Grammatical Concord

DR S. ASHIKUTI
Analyse and comment on the
sentence below.
*Please just buy us a three sweets.

*This are my only students in this group.

*Those guy has an incredible talents.

*A presenters are expected to seat over there.

*He brought an onions and other vegetables.

*My aunt is a great cook; he is training to be a chef.

*Either you or I are expected to deal with this.

 Concord
Concord refers to an agreement relationship
between two grammatical items in a sentence.
Such a relationship requires harmony/agreement
between the items in a sentence.
Lack of concord between words in a sentence leads
to ungrammatical sentences.
Subject-verb agreement/concord is considered to be
the most important in English.
Concord types

Noun- Article-
pronoun noun
concord concord

Quantifier
Subject-
Adjective-
verb
noun
concord
Types of concord
concord
 Subject-verb agreement
The subject and verb must agree in number.

Typically, a singular subject should be followed by a singular verb.

All the contestants are expected to arrive soon.

Typically, a plural subject should be followed by a plural verb.

The university is open for all.

Either my niece or my cousins have driven off with my car.

Either his parents or his sister is waiting for him outside.

 Complete the sentences below
using is or are.
John and Paul…sitting outside.

Nobody… going to tell me what to do!

None of us … here to buy anything.

Everyone … waiting for the doctor.

Twenty Dollars… a lot of money.

All I will give you… 30 minutes.

 Noun-pronoun concord
Pronouns must agree in number and gender with the nouns they replace.

These three girls are sisters.

What I was expecting to see is a car.

This is my brother’s room; it is always neat.

*This are my only students in this group.

*Those guy has an incredible talents.

*My aunt is a great cook; he is training to be a chef.

 Article-noun concord
Articles must agree in number with the nouns that they describe and precede.

He bought pens, rulers and some books for all learners.

Please hand me a pen.

*He brought an onions and other vegetables.

*A presenters are expected to seat over there.

*After attending the concert, a parents went to the movies.

 Quantifier Adjective/AdjP- noun
concord
A quantifier adjective/ adjective phrase is placed before a noun to indicate quantities, i.e. a
few, some, many, both each etc.
A quantifier adjective/adjective phrase must agree in number with the nouns they precede.

A number of people have complained about this issue.

Some years ago, a new approach was introduced.

*Many teacher are passionate about their work.

*One childs has been standing at the counter for some time.

*Each days that passes, they worry more about it.

 Complete the sentence below with
has/have.
The minister, in addition to the president,…outlined the
new measures.
The nurses, as well as a doctor, … visited this clinic.

The principal, together with the school board, … made

the final decision.
The officers, with their boss,…heard our pleas.
 Please note:
Collective nouns are singular in form but plural in meaning.

The cattle you are looking for are in the field.

When a collective noun refers to the group as a whole, it is followed

by a singular verb.
The police is discussing the matter.

When a collective noun refers to individuals, it is followed by a plural

verb.
The police are looking for the suspect.
 Please note:

Nouns referring to items made up of two parts are

considered plural.
The scissors I bought are faulty.

Those pants are torn.

To fix this, all I need are pliers.

Your shorts are on the washing line.