english 155
DESCRIPTION
Agenda Review: Sentences/Subjects Presentations for Buildings New: Subject/Verb Agreement Benchmark: Choosing a Topic. English 155. Meeting 4 with Tosspon. Presentations!. Tell the class about your building – 5 min per student MAX - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
English 155
Meeting 4 with Tosspon
Agenda
Review:• Sentences/
Subjects• Presentations
for Buildings
New: • Subject/Verb
Agreement• Benchmark:
Choosing a Topic
Presentations!
• Tell the class about your building – 5 min per student MAX
• Write 10 sentences about your performance: did you find it acceptable? Was your eye contact okay? What could you have done better? What grade should you get (0-100%)? What did you do to prepare? What was the class doing during your presentation?
• Hold onto this until the end of class.
EVERY VERB MUST AGREE WITH ITS SUBJECT
SingularSubject
PluralVerb
PluralSubject
SingularVerb
The Stupidity of English Grammar
To make a noun plural, we add –s Singular: girl Plural: girls
To make a verb plural, we take away the –s. Singular: he talks Plural: they talk
Watch the Verb Endings!
Singular I walk You walk He/She/It walk s
Joe walk s The girl walk s
Plural We walk You walk They walk
Joe and Maria walk The girls walk
Remember the 3 irregular verbs:
DOSingular Plural He does They do
HAVE She has They have
BE He is They are She was They were
Tip for Subject/verb Agreement
Generally, if the subject doesn’t end in –S, the verb will.
If the subject does end in –S, the verb won’t.
The girl dances.
No –S on subject
-S on verb
The girls dance.
-S on subject
No –S on verb
Compound subjects joined by “and”
If there are two or more subjects joined by and, the subject must be plural, so the verb will not get an “s”.
Example The boy and the girl dance.
(= They dance.)
No –S on verb
Compound subjects joined by “or”
If there are two or more subjects joined by or, the verb agrees with the part of the subject closest to it.
Examples: The professor or the students walk
the halls. The students or the professor walks
the halls.
Watch out for “Everybody”
• Everybody loves grammar!
• Everybody understands subject/verb agreement.
Possible PitfallsSometimes, several words come
between the subject and the verb.
The student, though she had lots of problems in other schools, finds/find (?) her new class easy. The student, though she had lots of problems
in other schools, finds her new class easy. The student finds her new class easy.
Appositive Phrase! Cross it out to find the subject!
Prepositional phrases
The subject can never be part of a prepositional phrase.
ExampleThe students in my class study /
studies hard.X
Prepositional Phrase! Cross it out to find the subject!
Possible PitfallsSometimes, the subject will come after
the verb, in questions or when sentence begins with there.
Examples Why is he falling asleep? Why are they falling asleep? There is no excuse for such behavior. There are no excuses for such behavior.
Possible Pitfalls
Relative Pronouns (who/which/that) can be either singular or plural, depending on the word they refer to.
The student who works hard will succeed.
The students who work hard will succeed.
How do I get this right?
First, identify whether or not you have problems with subject/verb agreement.
If you don’t have any problems with this, don’t worry about it!
If you do have problems Identify the verb. Ask who or what is
doing it. This will identify the subject. Say them together and make sure that
they match in terms of number.
Making Subjects and Verbs Agree –Practice
1. Many companies today (tests, test) their workers for drugs.
2. To many people it (seems, seem) an invasion of privacy.
3. Employers (worries, worry) that bus and train drivers are using drugs on the job.
4. They (doesn’t, don’t) want the lives of their passengers at risk.
Subject____________
Subject__
Subject____________
Subject_____
Making Subjects and Verbs Agree – Practice
5. Even operators of rides in amusement parks (undergoes, undergo) tests.
6. Professional athletes on a team (has, have) special problems because of unwelcome publicity.
7. Some factories (installs, install) hidden video cameras for surveillance.
8. The General Motors Company (hires, hire) undercover agents as workers.
Subject_________
Subject_________
Subject_________
Subject____________________________
Benchmark Requirements & Schedule Handout: Benchmark assignment
Argumentative Research Paper Topic must be approved by instructor
Provide Evidence – research! Use 25 vocabulary words from your research 1 primary source (interview, survey, etc) 4 secondary sources (1 MUST be in print) Present BOTH sides of the case/topic MLA + MLA works cited Presentation in wk 7 – what’s new, true, and
you!
Goals for today
Select your topic Do preliminary research – fill out the
research form
Planning your research
Budgeting Sarah, Jane, Josh
Write ideas about solutions to the question
What do you KNOW about this topic:
Causes of the problem, things you KNOW for sure
Facts
What do you need to learn about this?
What questions do we NEED to answer
LearningWhere can we find the answers?
Possible websites (not “the internet”, be more specific)
Need to use • 3 websites• 1 “local expert” • 1 book, magazine or newspaper
Action Plan
Research Plan