GE 5 (Pre-Finals)

SUBJECT-VERB-AGREEMENT

What is Subject?
It refers to the noun or pronoun. Noun or pronoun refers to a person, place, thing, idea, and
concept that we are talking about in the sentence.
What is Verb?
It refers to the action word or the state of being.
According to the rule of grammar, the subject and the verb must agree to each other. There are
several rules that needs to be followed in order for the subject and verb to have an agreement.

RULE 1: The verb must agree to the subject in terms of numbers. In English grammar, there is
only 2 numbers which is the Singular and Plural.
 Singular – refers to the singularity of an object, and it refers to only one.
 Plural – refers to two or more objects.
Therefore, if the subject is in singular form, then it should only take the singular form of the verb. If
the subject is in plural form, it should only take the plural form of the verb.
Examples:
1. The car stays in the garage.
2. The flower smells good.

RULE 2: The number of the subject (singular or plural) is not changed by words that come
between the subject and verb.
Example:
1. One of the chicken eggs is broken.
The subject one and the verb is, are both singular. Mentally omit the prepositional phrase to make
the subject-verb agreement easier to make.

RULE 3: Some subjects always take a singular verb even though the meaning may seem plural.
These subjects always take singular verbs:
Each Someone
Either Anyone
Neither Nobody
One Somebody
No one Anybody
Everyone Everybody
Example:
1. Someone in the game was hurt (not were) hurt.
2. Neither of the men is (not are) working.

RULE 4: The following words may be singular or plural, depending upon their use in a sentence :
some, any, all, most.
Example:
1. Most of the news is good. (singular)
2. Most of the flowers were yellow. (plural)
3. All of the pizza was gone. (singular)
4. All of the children were late. (plural)

RULE 5: Subjects joined by and are plural. Subjects joined by or or nor take a verb that agrees
with the last subject. EITHER-OR and NEITHER-NOR.
Example:
1. Bob and George are leaving.
2. Neither Bob nor George is leaving.
3. Neither Bob nor his friends are leaving.

RULE 6: There and here are never subjects. In sentences that begin with these words, the
subject is usually found later on in the sentence.
Example:
1. There were five books on the shelf.
2. Here is the report you wanted.

RULE 7: Collective nouns may be singular or plural depending on their use in the sentence. A
collective noun is a noun used to name a whole group. The following are some common
examples:
Army Crowd Orchestra
Audience Flock Public
Class group Swarm Club
Herd Team Committee
Jury Troop United States
Example:
1. The orchestra is playing a hit song.
2. The orchestra were asked to give their musical backgrounds.

RULE 8: Expression of time, money, measurement, and weight are usually singular when the
amount is considered one unit.
Example:
1. Five dollars is (not are) too much to ask.
2. Ten days is (not are) not nearly enough time.

RULE 8: Some nouns, while plural in form, are actually singular in meaning. Some of the
examples are:
Mumps Home Economics Measles
Calisthenics Statistics Civics Social Studies
Physics Gymnastics Phonics News
Acrobatics Aesthetics Thesis Mathematics

RULE 10: Don’t and Doesn’t must agree with the subject. Use doesn’t after he, she, and it.

Does – singular Do - plural

Doesn’t – singular Don’t – plural
 GE 5
PUNCTUATION MARKS

PERIOD . COLON : HYPHEN -

QUESTION MARK ? COMMA , DASH --

EXCLAMATION POINT ! APOSTROPHE PARENTHESES ()

SEMI-COLON ; QUOTATION MARKS “” BRACES []

ELLIPSIS …

PERIOD
 used to mark the end of:
1. Sentences
 Lorna has gone on vacation.
 I will miss her help while she is gone.
2. Indirect questions
 Before she left, she asked me if I would water her plants.
 I asked her if she would send me a postcard.
3. Commands
 Please type this letter for me.
 Answer the phone.
4. Requests phrased as questions
 Would you please type this letter as soon as possible.
 May we have your response by the end of the week.
5. Most abbreviations
 Mr. Mrs. Inc.
 Ms. Co. Corp.
Except for abbreviations of organizational names
 IBM CIA NATO
 FBI ASEAN OPEC
 do not use periods:
1. After a heading or a title
 Chapter One: Recognizing Verbs and Subjects
2. After a sentence ending in a punctuated abbreviation
 Our guest speaker this evening is Marcus More, Ph.D.
3. When the number or letters of a list have been enclosed in the parentheses.
 The following factors will be considered: (a) attendance, (b) punctuality, and (c)
performance.
Compare with:
The following factors will be considered:
1. Attendance
2. Punctuality
3. Performance

QUESTION MARK
 Use to mark the end of:
1. Direct questions
  Will my order be ready by Tuesday?
 Have you checked your records?
2. Directly quoted questions
 “Do you mind if I smoke?” asked the interviewer.
 He then asked, “How old are you?”
EXCLAMATION MARK
 Used to mark the end of:
1. Sentences to indicate emphasis or strong emotion
 Stop interrupting me!
 Unauthorized personnel are not to be admitted!
2. Interjections (words or phrases inserted into sentence to indicate emphasis or
surprise)
 Boy! Was I angry.
 Stop! Do not read any further.
TAKE NOTE: Question marks and exclamation marks are not to be followed by period or
comma.

SEMICOLON
 Used to join two closely related sentences
1. Sam sees the trees; Willy hears the birds.
2. I will arrange a guest speaker; Arlene will take care of refreshments.
3. We have sent you three bills and two statements; however, we have not received your
payment.
4. I received your bill for consultant services performed in April; therefore, I am enclosing a
check for $940.
Instead of using a subordinating conjunction, semicolon can be of good use to connect
two related phrases.
TAKE NOTE: The test for correct semicolon use is to see whether a period would be
grammatically correct in its place. If not, the semicolon has been misused.

COLON
 Used in the following situations:
1. Before a formal list
 When evaluating a credit application, consider the following: credit history, employment
history, and current assets.
2. Before an explanation
 A letter refusing credit should be positive: you hope to continue business on a cash
basis.
3. Before a formal quotation
 Secretary’s World reports: “Secretaries are members of the fastest-growing
occupational group. Annual average job openings are now 300,000 and expected to
expand to 325,000.
4. After the salutation in a business letter
 Dear Sir:
 Gentlemen:
5. Between a title and a subtitle
 Word Processing: An Introduction
6. Between the hour and minute of a time reference
 9:10 A.M
 11:15 P.M

COMMA
 Used in the following situations:
1. S V, coordinator SV
 Sam speaks, and Willy listens.
  Jonathan loves English, but he loves math.
2. Subordinator SV, SV
 When Sam speaks, Willy listens.
 After he submitted his test paper, he went directly to his dormitory.
CONNECTORS POPULAR WORDS USE/PURPOSE
Coordinators For, and, nor, but, or, yet, so  Join grammatically equal
(CONJUNCTIONS) (complete list – FANBOYS is units together
the acronym)  Do NOT emphasize one
idea over another.
Subordinators Because, since, although,  Establish an unequal
whereas, as, while, unless, grammatical relationship
until, if, when, after, etc. (not a  Emphasize one idea over
complete list. another
NOTE IN USING COMMA
Note 1: When the subordinator is in the middle, there is usually NO comma.
 Sam speaks as Willy listens.
Note 2: Be careful NOT to use a comma when a coordinator is connecting two verbs.
 Sam speaks and listens.
Note 3: A subject should NEVER be separated from its verb with a single comma.

3. After an introductory word (e.g., transition word)

 Indeed, Sam likes to dominate a conversation.
 Nevertheless, Willy doesn’t understand much of what he says.
4. After introductory phrases
 Trying to sound important, he tends to make a fool of himself.
5. For separating items in a series or list
 Natasha has studied marketing, salesmanship, and advertising.
 Your report must be in files, on my desk, or among my other mail.
 To look your best, feel your best, and be your best requires a personal program or
sound diet and strenuous exercise.
6. For separating adjectives listed before a noun
 All-City Video employs courteous, knowledgeable, and helpful salespeople.
NOTE 1: A comma is needed if it would be correct to insert and between the adjectives (as in the
example above).
NOTE 2: If and cannot be inserted, do NOT use a comma.
 They offer the lowest retail prices in town.
7. For setting off interrupting expressions (i.e., expressions that are not essential to the
structure or meaning of a sentence.
a. Contrasted elements
 The chairman of the board, not the stakeholders, made the decision.
 I returned to school to improve my typing, not my English.
b. Parenthetical expressions
 The affidavit, I think, is ready to be typed.
 It is, in fact, a convincing legal document.
c. Appositives – noun or pro noun phrase placed next to another word or phrase to
identify, rename, or explain it.
 The president of this company, Rafa al-habobi, started out as a sales trainee.
 A woman of humble origins, Mrs. Peters is now the owner of a large retail chain.

NOTE 1: When the interrupter appears in the middle of a sentence, it is both preceded AND
followed by a comma.

NOTE 2: An interrupter at the beginning or end of a sentence requires only one comma to
separate it from the rest.

8. To set off degrees and titles from a person’s name

 Linda Porter, M.D., performed the surgery.
9. To set off Inc. and Ltd. From corporate names
 Emily Adams now works for Jericho Steel, Inc.
 Troy Motors, Ltd. was founded in 1987.
10. To separate city names from state/country names
 He was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York.
 Bulacan, Philippines is my hometown.
 11. To set off the year from the month and day in a date
 The company opened four overseas branches on January 26, 2011.
12. To separate non-restrictive expressions from other words in a sentence
 Non-restrictive expressions – NOT essential to the meaning of a sentence; adds
information.
 My father, who is bilingual, should have no trouble finding a job.
 Mr. Brown’s wife, Janet, is an attorney.

APOSTROPHE
 Used in the following:
1. To indicate the possessive form of nouns and indefinite pronouns
a. The possessive form of singular nouns and indefinite pronouns take ‘s at the end.
 The briefcase owned by Martin – Martin’s briefcase.
 The fault of nobody – Nobody’s fault.
 The property owned by the company – The company’s property.
 The telephone number of Bess – Bess’s telephone number.
 The job of my boss – My boss’s job.
b. Plural nouns NOT ending in -s or -es form the possessive by adding ‘s.
 The rights of women – Women’s rights.
 The scientific names of those fungi – Those fungi’s scientific name.
c. Plural nouns ending in -s or -es form the possessive by adding only an
apostrophe
 The benefit of the workers – The worker’s benefits
 Labels of the boxes – Boxes’ labels
d. Hyphenated nouns
 The editor-in-chief’s office
 My father-in-law’s business
e. Nouns in joint possession: Add ‘s to the last noun only
 Ray and Sally’s friend
 Tom and Rita’s store
f. If separate possession is intended: Add ‘s to both nouns
 Al’s and Lucy’s answers
2. Contractions
a. I would = I’d
b. Can not = Can’t
c. They are = They’re
d. 1929 = ‘29
e. Because = ‘cause
NOTE: Contractions should be avoided in formal written English.
3. To form special plurals
a. Lowercase letters
 The w’s on this typewriter come out looking like u’s.
b. Abbreviations ending with periods
 All the M.D.’s in the theater offered their help.

QUOTATION MARKS
 Used for the following:
 1. To enclose the exact words, form either someone’s writin or speech
 In an article on credit, financial advisor Jane Freund wrote: “Establishing credit
before you need it is an intelligent precaution.
NOTE: a quote within a quote is enclosed in a single quotation mark (‘ ‘):
 Freund noted: “We all have at least one friend who brags, ‘I never buy anything on
credit.’ But that one person is establishing no credit history, a hedge against the day
he may need credit.
2. To enclose the titles of short stories, essays, articles, poems, and chapters
 We were required to read the article “How to ask for a raise” in the August issue of
Secretary’s World.
COMPARE: Titles of full-length works (e.g., books, magazines, newspapers, plays, movies,
and television shows) are usually italicized.
 The book Abraham Lincoln and the road to Emancipation was published in 2001
by Viking Press in New York.

HYPHEN
 Used for the following:
1. To join two or more words into a compound
 Do-it-yourself instruction booklets
 A wait-and-see attitude
 A thirty-year-old woman

2. For compound numbers from 21 to 99

 Thirty-eight
 Eighty-two
3. With fractions
 One-quarter
 Four-fifths
4. With the prefixes ex-, all-, self-, and pro-
 Ex-convict
 All-star
 Self-help
 Pro-tennis
DASH
 Two kinds:
1. En Dash --
 The width of an n
 A little longer than a hyphen
2. Em Dash ---
 The width of an m
(Hyphen is short - )

EN DASH
 Used for the following:
1. To connect two items (usually numbers) that designate a range
 We submitted chapters 10—12 well after midnight
 Indeed, 2001—2003 were the happiest year of her life
2. When combining open compounds with other words
 The author is a Nobel Prize—winning chemist
  We crossed the Virginia—North Carolina border past midnight.

EN DASH – review
3 kinds of compounds:
1. Closed – Firefly, Secondhand, Childlike, Makeup, Keyboard
2. Hyphenated – Daughter-in-law, Master-at-arms, Six-pack, ten-year-old
3. Open – post office, full moon, half sister

EM DASH
 Used for the following:
1. To indicate a sudden change of thought or tone
 I plan to study for the exam all night -– if my eyes hold out.
 Mr. Rodriguez --- do you remember him for last year’s convention? – will be joining our
staff in May.
2. To break off an unfinished statement
 Mrs. Olsen mumbled, “I can’t seem to remember where---“
3. Between an introductory list and the explanatory sentence that follows
 Calmness, confidence, and a copy of your resume --- bring all of these to a job
interview.
4. To attribute quotations
 If you can dream it, you can do it. --- Walt Disney
 It is not in the starts to hold our destiny, but in ourselves. --- William Shakespeare

EM DASH – review
 The Em Dash should be used discreetly.
 It is NOT a substitute for commas or terminal punctuation.

PARENTHESES
 Used for the following:
1. To enclose statements that are completely separate from the main thought of a
sentence; such statements may serve as supplement or a reference
 In some professions (physical therapy, for example), a dress code may be strictly
enforced.
 Margaret Grange (1883—1966) was the author of several books on corporate finance.

NOTE 1: Sentence punctuation comes AFTER the closing parenthesis.

 I have investigated various models of calculators for the office (see the attached list), but
none has been purchased yet.
NOTE 2: However, if the parentheses enclose a whole sentence, the terminal punctuation is
placed INSIDE the closing parenthesis.
 Please submit your time cards by Wednesday evening. Blank time cards are available in
the personnel office.)

BRACKETS
 Used for the following:
1. Parentheses within parentheses
1. The role of business in American life has often been the subject of our fiction (see,
for example, the novels of William Dean Howells [1837 – 1920]).
2. Interpolations within a quotation
 2. In Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Charlie pays tribute to Willy Loman: “[A
salesman’s] a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoe shine… a
salesman has got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory.”
3. Editorial corrections and comments
3. The professor ended his lecture with this remark: “All of you will hopefully
[sic] read at least some of these books.”
NOTE: Sic here means that the word hopefully, although used incorrectly, is being
reproduced from the original quotation.

ELLIPSIS
 Used within a quotation to indicated an omitted word or words
 President Ohashi began his address to the Board of Directors by saying, “The age of the
personal computer has just begun. This company got started two years ago with just a
quarter of a million dollars and 10,000 sales. Now, despite the birth of several competitors,
our market is expanding phenomenally. Next year, we expect to sell 500,000 competitors.
COMPARE:
 President Ohashi began his address to the Board of Directors by saying, “The age of the
personal computer has just begun… Next year, we expect to sell 500,000 competitors.”
 GE 5
APPLICATION LETTER & RESUME

Business Letter – a letter sent from a business or organization to another or to an individual.

Application Letter – it shows how your background exactly fits a particular position (information
on your experience and talent).
Resume – a general record of your experience, education, and accomplishments.
NOTE: The Application Letter is not a duplicate of a Resume.

PARTS OF A LETTER:
Dateline – complete and current date.
Inside Address – consists of infos about the
person you will be addressing the letter.
Salutation – the greeting of the letter.(Dear
Sir:)
Greeting – the special greeting included in
the body of the letter. (1 space for Salu. to
Gre.)
Body – the message of the letter. (1 single
space)
Subparts of the Body:
Introduction – contains the intent and
purpose of writing and short personal info. of
the applicant.
Body - contains brief info of your
qualifications.
Conclusion - contains concluding part.

Complimentary Close – the ending of the letter. (Sincerely, or Respectfully yours,)

Signature (handwritten) – the author signs the letter after it has been printed.

APPLICATION LETTER FORMATTING

FORMATTING – 1st Page
Top Margin - 1”
Right Margin - 1”
Left Margin - 1”
Bottom Margin - 1”

FORMATTING – 1st Page

Arial 12
Single Spacing
Full-block style
Short BOndpaper

NOTES TO REMEMBER:
1. Short and straightforward
2. Error-free (grammar, punctuations, format)
3. Presentable
4. Single page is highly preferable
5. Eliminate the objective part and other non-valuable information

RESUME FORMATTING
1. Long bondpaper
2. Arial 12
3. 2x2 size FORMAL PHOTO (with collar and white background)