HOW TO MAKE CORRECT SENTENCES (Part 1)


HOW TO MAKE CORRECT SENTENCES
 (Part 1)
As most of us already know, a sentence is a group of words composed or put together, with a subject and a verb, which makes a complete sense.  In a more detailed form, Google defines sentence as:  “A set of words that is complete in itself, typically containing a subject and predicate, conveying a statement, question, exclamation, or command, and consisting of a main clause and sometimes one or more subordinate clauses”. 
Of necessity, a sentence must have a subject which the expression is talking about, and a verb which indicates the action of the subject in the expression, to give us a clear understanding of the matter.  Also, a sentence starts with an initial capital letter and ends with a full stop (period); but it could also end with question mark or exclamation mark, if the sentence is a question or an exclamation
For us to make correct sentences, be they in written form or in spoken form, we must understand and apply the Rules of Subject-Verb Agreement or Subject-Verb Concord.
The importance of rules of subject-verb agreement or concord in making correct sentences can be illustrated with the indispensability of garri and boiling water in making ‘eba’; eggs and onions in preparing omelette; ripe plantain and oil in frying ‘dodo’; paper and ink in printing textbooks etc.
Subject-verb concord requires that the subject of a sentence and the verb of such sentence must agree. Simply put, if the subject of the sentence is singular, the verb must be singular.  And if the subject of a sentence is plural, the verb must be plural.
English experts have propounded many rules for subject-verb concord, with some inter-twining others with very little, negligible differences.  To make the rules concise and clear, I have categorised them into 20 (twenty) for easier discussion in our column.  Now, let us discuss a few of the rules in this edition, and continue with others in subsequent editions.
Rules of Subject-Verb Concord
Rule 1:  Subjects and Verbs Must Agree in Number and in Person:         
The requirement of this rule is that if a subject is singular, the verb going with it must be singular; and if the subject is plural, the verb going with it must be plural.
Examples:
(i)                The cat eats rats regularly.
(ii)             The cats eat rats regularly
(iii)           He treks a distance of 7 kilometres to and from school everyday.
(iv)           They trek a distance 7 kilometres to and from school everyday.
(v)             The child eats 3 times daily.
(vi)           The children eat 3 times daily.
Note:    In the examples above, the subjects in singular forms agree with their singular verbs while those in plural forms also agree with their plural verbs.  

Rule 2:  When sentences start with “there” or “here”, the subject will always be placed after the verb:
This means that irrespective of where the verb is placed in a given sentence, it must come ahead of the subject being emphasized, although there could be several nouns in a sentence, depending on the length of such sentence.
Examples:
(i)                There are several vehicles being used by Chief Onos Umukoro, in his business operations.
(ii)             There are over 1,000 students receiving lectures in the new ultra-modern auditorium.
(iii)           Here are the empty bottles of drinks consumed by Ogbudi this afternoon.
(iv)           Here lay the ruins of the castle once used by the warriors of our ancient kingdom.
(v)             There are many unsubstantiated claims being made by unscrupulous false accusers against the new manager.
Rule 3:       If two subjects are joined by “and”, they typically require a plural verb form.
The use of “and” in this rule, shows that the subjects coming into play, are more than one; hence the use of plural verb to be in concord with them.
Examples:
(i)                The goat and the dog are fighting in the nearby field.
(ii)             Ufuoma and Mamuyovwi are washing their school uniforms.
(iii)           The operations manager and the chief accountant have worked out the over-time pay of the factory workers.
(iv)           Both the fresh and stale students of the institution have been strongly advised to maintain law and order.
(v)                Both the clergy and the lay members of the church have been thrown into serious panic over the tremor that affected the church building.

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