JS Tip : The Grammar Series, Part IV

We promised a series on grammar.

In past weeks, we’ve talked about subjects (what your sentence is about) and predicates (what you’re saying about the subject).

“My friend Amy is a master carpenter.

Simple subject: “Amy.” Complete subject: “My friend Amy.”

Simple predicate (the verb): “is.” Complete predicate: “is a master carpenter.”

This week, we’ll talk about why the two are important: Because they have to agree. (English is a friendly language; it likes to agree with everything.)

Subjects and verbs—the action word or the “is” word in the predicate—must agree in number.

Using our example: “My friend Amy is a master carpenter.” 

Amy is the subject. Is (an “is” verb—obviously) is the verb. Amy and is are both singular. They agree.

Using another example: “My friend Amy are a master carpenter.”

What? No. No. No. Amy is singular. (There’s only one of her.) Are is plural. (It refers to multiples.) So subject and verb don’t agree.

Now. 

There’s another aspect of agreement: “My friend Amy is proud of her work.” Amy and her. Next week we’ll talk about pronouns and antecedents.

What? Antecedents? What’s an antecedent? An antecedent is the word the pronoun represents. Amy is the antecedent of her. 

This is fun.