BBC Masterclass: Subject Verb Agreement 2

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I am happy. You are happy. He is happy! The subjects and verbs agree. But what about when the subject is a more complicated noun? Dan explains three more ways to deal with difficult subject-verb agreement. For more, visit our website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/towards-advanced/unit-21/session-1 TRANSCRIPT Dan …and I say that a dancing dog is funnier than a cat playing the piano! Well I disagree! But unfortunately for subjects and verbs, according to the rules of grammar, they must agree. So here are three more ways to make sure that your subjects and verbs always agree. Roll tape! 1. Collective nouns with both singular and plural. The government is debating the new law. The government are debating the new law. Now, government is a collective noun which represents a group of people, like police. But unlike police, which is always plural, government can be singular or plural depending on whether you mean: a group of individuals working together, i.e. they; or a single unit, it. Here are some more examples. Family, committee, team, crew, jury, public It’s also worth noting that in a relative clause, we use ‘who’ for the group and ‘which’ for the unit. For example: The government, who are in talks right now, are reviewing the law. The government, which is in talks right now, is reviewing the law. Do you see the difference? 2: Quantities & amounts, portions and mathematics. 3 minutes is perfect for tea. Now, despite the fact that 3 is a plur

Published 2016-11-21 · Watch on YouTube ↗
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