestra plays

02:39

its spring concert tonight Yeah we did that The school

02:42

orchestra just treated is like one singular thing It doesn't

02:46

matter that the orchestra may consist of one hundred very

02:48

nervous teenagers with temples We know you were talking about

02:52

you because orchestra is a collective noun It is treated

02:56

as a singular noun and is therefore match with the

02:58

singular verb plays it plays What if we have the

03:02

sense of the football team run sprints during practice Well

03:05

we don't care how hot and tired all those football

03:07

players are Because team is a collective noun it is

03:10

treated as a singular noun and so we match it

03:13

with singular verbs like runs The team runs runs all

03:19

right upon occasion Some collective noun can be plural if

03:22

the people covered by the noun have a sense of

03:24

individuality like the married couple are spending some quality time

03:29

apart because it's clear that the couple were talking about

03:32

consists of two people who aren't currently speaking to each

03:35

other We match the collective known couple with the plural

03:39

verb are we could just as easily use the word

03:42

couple is a singular now like a couple of right

03:45

say we have the sense each couple is attending therapy

03:48

with a different counselor Well in this case couples are

03:50

being spoken of as units which is why we match

03:53

the collective and singular noun couple with the singular verb

03:58

is grammar rule for collective noun may seem overly complicated

04:02

Don't worry given how big the rule is It's hard

04:04

to be truly wrong here fit for subject verb agreement

04:08

just remember that singular noun school with singular berg plural

04:11

noun go with poor over and singular words that cover

04:14

a lot of people like everyone and symphony gets singular

04:17

verb big things really like one Isn't it nice when

04:20

there's a grammar rule that's virtually impossible toe disagree over 00:04:24.202 --> [endTime] Yeah you like that Yeah dead

Related Videos

Affect vs. Effect
10818 Views

This video explains the difference between affect and effect and provide tips for remembering which is which and when to use each one. If you suffe...

Question Marks
3733 Views

Want even more deets on Question Marks? Click here to review. Or take a look at our entire grammar section for all the goods.

Long vs. Short Sentences
2883 Views

Want even more deets on grammar? Click here for all the goods.

Your vs. You're
4158 Views

Want even more deets on Your vs. You're? Click here to review. Or take a look at our entire grammar section for all the goods.

Its vs. It's
5830 Views

What’s the difference between its and it’s (spoiler alert: it’s more than just an apostrophe). This video covers the use of both of these wor...