DETAILED LESSON PLAN IN ENGLISH

I. OBJECTIVES
At the end of this English lesson, students are expected to:
a. identify the correct verb form to use in sentences;
b. state the rules of subject-verb agreement using the examples; and
c. sustain interest in studying subject-verb agreement.

II. SUBJECT MATTER

a. Topic:

Subject-Verb Agreement

b. References:Books, English Grammar websites

b. Skill:

Identifying Correct Verb Forms

c. Materials:

Word Equation (Motivation), Pictures, Newsprints, Colored Papers, Flip cards

III. PROCEDURE
TEACHERS ACTIVITY
a. Preliminary/Motivation

STUDENTS ACTIVITY

Good morning, class! I am KatrinLutao from

Bicol University and I will be your English
teacher for this period.
For this discussion, I will be giving these
colored papers each time you recite or
participate. I have placed here some words
from great people all over the world and some
are lines from books that I have read. For
exemplary answers, I will be giving these
papers which have my originally-written short
poems.
Are you now ready?

Yes, we are!

Alright. Let us start first with a word for the

day. Have you heard of the word agelast? It is
a noun which refers to a person who never
laughs. Agelastoriginates from the Greek
word agelastos which means not laughing.
Let us use this word in a sentence:
I wonder if the agelasts have ever read about
the benefits of laughter.
So lets proceed with our lesson. I have here
an equation. But this one is not totally
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mathematical in nature because you will be

computing pictures and words. Let us call this
as Word Equation. What you will do is simply
compute/solve for the word or concept by
adding or subtracting the words and pictures in
the equation. If you already get the word, raise
your hand immediately. Are you ready?
B. Lesson Proper
In that activity, we have had the word
AGREEMENT. What do we mean by
agreement?
Thats right. What else?

Agreement
contract.

involves

an

arrangement

of

An arrangement is a situation wherein people

agree of what is to be done.

Exactly. An agreement is a situation in which

two or more entities share the same course of
action. In using English, we have this
agreement between two entities in a sentence
called as subject and verb. Let us have a brief
recall using this sentence.
In this sentence, what is the subject? How
about the verb?
Very good. So as we all know, the subject is
the one being talked about in the sentence;
while verb is a word that expresses an action.
Going back to Subject-Verb Agreement, we
have here many rules. We will just be
discussing the most common.
The first thing to remember when dealing with
subject-verb agreement is:
A singular subject takes singular verb and a
plural subject takes a plural verb.
Who wants to answer this example? My
brother (is, are) a nutritionist. My sisters (is,
are) mathematicians.

My brother is a nutritionist. My sisters are

mathematicians.

Thats correct! You have here some sentences

on the board which are examples under each
rule on subject-verb agreement. We will study
each of them and you will try to state the rule
about how should the verb agree with the
subject in the sentence.
Who can read the first sentence?
What are the subjects? And the verb is what?
Why do you think it is singular even if you said
there are two subjects?

1. The book or the pen is in the drawer.

There are two subjects, the book and the
pen. The verb used isis. A singular verb is
used because of the word or.

Alright. So we have here the first rule that:

1. If two or more subjects are linked by or, nor,
singular verb should be used.
How about the second one?
So we have here the subject luster, and the
verb is dazzles. But what about the other
words before the verb? What do you call
them?

2. The luster of the firmament of bards and

sages dazzles people.
We call these as intervening words. These
words between subject and verb do not affect
the number of the subject.

Exactly! So the second rule is that:

2. A singular subject takes a singular verb
even with the presence of intervening
words/phrases
between
them.
Other
intervening words/phrases are together with,
as well as, and along with.
Can you still follow?
For the next sentence:
3. Somebody has left her purse.
What is the subject and what part of speech is
it?

Yes, we are.

The subject is an indefinite pronoun.

Correct! As we can see, the subject has a

singular verb which is has. So for this
sentence, we have the rule that:
3. Indefinite pronouns (which are singular in
nature like pronouns anyone, everyone,
someone, no one, nobody) require singular
verbs.
On the other hand, some indefinite pronouns
such as all and some take singular or
plural verb depending on what they're referring
to. An example of this is the next sentence:
Some of the beads are missing. Here we use
a plural verb because of the of phrase which
is of the beads.
Who can read the next two sentences?

Conformity and consistency are two obstacles

of self-reliance.
The writer and the lecturer of great renown
was a speaker at Harvard.

What can you observe in these sentences?

In the first sentence, the two subjects are

taken as separate concepts/units; while in the
second one, they are regarded as one.

Very good! Aside from that, notice that both

subjects are connected by and but they have
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different verb forms. These two sentences are

under the rule that:
4.
A compound subject joined by and
takes a plural verb. When they referred to as
one unit, it takes singular verb.
Let us try this 5-item exercise and lets answer
this orally.
C. Guided Practice
Choose the correct form of the verb and tell
the rule of subject verb agreement in each
sentence.
1. Annie and her brothers (is, are) at school.
2. Hannah is one of the office workers who still
(attend, attends) classes.
3. The movie, including all the previews, (take,
takes) about two hours to watch.
4. Nobody (know, knows) the trouble I've seen.
5. All of the CDs, even the scratched one, (is,
are) in this case.

Annie and her brothers are at school.

Hannah is one of the office workers who still
attends classes.
The movie, including all the previews, takes
about two hours to watch.
Nobody knows the trouble I've seen.
All of the CDs, even the scratched one, are in
this case.

D. Generalization
Who can state in your own words the rules of
subject-verb agreement that we have
discussed?

Two or more subjects linked by or, nor, take

singular verb.
The verb agrees only to its subject. Intervening
words do not affect the number of the subject.
Indefinite pronouns like some, all, most, are
singular when they refer to a quantity. They
are plural when they refer to a number.
A compound subject joined by and takes plural
verb. When the compound subject refers to
one unit, it takes singular verb.

IV. ASSESSMENT
Instructions: Examine the subject-verb agreement in each sentence and be able to spot
errors. Underline the incorrect verb then place above it the correct verb form.

THE BEAVER
The beaver, Canadas national animal, have some unusual characteristics. One unusual
fact about beavers is their large size. The beaver is the largest rodent in North America,
weighing from 13 to 35 kg. It spend a lot of time in the water, so its feet is large and webbed for
swimming. The beavers tail which is wide and flat like a paddle also helps it to swim. Thick
underfur keep the beaver warm and dry, even in very cold water. In fact, beavers have been
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known to stay under water in icy ponds for as long as fifteen minutes. Beavers also has long
teeth which grows all their lives. They use these powerful teeth to cut down trees which they use
for food and and shelter. Another unusual fact about the beaver is that it is one of the few
animals that change its own environment. Beavers create ponds by building dams with roots,
sticks, mud and stones. Each family of beavers build a lodge, or nest, in a riverbank or in the
middle of a pond. They build an underwater entrance to the lodge. Having the entrance
underwater protects them from their enemies. Beavers is also very social animals. They not only
communicate with each other by making sounds with their mouths but also by slapping their big
flat tails on the water. The beavers social life is complex and focus around the female. These
very special animals are found in every province in Canada.

V. ASSIGNMENT
1. Write two examples for each of the first four rules of subject-verb agreement that we have
discussed. Write these on a crosswise sheet of paper.
2. Look for the other 6 common rules on subject verb agreement and be ready to share them in
the class.

Prepared by:
KATRIN B. LUTAO
English Teacher