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One of the most dreaded portions of the English section of the CAT is the one relating to grammar. MBA applicants find themselves frequently at a loss while trying to negotiate a deadly landmine of nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions articles and gerunds. Additionally this is something that is of practical use to applicants in their professional life. Poor grammar makes for a poor impression! Thus — proficiency in this section becomes all the more critical!

A frequently tested aspect of grammar in MBA entrance tests is “Subject-Verb Agreement” (SVA).

The Basics

Subject: The part of a sentence that commonly indicates what it is about, or who or what performs a particular action. The simple subject consists of the specific noun or pronoun that is doing the action or whose state of being is being described.

Example,

The most hardworking student in my class never sleeps much.

The simple subject of the sentence is student because the student performs the action. The complete subject of the sentence includes the simple subject and all words that modify it: The most hardworking student in my class.

Verb: The part of speech that expresses existence, action, or occurrence. In other words the ‘doing word’. It may also express a state of being.

Example,

The most hardworking student in my class never sleeps much.

The verb ‘sleeps’ describes the action of the sentence.

Example,

Consequently, he is always fresh.

The verb ‘is’ describes the state of being of the subject, he.

Generic Rules

1. Agreement in Number: SVA implies that if the subject is plural (cats), then the verb needs to be plural (meow). If the subject is singular (cat) then the verb needs to be singular (meows).

Do remember that verbs do not form their plurals by adding an ‘s’ as nouns do. In order to determine which verb is singular and which one is plural, think of which verb you would use with he or she and which verb you would use with they.

runs, run

Which one is the singular form? Which word would you use with he? We say, “He runs.” Therefore, runs is singular. We say, “They run.” Therefore, run is plural.

2. Agreement in Person: Sentences are written in either first, second, or third person, based on the author’s viewpoint. If a sentence is written in first person, the writer is writing about herself/himself, using pronouns such as I and we. In a second-person sentence, the writer speaks directly to the reader, using the pronoun you. Third-person sentences generally refer to their subjects by name or with pronouns like he, she, it,or they.

Often, there will be a change in the form of the verb, depending on whether its subject is in first, second, or third person. For example, the singular first-person, second-person, and third-person forms of the verb are completely different from each other as seen below,

I am hungry. ( am – a first-person subject)

You are hungry. ( are – a second-person subject)

He is hungry. ( is – third-person subject)

There are some additional rules that will help you to maintain SVA in Sentence Correction questions of MBA entrance examinations.

1. A subject made up of two or more nouns or pronouns joined by and takes a plural subject, unless that subject is intended to be singular.

He and I run every day. (Plural)

Peanut butter and jelly is my favorite sandwich. (Singular)

2. When a subject is made up of nouns joined by or, the verb agrees with the last noun.

He or I run every day.

Potatoes, pasta, or rice pairs well with grilled chicken.

3. Dont get confused by the words that come between the subject and verb; they do not affect agreement. Connectives, phrases such as combined with, coupled with, accompanied by, added to, along with, together with, and as well as, do not change the number of the subject. These phrases are usually set off with commas

The dog, who is barking noisily, is usually very well behaved.

The team captain, as well as his players, is disappointed.

4. When I is one of the two subjects connected by either/or or neither/nor, put it second and follow it with the singular verb am.

Neither she nor I am going to the festival.

5. When a compound subject contains both a singular and a plural noun or pronoun joined by or/nor , the verb should agree with the part of the subject that is nearer the verb.

The boy or his friends run every day.

His friends or the boy runs every day.

6. Words such as each, either, neither, anyone, everyone, someone, no one, nobody are always singular and, therefore, require singular verbs.

For example, when we write each of my sons, the verb must agree with the singular subject each instead of the plural noun sons. And the singular subject everyone who knows my sons should be followed by the singular is impressed by them, and not are impressed by them.

Note: There is one indefinite pronoun, none, that can be either singular or plural

• None of you claims responsibility for this incident?
• None of you claim responsibility for this incident?

7. Collective nouns (team, couple, staff,committee etc.) take either a singular or plural verb depending on whether the emphasis is on the individual units or on the group as whole.

The committee were divided over the issue. (Tip : Think of it as — The commitee (members) were divided over the issue.)

The cricket team is practicing for the World Cup.

8. With words that indicate portions percent, fraction, part, majority, some, all, none, remainder and so forth look at the noun in your of phrase (object of the preposition) to determine whether to use a singular or plural verb. If the object of the preposition is singular, use a singular verb. If the object of the preposition is plural, use a plural verb.

Example,

70% of the cake has been eaten

70% of the cakes have been eaten

Practice

As in any other subject regular and continuous practice is the key to success. There is no magic wand! After every Grammar lesson – this what you should be doing,

1. Refer to to your grammar book and go to the related chapter. Solve the exercise problems given at the end of the chapter. More than just mugging the rules you should be focussing on these practice questions.

2. Use online resources for additional practice

Sources,

Theory

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/sv_agr.htm

http://www.grammarbook.com/grammar/subjectVerbAgree.asp

http://www.yourdictionary.com/grammar-rules/20-Rules-of-subject-verb-agreement.html

Practice

http://www.englishpage.com/grammar/Subject_Verb_Agreement/Exercises/

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/cgi-shl/quiz.pl/sv_agr_quiz.htm

3. If you are really diligent and serious about the CAT – while you are doing your online research – keep open a word doc into which you copy paste all the material that you come across on the particular topic. Save the word document with the relevant name e. g. -Subject Verb agreement and you have a ready reckoner for revision when the CAT is just round the corner. CAT is not only about working hard but also about working smart!

The successful student is one who can quickly revise all the concepts of the year long study in a matter of weeks!

Tanveer Ahmed is an alumnus of St Xaviers College, Kolkata and currently works with a people search firm as a recruiter. He is a visiting faculty with T.I.M.E. and also coaches and mentors CAT hopefuls online in the intricacies of the English language. (On LinkedIn)

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