CBSE Class 7 English Grammar Agreement of Verb and Subject
Present Tense
A verb must agree in number and person with its subject.
(a) When the subject is third person singular, most English verbs end in -s or -es but there is no -s or -es with third person plural.
He goes to school.
They go to school.
| Exceptions (i) The Verb ‘be’ and its forms are exceptions to this rule : He is a friend. I am your friend. They Eire friends. (ii) Can, must, may and ought to and the auxiliaries will and shall do not have ‘s’ or ‘es’ with either singular or plural. He can/must/may/ought to/ will/ shall do it. They can/must/may/ought to/will/shall do it. When ‘will is a full verb meaning desire, it follows the rule for most other verbs and takes ‘-s’ when the subject is third person singular. . Whatever God wills, man cannot alter. Verbs that end with ‘y’ and have a consonant before this ‘y’, the ‘y’ changes into ‘f and ‘-es’ is added if the subject is third person singular. Ram relies on me. He tries his best. He flies a kite. |
(b) A singular subject is sometimes mistaken as plural e.g. when(it starts with (one of, either, neither etc.). Remember that these must be taken as singular.
Either of you is wrong.
Neither of them works here.
One of the teachers teaches English.
(c) When a sentence begins with ‘there’ the verb agrees with the real subject that comes after the verb.
There comes John.
There are fifty students in my class.
(d) When the subject is plural but represents a single figure or quantity, it takes a singular verb.
A hundred kilometres is a long distance.
Exercise 1
(Solved)
Insert the correct form of the verbs in the blank spaces in the following sentences:
1. A good dictionary …………. a lot. (cost)
2. These five chairs …………. one thousand rupees. (cost)
3. Ten kilometres …………. a long distance to walk. (be)
4. Sita …………. next to my house. (live)
5. Bread and butter …………. a wholesome food. (be)
Answers:
1. costs
2. cost
3. is
4. lives
5. is
Exercise 2
(Solved)
Insert ‘is’ or ‘are’ in the following sentences :
1. There …………. two boys standing there.
2. There …………. many students in the school.
3. Today, there …………. many boys missing from the class.
4. If you need some money, there …………. some in my coat pocket.
5. There …………. sixteen players selected to tour Australia.
Answers:
1. are
2. are
3. are
4. is
5. are
Exercise 3
(Solved)
Insert the correct form of the present tense in the blank spaces. The verbs are in the brackets.
1. A new house …………. a lot of money. (cost)
2. The new car …………. very fast. (run)
3. Most things …………. more than they did before. (cost)
4. This aeroplane …………. quicker than sound. (fly)
5. The lawn …………. beautiful in summer. (look)
Answers:
1. costs
2. runs
3. cost
4. flies
5. looks
Exercise 4
(Solved)
Rearrange the following into meaningful sentences :
1. all the pupils / English / in our school / learn
2. the owner / lives / is / in a large house / and / very rich
3. Some people / as it / travelling / them sea-sick / dislike / makes / by sea
4. to walk / a long way / is / ten miles
5. The Rose / and / Crown / High Street / situated / is / in / the
Answers:
1. All the pupils in our school learn English.
2. The owner is very rich and lives in a large house.
3. Some people dislike travelling by sea as it makes them sea-sick.
4. Ten miles is a long way to walk.
5. The Rose and Crown is situated in the High Street.
Exercise 5
(Solved)
The following passage has not been edited. There is a word missing in each line. Find the missing word and write it in your answer sheet along with one word that comes before ft and the one that comes after it.
Long ago, there a king called Midas. (a) _______
He was very rich and a daughter called (b) _______
Marygold. Midas gold more than anything (c) _______
else in the world. When he golden light (d) _______
of the sun he wished he turn it into (e) _______
gold. Even the roses did not him because (f) _______
They not made of gold. (g) _______
Answers:
(a) there was a
(b) and had a
(c) Midas loved gold
(d) he saw golden
(e) he could turn
(f) not attract him
(g) They were not
Exercise 6
(For Practice)
Insert the correct form of the verbs given in brackets in the following sentences :
1. The new aeroplanes …………. very fast. (fly)
2. The river …………. beautiful in summer. (look)
3. These mangoes …………. fresh. (look)
4. One of my friends …………. in the same school as myself. (read)
5. The owners of this factory …………. very rich and they …………. in large houses. (be, live)
Exercise 7
(For Practice)
Insert ‘is’ or ‘are’ in the blank spaces.
1. There …………. no restaurants in this village.
2. There …………. a person inside the cabin.
3. There …………. nothing to be afraid of.
4. There …………. little hope of his agreeing to the proposal.
5. There …………. a cow standing in the shade.
Exercise 8
(For Practice)
The following passage has not been edited. There is one error in each line. Write the incorrect word and the correction in your answer sheet. Underline your correction.
It is on small matters the people passed judgement (a) _______
upon ourselves and declared that we are (b) _______
civilized or not. The great opportunities comes rarely. (c) _______
I hoped my friend will think on it. In that (d) _______
case I thought we will be able to live more peacefully. (e) _______
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