In What would be a structured converstion , you always

need a person or object you are referring to and the topic

that is being what you are communicating about
Tips for subject-verb agreement
Someone or something must be present in a sentence, and that someone or something doing
the action or being talked about is the subject. Verbs are the words that express the action the
subject is doing or the state of being the subject is in. Subjects and verbs must agree if you’re
going to get your point across as clearly as possible. Otherwise, you end up with an
incomplete sentence or a sentence that makes no sense.

 Match singular subjects with singular verbs, plural subjects with plural verbs (I run,
she runs, they run).
 Amounts of time and money are usually singular (ten dollars is).
 Either/or and neither/nor: Match the verb to the closest subject (neither the boys nor
the girl is).
 Either and neither, without their partners or and nor, always take a singular verb
(either of the apples is).
 All subjects preceded by each and every take a singular verb (each CD is mine; every
one of the cheeses is different).
 Both, few, several, and many are always plural (both/many are qualified; few want the
job; several were hired).

Placing proper punctuation

Can you imagine what a sentence without any punctuation would be like? Without proper
punctuation, it would be unreadable. Knowing when and how to use the period, comma,
colon, semicolon, and other punctuation marks will make your writing smoother and more
understandable.

 Endmarks: All sentences need an endmark: a period, question mark, exclamation

point, or ellipsis. Never put two endmarks at the end of the same sentence.
 Apostrophes: For singular ownership, generally add’s; for plural ownership,
generally add s’.
 Commas: In direct address, use commas to separate the name from the rest of the
sentence. In lists, place commas between items in a list, but not before the first item.
Before conjunctions, when combining two complete sentences with a conjunction,
place a comma before the conjunction. If you have one subject and two verbs, don’t
put a comma before the conjunction.
 Hyphens: If two words create a single description, put a hyphen between them if the
description comes before the word that it’s describing. Don’t hyphenate two-word
descriptions if the first word ends in -ly.
 Colon: Use a colon after an independent clause that precedes a list and to separate an
explanation, rule, or example from a preceding independent clause.
 Semicolon: Use a semicolon to join independent clauses in compound sentences that
do not have coordinating conjunctions (and, or, but, nor, for, so, yet) and commas as
 connectors. Words like however, moreover, thus, and therefore, are often used as
connectors in these sentences. You can also use semicolons to separate long or
complicated items in a series that already includes commas, and to separate two long
or complex independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction if confusion
would result from using a comma.

Verb tense tips

Besides showing the action or state of being in the sentence, the verb also indicates the time
the action or “being” took place. By learning about the different kinds of simple, perfect,
past, and present tenses, your speaking and writing will be clear and concise.

 Simple present tense: tells what is happening now

 Simple past tense: tells what happened before now
 Simple future: talks about what has not happened yet
 Present perfect tense: expresses an action or state of being in the present that has
some connection with the past
 Past perfect tense: places an event before another event in the past
 Future perfect tense: talks about something that has not happened yet in relation to
another event in the future

About This Article

This article is from the book:

 English Grammar For Dummies

About the book author:

Geraldine Woods has more than 35 years of teaching experience. She is the author of more
than 50 books, including English Grammar Workbook For Dummies and Research Papers
For Dum

mies.

This article can be found in the category:

 Grammar & Vocabulary

 Illogical Comparisons in English Grammar

 Incomplete Comparisons in English Grammar
 Conjunction Pairs
 Using and Maintaining the Right "Person" in English Grammar
 Subordinate and Independent Clauses in English Grammar
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