Level : Intermediate

Time: 130 min

Aims: Teaching subject-verb agreement with expressions of quantity

Linguistic objective: Learn to use the correct form of the verb ( singular or plural) when the subject is an expression of quantity

Communicative objective: Using expressions of number and amount in presenting the results of a survey done in class

Phase and Time Teacher Activity Student Activity

Success Indicators Aims of the stage

Presentation(8 min)

(12 min)

(10 min)

( 10 min)

Practice(15 min)

-Tell students that they will shortly read a text about Graceland which is Elvis Presley’s estate. Before doing that they will watch a short video about the estate.

-Give students a text about Graceland to read

-Discuss the text +

-Analyze the usage of the expressions of quantity in the text and focus on the subject- verb agreement in these expressions

-On the board present the rule of subject-verb agreement in expressions of quantity

-Error correction exercise: ( pair work) teacher asks students to find the subject and the verb in the

-Watch the video and listen to Elvis

-Read the text

-Answer questions about the text

-Notice the usage of expressions of quantity

-Focus on the form of the verb( sing,plu) in agreement with the subject

-Do the exercise in pairs

-Students are engaged with the material being presented

-Students show interest in reading the text

-Student understand the text

-Students are able to identify the expressions and their usage

-Students understand the agreement

-Able to identify the errors

-Prepare the students to the topic of the text they will read shortly

-Introduce a contextualized usage of the grammar point to be presented

-Present the usage of the grammar material

-Present the correct form of verb in agreement with the subject

-Practice the target grammar point

(15 min)

Production(5 min)

( 8 min)

( 5 min)

( 12 min)

( 8 min)

sentences and then decide if they agree, if not the errors have to be corrected-teacher asks students to compare their answers-correct chorally

-Exercise 2: Supply the appropriate form of the verb exercise: (individually) teacher ask students to supply the correct form of the verb in the present tense to be in agreement with the subject-Students compare their answers- correct chorally

-teacher divide students into groups (5-8) , give each student a hand out of questions to interview other students to do a survey- teacher explains that the students will use tag questions to ask their survey questions- teacher do some examples on the board of tag questions- asks students to do the interviews

-teacher asks students when they finish to add up the ticks in their survey questionnaire and find out the results- teacher asks groups

-give feedback

-Do the exercise

-In groups, students read the questions in the handout

-students interview each other

-Calculate the ticks-decide what to write in the statements

-Students’ answers are correct

-Able to form the correct verb in agreement with the subject

-Student understand the task

-Students are doing the survey

-Students can deduce the results of their survey

-Check the students’ accuracy of the target lesson

- Differentiate when to use singular or plural verb form according to the word that follows the preposition of

-Prepare the students to do a survey by interviewing each other

-Communicative practice

-Use accurately the expressions of quantity in agreement when

( 15 min)

( 10 min)

to write 12 statements about what they have found out, they should use expressions of quantity-groups present their survey results to the class

-Write the statements using expressions of quantity

-Each group present the survey results to the class

-Students are able to use correctly the expressions of quantity

- Each group has prepared 12 statements to present

writing the findings of their survey results

-Contextualize the target grammar point in a fluency practice

Homework/Further work: Give students another survey questionnaire on a specific topic and ask them to interview other people. Consider their findings and write the results of the survey (paying attention to the subject-verb agreement in expressions of quantity) Present it in class the following day.

Resources

Rules and controlled practice number 1 http://www.toeflskill.com/2011/03/agreement-after-expression-of-quantity.html

Controlled practice number 2 http://www.flinders.edu.au/slc_files/Documents/Brochures/subj_verb_agrmt.pdf

Communicative practice Game 30, Group Opinions Grammar 1 Games and activities Peter Watcyn-Jones and Deirdre Howard-Williams p: 17

Warm- up exercise text: http://www.grammar-quizzes.com/clauses-7.html Warm- up exercise video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4QkkpYf0_I

Subject-Verb Agreement: Expressions of Quantity

Lesson Summary Methodology: PPP Level: Intermediate Time: 130 min

Grammatical Objective: Learn to use the correct form of the verb ( singular or plural) when the subject is an expression of quantity

Communicative Objective: Use expressions of number and amount in presenting the results of a survey.

Presentation : 1- Video showing Graceland (Elvis Presley’s estate) and backgroundmusic playing for Elvis to introduce the topic of the warm-upexercise2- Warm-up exercise: Text about Graceland with expressions of quantityin bold3- Students read the text and the teacher focus their attention on theexpressions of quantity and the verb that follows them (singular orplural)4- On the board the rules are presented agreement with expressions ofquantity: one of, most of, some of, half of, part of, all of. The subject canbe singular or plural, depending on what follows the preposition of

Practice: Exercise 1 (15 sentences): Underline the subject once and the verbs twice. Circle the objects that the verbs agree with. Then indicate if the sentences are correct or incorrect. (Pair work) Exercise 2 (12 sentences) Supply the correct form of the verb given in the present tense to be in agreement with the subject.

Production: The students will play Group Opinions game from “ Communicative Practice Games and Activities” by Peter Watcyn-Jones and Deirdre Howard-Williams Students in groups are asked to do a survey, a questionnaire handout is given to each student and they have to interview each other. When they finish, they add up the ticks in their questionnaire and find out the results. Each group has to write 12 statements about their findings using expressions of quantity: some of, none of, most of, half of, one-third of, etc. Then each group will present the statements to compare and discuss.

Presentation

Warm-up text The Estate of Elvis Presley

   When Elvis died on August 16, 1977, he was by no means broke, but his estate at Graceland was costing far too much to maintain. Priscilla received a lot of suggestions from friends. Many of them had been financial advisors to Elvis.  The suggestions involved selling off Graceland.  None of them felt right to Priscilla.  Instead, Priscilla decided to open Graceland to the public. 

Today, Graceland welcomes over 600,000 visitors a year. Most of them come from outside of the city.  They

bring 150 million per year into the economy of Memphis. The rooms have been left as they were in 1977. All of

them are included in the tour.  Also, Elvis' personal items: costumes, wardrobe, awards are on view on the

Graceland tour.   His cars can be seen in the garage. Half of them were Cadillacs.   Elvis loved Cadillacs.One

of them was his favorite — a 1955 pink and white Fleetwood.

A museum across the street displays Elvis' planes.  Elvis never actually learned to fly. One of those planes

was named Lisa,  

More projects are planned in the area surrounding the Graceland Mansion. A number of them include

expansion. Today, Lisa Marie Presley owns 100% of Graceland Estate. EPE (Elvis Presley Enterprises)

manages licensing and sales of Elvis' products. Many of them are available on their website. In 2005, several

EPE shares were sold by Lisa Marie Presley. The majority of her shares were bought by an entertainment

company CKX, Inc.

Rules

Here are some basic rules surrounding subject-verb agreement: The verb agrees with the subject, not the object of the sentence.Watching movies is fun.The book on political parties is interesting. 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

Most (of the meal) was delicious.SINGULARMost (of the meals) were delicious.PLURALMost (of the food) was delicious.UNCOUNTABLE

In the first example, the subject most refers to the singular noun meal, so the correct verb is therefore the singular verb was. In the second example, the subject most refers to the plural noun meals, so the correct verb is the plural verb were. In the third example, the subject most refers to the uncountable noun food, 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 expressions of quantity.

Practice

EXERCISE 1

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).1. Half of the students in the class arrive early.

2. Some of the fruit are rotten.

3 . All of the next chapter contains very important information.

4. Most of the people in the room is paying attention.

5. Part of the soup is left on the stove.

6. Some of the movie were just too violent for me.

7. All of the details in the report needs to be checked.

8. Most of the money is needed to pay the bills.

9. The first half of the class consists of lecture and note taking.

10. Some of the questions on-the test was impossible to answer.

EXERCISE 2

Choose the verb that correctly completes the sentence:

1-Writing with footnotes is/are informative.

2-The shelf of books was/were poorly stacked.

3- The committee of parliamentarians meets/meet on a fortnightly basis.

4-Shakespeare, as well as other English playwrights of the 16th

century, is/are studied in the second year

course.

5-The task of reading essays consumes/consume a lot of a tutor’s time.

6- The behaviour of the children varies/vary according to the weather.

7-The faculty head, together with her senior staff and their secretary, was/were shifted to the new building.

8-The percentage of dropouts was/were declining annually at the university.

9-Economics is/are a major discipline at Flinders.

10-Two thousand dollars buys/buy this video camera.

10-Here is/are a book of modern quotations.

11-Here is/are some quotations from Chairman Mao.

12-Mr Keating and Mr Hewson argue/argues about economic policy for Australia.

13-The spectacles was/were found in the Library.

14-Each of the students is/are asked to fill in the form.

15-Either Cheng or Victor is/are the group leader.

16-Nobody from the schools in our region attends/attend Flinders University.

16-Seven Little Australians is/are a classic children’s book.

Production

A Game: