Subject and Verb Agreement
Ada kalanya kita mengalami kesulitan dan kebingungan untuk menentukan to be dalam suatu kalimat di bahasa Inggris. Apakah to be dalam bentuk tunggal atau jamak yang sebenarnya perlu digunakan dalam suatu kalimat. Berikut adalah ketentuannya:
Subject Taking a Singular Verb
- Subyek-subyek dengan kata-kata berikut diikuti dengan verb tunggal, yaitu: as well as; along with; accompanied by; together with; in addition to; among. Contoh: Among Leonardo Da Vinci works is the Monalisa painting.
- Kata-kata berikut akan diikuti dengan verb tunggal: one, nobody, no one, nothing, each, either, neither, anybody, anyone, anything, somebody, someone, something, every, everybody, everyone, everything. Contoh: Nobody was attending the meeting.
- Kalimat yang diawali dengan it akan diikuti dengan verb tunggal. Contoh: It was the raining yesterday.
Subject Taking a Plural Verb
- Subyek yang dihubungkan oleh kata and atau both … and akan diikuti dengan verb jamak. Contoh: Both Anne and Betty were married.
- Kata-kata berikut akan diikuti dengan verb jamak: several, both, many, few. Contoh: Just few of the audiences are happy with the show.
Subject Taking Either a Singular or a Plural Verb
- Frase a number of selalu menggunakan verb jamak, sedangkan frase the number of selalu menggunakan verb tunggal. Contoh: A number of people were at the reading. The sumber of people at the banquet was amazing.
- Kata-kata berikut dapat menggunakan verb tunggal maupun jamak tergantung kepada kata benda (noun) yang mengikutinya: none, most, no, half, all, any, some, majority. Contoh: The majority of the population has the palm oil plantation. The majority of the cars are still using the non-biodegradable resources.
- Subyek yang dihubungkan dengan kata-kata either … or, neither … nor, atau not only … but also, verb yang mengikutinya bergantung kepada subyek yang terdekat. Contoh: Not only her master but also her mistress was proud of her. Not only her mistress but also the literary circles were amazed by her talent.
Posted by wawanodpmi 

