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    Week 7 - Structure Skill 20-21

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    Sepniza Nasywa

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    Week 7 - Structure Skill 20-21

    Uploaded by

    Sepniza Nasywa
    48 views6 pages

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    WEEK 7_ STRUCTURE SKILL 20-21

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    48 views6 pages

    Week 7 - Structure Skill 20-21

    Uploaded by

    Sepniza Nasywa

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 6

    WEEK 7

    Skill 20. Make Verbs Agree after Prepositional Phrases

    A prepositional phrase is a group of words that begins with a preposition and ends with a noun,
    pronoun, or noun phrase.

    Prepositional phrases modify or describe nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, and verbs.

    Prepositional phrases can tell us when [time] or where [location] something is or something
    happened. They can also tell us the direction something is or is moving/going. They can tell us
    something about the word or words they describe.

    Example: The girl with the long hair, the book on the table, I run in the morning.

    Preposition in English

    aboard along behind from until off past up

    about amid below by in on since without

    above among beneath down inside onto through upon

    across around beside during into out to with

    after at between except near outside toward within

    against before beyond for of over under

    Sometimes prepositional phrases can come between the subject and the verb. If the object of
    the preposition is singular and the subject is plural, or if the object of the preposition is plural
    and the subject is singular, there can be confusion in making the subject and verb agree.
    In the first example you might think that “doors” is the subject because it comes directly in
    front of the verb “are”. However, “doors” is not the subject because it is the object of the
    preposition “to”. The subject of the sentence is “key”, so the verb should be “is”. In the second
    example you might think that “door” is the subject because it comes directly in front of the
    verb “is”. You should recognize in this example that “door” is not the subject because it is the
    object of the preposition “to”. Because the subject of the sentence is “keys”, the verb should
    be “are”.

    The following chart outlines the key information that you should understand about subject/verb
    agreement with prepositional phrases:

    EXERCISE 1: Each of the following sentences has one or more prepositional phrases between
    the subject and verb. Circle the prepositional phrases. Underline the subjects once and the verbs
    twice. Then indicate if the sentences are correct (C) or incorrect (I).
    Skill 21: Make Verbs Agree After Expressions of Quantity

    A particular agreement problem occurs when the subject is an expression of quantity, such as
    all, most, or some, followed by the preposition of. In this situation, the subject (all, most, or
    some) can be singular or plural, depending on what follows the preposition of.

    In the first example the subject all refers to the singular noun book, so the correct verb is
    therefore the singular verb was. In the second example the subject all refers to the plural noun
    books, so the correct verb is the plural verb were. In the third example the subject all refers to
    the uncountable noun information, so the correct verb is therefore the singular verb was.

    The following chart outlines the key information that you should understand about
    subject/verb agreement after expression of quantity:

    EXERCISE 21: Each of the following sentences has a quantity expression as the subject.
    Underline the subjects once and the verbs twice. Circle the objects that the verbs agree with.
    Then indicate if the sentences are correct (C) or incorrect (I).
    TOEFL EXERCISE (Skills 20-21) : Choose the letter of the word or group of words that
    best completes the sentence.

    1. Among bees ______ a highly elaborate form of communication.


    A. Occur
    B. Occurs
    C. It occurs
    D. They occur

    2. _____ heated by solar energy have special collectors on the roofs to trap sunlight.
    A. A homes is
    B. Homes are
    C. A home
    D. Homes
    Choose the letter of the underlined word or group of words that is not correct.

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