SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT

Perhatikaan beberapa kalimat berikut:

ü  I go to the school by bus everyday.

ü  She goes to the school by bus everyday.

ü  The mouse eats the cake on the table.

ü  The mice eat the cake on the table.

ü  The child is playing.

ü  The children are playing.

Penggunaan verb dalam sebuah kalimat harus sesuai dengan subject kalimat tersebut. Ini yang dimaksud dengan subject-verb agreement. Hal ini sering menjebak seseorang ketika mengerjakan tes TOEFL. Perhatikan rumus-rumus berikut:

Subject yang dipisahkan dari Verb

Subject_singular + [preposition phrase] + verb_singular

Subject_plural + [preposition phrase] + verb_plural

beberapa kata yang selalu diikuti oleh singular verbs dan singular pronouns

û  Any + singular noun		û  Some + singular noun	û  every	û  Each
û  anybody	û  Nobody	û  Somebody	û  Everybody	û  Either
û  Anyone	û  No one	û  Someone	û  Everyone	û  Neither
û  Anything	û  Nothing	û  Something	û  Everything

Note: either dan neither adalah singular jika tidak diikuti dengan or dan nor

Contoh:

ü  Everybody who brings the ticket can enter the room.

ü  Anybody who has not paid the ticket should buy the ticket on the locket first.

ü  If either of them has not takes a break now, they won’t be able to finish their work.

None/no

None dan no dapat diikuti oleh verb plural maupun singular, tergantung noun yang mengikuti none.

None + of the + noncount noun + verb_singular

None + of the + count noun_plural + verb_plural

Contoh:

ü  None of the milk in the bottle has been drunk.

ü  None of the students have finished the homework.

No + singular noun/noncount noun + verb_singular

No + plural noun + plural verb

Contoh:

ü  No student is out of classroom.

ü  No students are out of classroom.

Either/neither

Ketika dalam kalimat either/neither diikuti oleh or/nor, verb yang digunakan dapat berupa verb singular atau plural tergantung noun yang mengikuti or/nor (singular/plural noun).

Either/neither + noun + or/nor + noun_singular + verb_singular

Either/neither + noun + or/nor + noun_plural + verb_plural

Contoh:

ü  Either Rob or his friends are going to school today.

ü  Either Rob or his friend is going to school today.

ü  Neither Rick nor his brother likes sport.

ü  Neither Rick nor his sisters like sport

Collective nouns

Collective nouns adalah kata yang menunjukkan sekelompok benda (noun) dalam bentuk singular, sehingga verb yang mengikutinya juga dalam bentuk singular.

Congress	Family	Group	Committee	Class
Organization	Team	Army	Club	Crowd
Goverment	Jury	Majority	Minority	Public

Note: majority dapat berupa singular atau plural. Jika berdiri sendiri berarti singular, jika diikuti plural noun berarti plural.

Contoh:

ü  The majority wants to come in the ceremony tonight.

ü  The majority of the students want to come in the ceremony tonight.

ü  The committee has decided new rules for this year.

ü  The family is going to vacation this holiday.

ü  The team plays football every week.

Beberapa kata berikut menunjukkan sekelompok binatang.

Flock of birds, sheep	Herd of cattle	Pack of dogs
School of fish	Pride of lions.

Contoh:

ü  The flock of birds is flying over the sea.

ü  The herd of cattle is eating at the field.

ü  A school of fish is swimming across the water fall.

Collective nouns yang mengindikasikan time, money, dan measurements juga diikuti oleh singular verb.

ü  Thirty-seven dollars is not enough to pay those pants.

ü  Forty minutes is too long to finish the job.

ü  Three miles is too far to walk.

A number of/the number of

A number of diikuti oleh plural noun dan plural verb, sedangkan the number of diikuti oleh plural noun dan singular verb.

A number of + nounplural + verbplural

The number of + nounplurar + verbsingular

ü  A number of students are going back from vacation.

ü  The number of days in January is thirty one.

A number of menunjukkan jumlah, yang berarti plural. The number of menunjukkan angka.

Nouns yang selalu berupa plural

Kata benda (nouns) berikut selalu berbentuk jamak (plural) dan tidak pernah dapat berubah menjadi bentuj tunggal (singular), sehingga verb yang mengikuti adalah verb plural. Kecuali ditambahkan pair of sebelumnya.

Scissors	Trousers	Shorts	Glasses	Pants
Pliers	Jeans	Tweezers	Tongs

Contoh:

ü  The pants on the table are yours.

ü  A pair of pants on the table is yours.

There is/there are

There + is/was/has been + singular subject + ...

There + are/were/have been + plural subject + ...

Contoh:
ü  There is a bottle of milk on the table.

ü  There was an accident last week.

ü  There have been a number of people looking for you.

ü  There are a lot of books at the library.