English Grammar: Compound Subjects & Verb Agreement

What is a compound subject? It is when you combine several subjects together into one. This helps to avoid repetition in a sentence. But how do you make the verb agree with several subjects? For example, do we say "Bill and Kate is kind" or "are kind"? Do we say "Neither John nor his friends need help" or "needs help"? It all depends on subject-verb agreement, which is an important element of writing and speaking in English. In this lesson, we will look at compound subjects and how verbs react to these. I will teach you how to make the verb agree with the subjects in different kinds of sentences. After the video, be sure to do the quiz at https://www.engvid.com/english-grammar-compound-subjects-verb-agreement/ to test yourself on the material.

TRANSCRIPT

Hi. Welcome to engVid. I'm Adam. In today's video we're going to look at the "Compound Subject". So this is a grammar lesson, and it doesn't matter if you're a beginner or advanced, it's very important to understand this because it's very easy to make mistakes, especially in writing.

So, we're going to start by looking at the subject. What is a subject? Just to refresh our memories. The subject is the thing in the sentence or in the clause that is going to do the action or is going to be in the situation of the "be" verb, if it's not an action verb. Right? So... And we always have to make sure that our subject and our verb agree. They must agree, especially in terms of number. If you have a singular subject, you must have a singular verb. Right? So let's look at this example: "The doctor is off this week." Right? So when we're talking about the doctor, there's one doctor, his or her situation is that he or she is off this week. They're on vacation. Right? So we have a singular verb.

Now, we're going to look at compounds in terms of taking two pieces and making one subject out of this... Out of the two individual pieces. We're going to look at "and" and we're going to look at "or", "either", "or", "neither", "nor". Okay? But we're going to look at "or" after, we're going to start with "and". First thing you need to remember about "and", it works like a plus sign. One plus one equals two. So, when you take two individual subjects and you join them together, you're creating a two-or-more situation, or a two-or-more subject, therefore you have a plural subject. Right? So: "The doctor and the nurse are off", so plural, whereas you had singular. Now, it doesn't matter if you have plural pieces. "The doctor and the nurse are", "The doctors and the nurse are", "The doctors and the nurses are", any combination because you're joining them into a group and now they are plural and you have a matching verb.

Now, it's very important to remember that we're talking about compounds and we're using a compound conjunction, but if you use: "The doctors"... Well, let's just say "doctor", no "s". "The doctor as well as the nurses are off this week", would this be correct? No, it would not because you're not making a compound. This is an extra. Okay? "The doctor", but if you had: "The doctors as well as the nurses are off this week", that is correct because then you would still have a plural to a plural. Singular, with "as well as", singular. Plural with "as well as", plural. Now: "as well as", "along with", "together with", "accompanied by", all of these expressions are not compound conjunctions. So we only have a compound subject when we have a compound conjunction joining them. Okay?

But there are situations where you're going to have a compound, but you still have a singular subject. "Spaghetti and meatballs is delicious", not "are". Why is this singular? Because this is a grouped thing, they always go together. Spaghetti and meatballs is one idea. Even though you're joining them, they are basically one item. "Peanut butter and jelly is my favourite snack", or "Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are my favourite snack", but then you're using it as an adjective. If it's one piece, if it's a collective, then it's singular. If it's two separate items, then you're making a compound and then you have a plural.

Look at this one: "The founder and CEO of the company is ready to sell", "The founder and CEO of the company are ready to sell". Now, which of these is correct? Well, both can be correct. You can have one person who is both the founder of the company and the CEO of the company. So if this and this refer to the same person, then it's a singular subject and you're using "is". If the founder and the CEO are two different people, then you're creating a compound, you have a plural, and then you have "are" as correct. So it's very important to understand what the two pieces on either side of "and" are doing. Are they two separate things, or are they one combined thing? And then you'll know which... If it's a plural or a singular subject. I'm going to give you some more examples after so you'll get an idea, but first let's look at "or". […]

Видео English Grammar: Compound Subjects & Verb Agreement канала Adam’s English Lessons · engVid