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Hello, I'm Emma from mmmEnglish!
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One of the most common grammar mistakes
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that English learners make
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is to do with the subject verb agreement.
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What's that?
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It's as simple as it sounds!
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The subject and the verb in English sentences
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must agree.
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They must match.
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We go to the beach on Saturdays.
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If the subject is plural,
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you need to use a plural verb form.
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He goes to the beach on Saturdays.
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He goes.
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The subject is singular,
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so you need to use a singular verb form.
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And this is true, most of the time!
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Now, you might be thinking that you
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understand subject verb agreement.
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It's simple, it's easy, right?
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But it's the first thing that many English learners forget!
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But don't worry, there are some simple
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standard rules that you can use to help you.
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But some aspects of singular and plural noun usage
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make this a little more complex.
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So that's why I'm going to teach you some tips
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to master subject verb agreement in English.
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Before we start,
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I want to highlight that there are two main areas
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where subject verb agreement can cause you problems.
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The first is in your writing.
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And it's important to know
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the subject verb agreement rules
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and how to use them correctly
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so that your English writing is grammatically correct.
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The other is your speaking skills.
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Now, perhaps you feel confident that you know
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how to match verbs to their subject
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but the challenge is making that clear
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when you're speaking.
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And sometimes,
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you might not even know this is a problem for you.
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The final consonant sounds are so important
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to communicating clearly.
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But for many English learners,
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it's not that easy to do.
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Pronouncing the difference between do and does.
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Now if this sounds like you,
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then I want you to try and practise with me
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out loud during this lesson.
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Make sure you're hitting those final consonant sounds.
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Okay?
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Let's begin.
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In the present tense,
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nouns and verbs agree
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in opposite ways.
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When your subject is plural,
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you usually add S to show that it's plural, right?
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Car becomes cars.
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Baby becomes babies.
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But when your subject is plural,
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you do not add an S to your verb.
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The cars look expensive.
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Our noun, cars,
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is plural.
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Cars.
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Now our verb agrees with our subject.
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The cars look expensive.
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Now compare this to:
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The car looks expensive.
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When our noun is singular,
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our verb needs to include an S.
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In these examples,
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the noun and the verb agree in opposite ways.
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But I can already hear you saying
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"What about if your subject is I or you?
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They're singular subjects
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but they don't use the singular verb form."
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Yes,
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but they're an exception to the rule.
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Subject verb agreement rules are different
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when your subject is in the third-person singular.
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So that's when your subject is a he,
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a she or an it.
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The subjects I and you are different.
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Even though they're also singular nouns,
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they take the plural form of the verb
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and you just need to remember that.
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I like to go swimming.
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She likes to go swimming.
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Both of these subjects are singular
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but the verb forms are different.
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Now,
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if there is an auxiliary verb,
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a helping verb,
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in your sentence
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like do or does
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in the present simple
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or am, is, are, was, were in the continuous tenses
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or have or has
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in the perfect tenses
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then,
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you need to think about your subject verb agreement
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because the auxiliary verb
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becomes the agreeing verb,
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the verb that agrees with the subject.
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The dogs don't want it.
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The dog doesn't want it.
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We're going to the beach.
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He is going to the beach.
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Anna and Tony have been driving for hours.
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Anna has been driving for hours.
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Now modal verbs
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like may, could, will, must, should,
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they're also auxiliary verbs.
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They help the main verb in the sentence
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but the subject verb agreement rules are different
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with modal auxiliary verbs.
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The verb following a modal verb
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is never in the S form.
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It's always in the infinitive form.
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My friends might come.
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My friend might come.
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Not my friend might comes.
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You should come.
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He should come.
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Not he should comes.
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Now, English sentences are not always this simple,
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are they?
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As you add more information to your sentences,
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they become more complex
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and it might be difficult to know whether your noun is
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singular or plural.
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But just remember that the same structure
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and rules apply.
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But you need to pay close attention
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to where your subject is
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and if it's singular or plural
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because your verb must always match the subject
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regardless of the words
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that come in between
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the verb and the subject.
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It must always match.
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Do you know what an indefinite pronoun is?
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They're words like
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everybody, nobody
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anybody, someone.
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Usually indefinite pronouns
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take singular verbs.
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Everybody wants to be loved.
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Nobody likes to be left out.
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Now the subject of English sentences
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can be a little more complicated
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with compound subjects.
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Group nouns and relative clauses.
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Look at this sentence.
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My mum is happy for me.
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My mum and dad are proud of me.
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Two singular subjects
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joined by "and"
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means that your subject becomes plural
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and now your verb needs to show this.
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It's the same as saying that
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they are proud of me.
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So we can say that
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two or more singular subjects
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joined with "and"
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become a plural subject
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and they need a plural verb.
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Now look at this sentence.
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Peter or Paul is coming.
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Now in this sentence,
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the two singular subjects
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are treated as a singular subject
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because "or" gives us an option.
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We're not saying both.
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It's one singular noun or the other.
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Not both of them together.
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We would say
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Peter and Paul are coming.
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or
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Peter or Paul is coming.
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Playing football is fun.
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Now the same rule applies
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for gerunds and gerund phrases.
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When gerunds are the subject,
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they take the singular form of the verb.
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Waiting for the bus is annoying.
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But
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when they're linked by "and"
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they also take the plural form.
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Meeting friends after work
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and going to the beach
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are my favourite things about living here.
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Okay, so what about group nouns?
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Single nouns that are actually
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groups of people or things.
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Club,
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team,
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company,
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family,
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crowd,
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class.
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They can be either singular or plural,
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depending on the meaning of an individual sentence.
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This is because they can describe
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the individuals in the group
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and since there's more than one,
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it must be plural.
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But it's also possible to use these nouns
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as a single group
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when you're referring to the group as a whole.
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Then they're singular.
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So they can be a little tricky!
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For example.
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The team is organising the event.
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So this is referring to just the single unit,
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it's a singular noun.
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So we need to use the singular verb.
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The team are meeting today.
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So the members of the club are meeting together.
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Using the plural form of the verb.
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The teams are meeting today.
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So when used plurally,
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this means that there are
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many of the individual group nouns.
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There are more than one team
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or family or a club.
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And don't forget that some nouns
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look like plural nouns
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but they take a singular form.
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For example, news.
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It seems plural because of the S
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but we need to treat it as a singular noun.
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You need a singular verb.
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The news is interesting.
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Of course, any uncountable noun is treated this way too.
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So don't say the furnitures are comfortable.
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Say the furniture is comfortable.
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Okay let's keep going!
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We're getting a little more complex now.
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Sometimes
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the subject is tricky to find in English sentences.
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It's not always before the noun.
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Subjects and verbs change positions
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in English questions
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so you need to make sure you identify
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which is the subject
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before you choose the verb form.
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What are the steps we need to follow?
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In this sentence, "the steps" are the subject
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and the verb is "are"
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because it's plural.
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There are many plants in your garden.
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There is a plant in the bathroom.
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Look at this sentence.
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The car, which belongs to my brother,
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is not very clean.
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Relative clauses can make it difficult
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to locate the subject and the verb.
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Noun phrases also make this difficult,
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where a group of words act as a noun.