Transcript Learning objects – Grammar to teach

Grammar: verb agreement
Cathrine Norberg and Marie Nordlund
Luleå University of Technology
Department of Arts, Communication and Education
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
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What is agreement?
Exercise 1
Exercise 2
Exercise 3
Exercise 4
Exercise 5
Exercise 6
Exercise 7
What is agreement?
Linguistic competence in a foreign language encompasses many
different abilities. One such ability is grammatical correctness.
Within grammar agreement is an important part which
contributes not only to grammatical correctness but also to
idiomaticity. There are different kinds of agreement, for
example, noun-adjective, noun-verb and noun-pronoun. The
effect of agreement mistakes is that the text may be considered
stylistically inferior and this judgement will most probably also
influence the recipient’s view of the writer. Commonly,
agreement mistakes are not observed equally easily in a foreign
language, but are eye-catching in one’s native language. To
illustrate this, consider the sentences on the following slide.
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Swedish: Boken handlar om en 12-åriga pojke som lever
tillsammans med sin familj i en mysigt om än något trångt
lägenhet i centrala stan.
French: Michel et Marie est des gens très gentil, qui m’aide
souvent.
German: Michael und Maria ist sehr nett. Sie hilft mir gern.
Italian: Michele e Maria è molto gentile e mi aiuta spesso.
English: Differences is what makes us unique, but it also give
us the chance to come together and look at our differences.
Please continue to the next slide for further information.
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It is, of course, impossible to cover all possible agreement mistakes
in a particular language in a grammar book or in exercises such as
those presented here. Therefore, it is essential to become aware of
the underlying system of a foreign language, that is, to acquire a
linguistic competence.
In this section, the focus is on subject-verb agreement. The exercises
are designed to highlight common problem areas in English and
increase your conscious awareness of agreement.
To access the exercises, please return to the Table of Contents.
Table of Contents
Exercise 1.
Each of the following sentences contains one agreement
mistake. Correct them.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
If different languages influence our minds in different ways, this
is not because what our language allows us to think but rather
because of what it habitually oblige us to think about. (key)
There has been many proposals for regulating the right of public
access, but none of them has been put into law. (key)
That Chinese people have trouble with English sounds because
the shape of their mouths are different is a language myth. (key)
The research his early writings inspired have left us able to say
with some confidence that … (key)
Educational innovation and other developments affecting the
world population, for example, the Chinese government’s policy of
one baby per family, was also factored in. (key)
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Exercise 2.
In these sentences the problem is to figure out whether the
subject is in the singular or in the plural. Choose the
correct alternative.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Everybody present was/were in favour of the suggestion. (key)
The analyses was/were carefully done. (key)
Where on earth is/are the scissors? (key)
A large number of students does/do not want to do the exam on
Friday. (key)
The number of students at the university is/are increasing. (key)
50 per cent of the debt has/have not yet been paid. (key)
Either Keith or Kate is/are coming to the seminar. (key)
Kate, as well as Keith, has/have given notice. (key)
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Exercise 3.
The subject in the following sentences can be understood
as either singular or plural. Discuss the difference.
1.
2.
3.
4.
The government is/are discussing new measures for dealing with
racism. (comment)
The statistics shows/show that this trend has gained momentum.
(comment)
The evidence was/were against her. (comment)
People in general has/have been very nice to me. (comment)
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Exercise 4.
The following excerpt contains eight agreement mistakes.
Find them and correct them.
In this chapter, the analysis of gather, which was chosen because of its
physically concrete properties, were presented. Gather is one of the verbs
which belongs to the gathering up frame in FrameNet. The frame describes
a situation where a Subject gathers Objects, that is, bring them together at
one and the same place. The data suggests that, most commonly,
gathering is performed intentionally by a human Subject. Gather is
frequently extended to mental usages. The analysis have shown that
extensions into the mental domain accounts for almost one-quarter of the
data. The most frequent usages of mental gathering is ‘understand’ and
‘believe’. Only human Subjects appear in connection with mental gathering.
Hence, humanness seem to be a prerequisite for gather to be used as a
mental verb. Since there are no evidence in the data of organisations as
Subjects in cases of mental gathering, it looks as if it is not possible to
transfer the human ability to draw conclusions from information gathered to
a metonymic substitute. The extension from physical to mental gathering
are motivated by experience-based similarities between gathering, on the
one hand, concrete entities and, on the other, knowledge and facts so as to
reach an understanding of a subject. (key)
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Exercise 5.
Find and correct all the agreement mistakes in the
following excerpt.
The basic starting point of the current work is the hypothesis that the frame
to which a verb is linked determine how easily the verb can be extended to
mental usages. In other words, extended usages, mental usages in
particular, has been the main focus of the thesis. The analyses has aimed
at bringing light upon the extent to which the six verbs chosen for the study
– acquire, buy, gather, grasp, receive and seize – is used as mental verbs
and how much this use is restricted by the frames associated with the
verbs. Frames are important tools that helps humans organise and structure
their knowledge. They provide a mental framework for the action, process,
state or event depicted by the verb and assists in the interpretation of
words, concepts and sentences. Hence, the background knowledge
contained in frames co-operate with the context at hand to select the most
appropriate interpretation of an utterance. In this final chapter, the results
of the analyses in chapters 3-8 is summarised. Each of the verbs are
addressed in turn and some of the general conclusions that can be made is
indicated. The chapter is concluded with some suggestions for future
research. (key)
Table of Contents
Exercise 6.
Find and correct all the agreement mistakes in the
following excerpt.
Based on the hypothesis that the frame to which a verb is linked influence how easily
that verb can be extended into the mental domain, the aim of this thesis is to carry
out a lexico-semantic analysis of the six verbs acquire, buy, gather, grasp, receive
and seize. These verbs were chosen because they can express physical as well as
mental acquisition and because they are linked to frames of varying complexity.
Frames contain not only linguistic (syntactic and semantic) information, but also language users’ knowledge of how society and its values affects the use of verbs. The
complexity of frames involve, among other things, the number and nature of
necessary participants, circumstances under which the action may be successfully
carried out and institutionalised rules imposed or sanctioned by society. Prior to the
analyses, it was assumed in this work that the verbs gather, grasp and seize are used
as mental verbs to a higher extent than acquire, buy and receive. This is so, because
the simplicity of the former verbs’ frames facilitate meaning extension from the
physical to the mental domain. Specific questions addressed in the study are: (i) To
what extent is the verbs used as mental verbs? (ii) What other usages does the verb
display? (iii) What are the relative frequency of different usages for each verb? (iv) Is
any of the verbs better suited to express mental acquisition than others? And, if so,
in what way? (key)
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Exercise 7.
Write a short academic abstract – approximately 200
words – introducing a topic of your own choice. Before
handing it in you should receive feedback from a fellow
student. NB. Feedback should be sent in as well.
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Exercise 1. Question 1. Key.
If different languages influence our minds in different ways, this is not
because what our language allows us to think but rather because of
what it (= the subject) habitually obliges us to think about.
COMMENT:
When the subject of the sentence is in the third person singular –
he, she or it – the present tense verb form should also be in the
third person, i.e. you need to add an –s to the verb.
NB. Be and have have irregular s-markers: is and has respectively
Exercise 1
Exercise 1. Question 2. Key.
There have been many proposals for regulating the right of public
access, but none of them has been put into law.
COMMENT:
There in this sentence refers to proposals, which is the real subject
of the sentence. Since proposals is in the plural, the verb form also
needs to be in the plural.
Exercise 1
Exercise 1. Question 3. Key.
That Chinese people have trouble with English sounds because the
shape of their mouths (= the subject) is different is a language
myth.
COMMENT:
In this sentence the shape of their mouths as a whole is the subject.
However, it is the shape – singular – that is the main word and
therefore the verb needs to be in the third person singular.
Exercise 1
Exercise 1. Question 4. Key.
The research his early writings inspired (= the subject) has left us
able to say with some confidence that …
COMMENT:
The research his early writings inspired constitutes the subject in
this sentence, where his early writings inspired refers to the main
word research. This word is in the singular, hence the verb form
also needs to be in the singular.
Exercise 1
Exercise 1. Question 5. Key.
Educational innovation and other developments affecting
the world population (= the subject), for example, the Chinese
government’s policy of one baby per family, were also factored in.
COMMENT:
The verb refers back to BOTH educational innovation AND other
developments, therefore it needs to be in the plural.
Exercise 1
Exercise 2. Question 1. Key.
Everybody present was in favour of the suggestion.
COMMENT:
Everybody is in the singular (it may be read as every body), even
though its meaning is plural. The same goes for everyone.
Exercise 2
Exercise 2. Question 2. Key.
The analyses were carefully done.
COMMENT:
The singular analysis and the plural analyses are similar. Make sure
that you know the difference.
Exercise 2
Exercise 2. Question 3. Key.
Where on earth are the scissors?
COMMENT:
Some words denoting objects consisting of two parts are in the
plural. Scissors, together with, for example, binoculars, tweezers,
pliers, pants, pincers, tongs belong to this group.
Exercise 2
Exercise 2. Question 4. Key.
A large number of students (= the subject) do not want to do
the exam on Friday.
COMMENT:
A large number of students is to be understood as ”more than a few
students.” The verb needs to be in the plural, even if the main word
of the subject (number) is in the singular.
Exercise 2
Exercise 2. Question 5. Key.
The number of students at the university is increasing.
COMMENT:
This sentence may be compared to the previous one. Here number
does not mean ”more than a few.” Instead it refers to a figure,
which is in the singular. There is thus a difference between a
number of something (= plural), and the number of something (=
singular).
Exercise 2
Exercise 2. Question 6. Key.
50 per cent of the debt has not yet been paid.
COMMENT:
When dealing with percentages it is the noun following the figure
that decides whether the verb should be in the singular or in the
plural. The noun debt is in the singular, hence the verb must be in
the singular. Compare: 50 per cent of the apples were rotten.
Exercise 2
Exercise 2. Question 7. Key.
Either Keith or Kate is coming to the seminar.
COMMENT:
The construction either or containing two singular entities (Keith +
Kate) requires a verb in the singular. This sentence may be
compared to Either the Andersons or the Johnsons are going to help
you which combines two plural entities.
NB. In sentences combining a singular and a plural entity it is the last
noun which determines the verb form: Either Marie (singular) or
Monica and Chris (plural) are going to help you.
Exercise 2
Exercise 2. Question 8. Key.
Kate, as well as Keith, has given notice.
COMMENT:
Even if Keith has also given his notice, the commas surrounding this
information make it additional. Thus, Kate is the subject of the
sentence and determines the verb form.
Exercise 2
Exercise 3. Question 1. Key.
The government is/are discussing new measures for dealing with
racism.
COMMENT:
The choice between the singular and the plural verb forms depends
to a large extent on whether the government, in this case, is seen
as a whole unit or as consisting of individual members.
Other so-called collective nouns, e.g. family and committee, are
treated in the same way.
Exercise 3
Exercise 3. Question 2. Key.
The statistics show that this trend has gained momentum.
COMMENT:
Statistics as science or as a subject is always in the singular:
Statistics is a difficult subject. However, in the sentence above it is
the resultat, i.e. the actual figures, which is presented. Therefore,
the plural form must be used.
Other similar ”ics”-subjects treated in the same way are
mathematics, physics and economics.
Exercise 3
Exercise 3. Question 3. Key.
The evidence was against her.
COMMENT:
In some languages evidence is semantically understood as a plural
word. In English, however, it is always in the singular. If you for
some reason want to single out specific evidence the word piece
must be used: This was a significant piece of evidence. / These
are controversial pieces of evidence.
Other abstract nouns behaving in a similar way are, e.g.,
information, advice, business, news and furniture.
Exercise 3
Exercise 3. Question 4. Key.
People in general have been very nice to me.
COMMENT:
People is a word in the plural although there is no plural-s attached
to it. Another word treated in the same way is police.
NB. People may occur with a plural-s if the word refers to different
groups of people: There are many different peoples in Europe (i.e.,
people with different nationalities).
Exercise 3
Exercise 4. Key.
Click on the bold-faced verbs for a comment.
In this chapter, the analysis of gather, which was chosen because of its
physically concrete properties, was presented. Gather is one of the verbs
which belong to the gathering up frame in FrameNet. The frame describes
a situation where a Subject gathers Objects, that is, brings them together
at one and the same place. The data suggests that, most commonly,
gathering is performed intentionally by a human Subject. Gather is
frequently extended to mental usages. The analysis has shown that
extensions into the mental domain account for almost one-quarter of the
data. The most frequent usages of mental gathering are ‘understand’ and
‘believe’. Only human Subjects appear in connection with mental gathering.
Hence, humanness seems to be a prerequisite for gather to be used as a
mental verb. Since there is no evidence in the data of organisations as
Subjects in cases of mental gathering, it looks as if it is not possible to
transfer the human ability to draw conclusions from information gathered to
a metonymic substitute. The extension from physical to mental gathering is
motivated by experience-based similarities between gathering, on the one
hand, concrete entities and, on the other, knowledge and facts so as to
reach an understanding of a subject.
Exercise 4
Exercise 4. Verb comment 1.
In this chapter, the analysis of gather, which was chosen because
of its physically concrete properties, was presented.
COMMENT:
The head noun of this sentence is the analysis, therefore the verb
must be in the singular.
Key Exercise 4
Exercise 4. Verb comment 2.
Gather is one of the verbs which belong to the gathering up frame
in FrameNet.
COMMENT:
The head noun is verbs, which means that a plural verb form is
needed.
Key Exercise 4
Exercise 4. Verb comment 3.
The frame describes a situation where a Subject gathers Objects,
that is, brings them together at one and the same place.
COMMENT:
Since a Subject is the head noun of this sentence, a singular verb
form is needed.
Key Exercise 4
Exercise 4. Verb comment 4.
The analysis has shown that extensions into the mental domain
account for almost one-quarter of the data.
COMMENT:
Account refers back to extensions, hence the plural form must be
used.
Key Exercise 4
Exercise 4. Verb comment 5.
The most frequent usages of mental gathering are ‘understand’
and ‘believe’.
COMMENT:
Are refers to usages which is in the plural.
Key Exercise 4
Exercise 4. Verb comment 6.
Hence, humanness seems to be a prerequisite for gather to be
used as a mental verb.
COMMENT:
Seems refers to the singular subject humanness.
Key Exercise 4
Exercise 4. Verb comment 7.
Since there is no evidence in the data of organisations as Subjects
in cases of mental gathering…
COMMENT:
Remember that evidence is a singular noun. See Exercise 3:3.
Key Exercise 4
Exercise 4. Verb comment 8.
The extension from physical to mental gathering is motivated by
experience-based similarities …..
COMMENT:
Is must show agreement with the singular noun the extension.
Key Exercise 4
Exercise 5. Key.
Click on the bold-faced verbs for a comment.
The basic starting point of the current work is the hypothesis that the frame
to which a verb is linked determines how easily the verb can be extended
to mental usages. In other words, extended usages, mental usages in
particular, have been the main focus of the thesis. The analyses have
aimed at bringing light upon the extent to which the six verbs chosen for
the study – acquire, buy, gather, grasp, receive and seize – are used as
mental verbs and how much this use is restricted by the frames associated
with the verbs. Frames are important tools that help humans organise and
structure their knowledge. They provide a mental framework for the action,
process, state or event depicted by the verb and assist in the
interpretation of words, concepts and sentences. Hence, the background
knowledge contained in frames co-operates with the context at hand to
select the most appropriate interpretation of an utterance. In this final
chapter, the results of the analyses in chapters 3-8 are summarised. Each
of the verbs is addressed in turn and some of the general conclusions that
can be made are indicated. The chapter is concluded with some
suggestions for future research.
Exercise 5
Exercise 5. Verb comment 1.
The basic starting point of the current work is the hypothesis that
the frame to which a verb is linked determines how easily the verb
can be extended to mental usages.
COMMENT:
Since the verb refers back to the singular word the frame, it must
be in the singular.
Key exercise 5
Exercise 5. Verb comment 2.
In other words, extended usages, mental usages in particular, have
been the main focus of the thesis.
COMMENT:
The verb must agree with the plural subject usages.
Key exercise 5
Exercise 5. Verb comment 3.
The analyses have aimed at bringing light upon…
COMMENT:
Observe that analyses is the plural form of analysis. Hence, the
plural verb form. Compare Exercise 4:1.
Key exercise 5
Exercise 5. Verb comment 4.
… the extent to which the six verbs chosen for the study –
acquire, buy, gather, grasp, receive and seize – are used as mental
verbs …
COMMENT:
The subject that are refers back to is the phrase the six verbs
chosen for the study, in which the six verbs is the head.
Key exercise 5
Exercise 5. Verb comment 5.
Frames are important tools that help humans organise and
structure their knowledge.
COMMENT:
Help must agree with the plural tools.
Key exercise 5
Exercise 5. Verb comment 6.
They provide a mental framework for the action, process, state or
event depicted by the verb and assist in the interpretation of words,
concepts and sentences.
COMMENT:
The subject that assist must agree with is they.
Key exercise 5
Exercise 5. Verb comment 7.
Hence, the background knowledge contained in frames cooperates with the context at hand…
COMMENT:
The whole phrase the background knowledge contained in frames is
the subject which must agree with co-operates. Since the
background knowledge is the head of the subject, the verb must be
in the singular.
Key exercise 5
Exercise 5. Verb comment 8.
In this final chapter, the results of the analyses in chapters 3-8
are summarised.
COMMENT:
Are must agree with the head word (the results) of the subject,
which is in the plural.
Key exercise 5
Exercise 5. Verb comment 9.
Each of the verbs is addressed in turn…
COMMENT:
Even though each (the head of the subject) semantically means ‘all’,
it is grammatically treated as a singular pronoun. Hence the singular
verb form.
Key exercise 5
Exercise 5. Verb comment 10.
… some of the general conclusions that can be made are
indicated.
COMMENT:
A plural subject requires a plural verb.
Key exercise 5
Exercise 6. Key.
Click on the bold-faced verbs for a comment.
Based on the hypothesis that the frame to which a verb is linked influences how
easily that verb can be extended into the mental domain, the aim of this thesis is to
carry out a lexico-semantic analysis of the six verbs acquire, buy, gather, grasp,
receive and seize. These verbs were chosen because they can express physical as
well as mental acquisition and because they are linked to frames of varying
complexity. Frames contain not only linguistic (syntactic and semantic) information,
but also language users’ knowledge of how society and its values affect the use of
verbs. The complexity of frames involves, among other things, the number and
nature of necessary participants, circumstances under which the action may be
successfully carried out and institutionalised rules imposed or sanctioned by society.
Prior to the analyses, it was assumed in this work that the verbs gather, grasp and
seize are used as mental verbs to a higher extent than acquire, buy and receive. This
is so, because the simplicity of the former verbs’ frames facilitates meaning
extension from the physical to the mental domain. Specific questions addressed in
the study are: (i) To what extent are the verbs used as mental verbs? (ii) What other
usages do the verb display? (iii) What is the relative frequency of different usages
for each verb? (iv) Are any of the verbs better suited to express mental acquisition
than others? And, if so, in what way?
Exercise 6
Exercise 6. Verb comment 1.
Based on the hypothesis that the frame to which a verb is
linked influences how easily that verb can be extended into the
mental domain ….
COMMENT:
The head word of the subject is the frame. It requires a verb in the
singular.
Key exercise 6
Exercise 6. Verb comment 2.
Frames contain not only linguistic (syntactic and semantic)
information, but also language users’ knowledge of how society
and its values affect the use of verbs.
COMMENT:
Here the subject consists of two co-ordinated items, therefore the
verb must be in the plural.
Key exercise 6
Exercise 6. Verb comment 3.
The complexity of frames involves, among other things, the
number and nature of necessary participants,….
COMMENT:
The head word of the subject is the singular phrase the complexity.
Key exercise 6
Exercise 6. Verb comment 4.
This is so, because the simplicity of the former verbs’ frames
facilitates meaning extension from the physical to the mental
domain.
COMMENT:
The head of the subject (the simplicity) is in the singular. The verb
must agree with it.
Key exercise 6
Exercise 6. Verb comment 5.
To what extent are the verbs used as mental verbs?
COMMENT:
A plural subject (the verbs) requires a plural verb.
Key exercise 6
Exercise 6. Verb comment 6.
What other usages do the verb display?
COMMENT:
The plural do agrees with the plural subject.
Key exercise 6
Exercise 6. Verb comment 7.
What is the relative frequency of different usages for each
verb?
COMMENT:
The head of the subject (the relative frequency) requires a singular
verb form.
Key exercise 6
Exercise 6. Verb comment 8.
Are any of the verbs better suited to express mental acquisition
than others?
COMMENT:
Any + a plural noun requires a verb in the plural. However, if a
number is added before the plural word verbs, the singular verb
form must be used: Is any of the two verbs better suited……?
Key exercise 6