Sentence Fragment and Subject-Verb Agreement BBS First Year Business English

 

Sentence Fragment

Link for Video: https://youtu.be/6FGYpKRG8-o

Sentence Fragment is a group of words that may or may not have meaning. It is an incomplete sentence such as:

  a.      Neha having been promoted. ( lacks meaning)

b.     If the action is taken early. ( lacks meaning)

Some sentence fragments like ‘Congratulations’, and ‘Yes’ represent complete thought in informal business talk but they are controversial in formal writing. To avoid such controversy, we always use a sentence with an independent clause. A group of related words,  with a subject and verb, must make a complete statement. Typical errors in sentence construction reflect in fragments ( missing or abuse commas in clauses)  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpoZBnXHg3E )

Subject-verb Agreement

Link for Video:  https://youtu.be/b2rY3uO7szs

Subject-Verb Agreement: Subject and verb always agree in grammatically correct sentences. The subject should agree with a verb or vice-versa for a sensible sentence. Generally, a verb must be selected according to the number and person of the subject. However, an error occurs with conjunctions, numbers, pronouns and sentence order such as:

  a.      Smita and Kabita is coming to the party. (Should be ‘are’)

b.     Not only Dinesh but also Yogesh have won the medals. (should be ‘has’)

c.      Dahi and chiura is popular among Nepali. (Exception- Double nouns but single meaning)

Numbers: Collective nouns such as class, team, family, jury, and committee are usually singular. They can also be plural. Examples:

  a.      The class was small. ( Singular)

b.     The class were not all present. ( plural sense)

c.      The government has implemented a new rule. ( Singular)

d.     The government have different opinions to implement a new rule. ( Plural)

(Quiz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn86M5fSz_Y

Things with two parts such as scissors, tweezers, trousers, and shears have plural verbs.

  a.      The scissors are very sharp. ( plural )

b.     The trousers have been torn out. ( plural )

Pronouns: Indefinite pronouns like both, few, many, others and several are plural subjects such as:

  a.      Few people have only donated to the poor.

b.     Several pages are sent through email.

Each one, either, little, many a boy/girl, much, neither, nobody etc. can be singular or plural subject based on context such as:

  a.      All love is not lost, therefore, all members are happy.

b.     Many a boy has applied application for the vacant post.

Intervening positions: In a compound subject containing both a singular and plural noun joined by a conjunction, the verb always agrees with the subject  nearer the verb

(Quiz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH981rO10e8 )

a.      The student or his classmates always arrive on time.

b.     His classmates or the boy always arrives on time.

The verb always agrees with the subject, not a phrase that follows it. For example:

a.      One of the participants has finished his draft work. (phrase)

b.     Each of the workers is paid for the coming month. (phrase)

 c.      Chiranjibi, as well as his brothers, is happy. (phrase)

d.     The house, including all its rooms, is airy.

Quiz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0RgszFEm4c

Conjunctions (Quiz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiSeu2KtrfY )

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