article and subject verb agreement

Today is the presentation of article and subject verb agreement.

ARTICLE

—  There are only three articles in English: a, an and the.

—  There are two types of articles indefinite 'a' and 'an' or definite 'the'. You also need to know when not to use an article.

Indefinite articles - a and an (DETERMINERS)

—  A and an are the indefinite articles. They refer to something not specifically known to the person you are communicating with.

—  A and an are used before nouns that introduce something or someone you have not mentioned before:-

EXAMPLE FOR DETERMINERS

For example:

—  "I saw an elephant this morning." 

"I ate a banana for lunch." A and an are also used when talking about your profession:-

For example:

—  "I am an English teacher." 

"I am a builder."

Definite Article - the (DETERMINERS)

You use the when you know that the listener knows or can work out what particular person/thing you are talking about.

                For example:

—  "The apple you ate was rotten."

"Did you lock the car?"

You should also use the when you have already mentioned the thing you are talking about.

                For example:

—  "She's got two children; a girl and a boy. The girl's eight and the boy's fourteen."

We use the to talk about geographical points on the globe.

                For example:

—  the North Pole, the equator .

We use the to talk about rivers, oceans and seas

                For example:

—  the Nile, the Pacific, the English channel.

We also use the before certain nouns when we know there is only one of a particular thing.

                For example:

—  the rain, the sun, the wind, the world, the earth, the White House etc..

However if you want to describe a particular instance of these you should use a/an.

                For example:

—  "I could hear the wind." / "There's a cold wind blowing."

—  "What are your plans for the future?" / "She has a promising future ahead of her."

The is also used to say that a particular person or thing being mentioned is the best, most famous, etc

NO ARTICLE

•       We usually use no article to talk about things in general:-

•       For example:

•       Inflation is rising.

•       People are worried about rising crime.

                 (People generally, so no article)

•       Do not use an article when talking about sports.

•       My son plays football.

•       Tennis is expensive.

Do not use an article before uncountable nouns when talking about  them generally.

For example:

•       Information is important to any organisation.

•       Coffee is bad for you.

•       Do not use an article before the names of countries except where they indicate multiple areas or contain the words (state(s), kindom, republic, union). Kingdom, state, republic and union are nouns, so they need an article.

•       For example:

•       No article - Italy, Mexico, Bolivia, England

•       Use the - the UK (United Kingdom), the USA (United States of America), the Irish Republic

Subject-Verb Agreement

Agreement

—  Present tense verbs in English should agree with the subject of the sentence

—  Singular subjects use singular verbs

—  Jack robs liquor stores (s on the verb)

—  Plural subjects use plural verbs

—  Bonnie and Clyde rob banks (no s on the verb)

—  Most native speaker do this instinctively

—  More complex problems require you to learn a few rules

Identify the Subject

—  Ignore words that come between the subject and the verb

—  Reduce sentences to their simplest form

—  A good set of skis costs / cost hundreds of dollars

—  A good set of skis costs / cost hundreds of dollars

—  A good set of skis costs  hundreds of dollars

—  My boss, as well as her staff, leave / leaves early every Friday

—  My boss, as well as her staff, leave / leaves early every Friday

—  My boss, as well as her staff, leaves early every Friday

Compound Subjects using “And”

—  Most compound subjects joined by “and” are plural

—  Bert and Ernie is / are special friends

—  Bert and Ernie is / are special friends (plural verb)

—  Exception: If the words joined by “and” refer to a single thing, the subject is also singular

—  War and Peace is a very thick book (singular)

—  My friend and co-worker is waiting to see you (singular)

Compound Subjects using “Or”

—  When the subject is joined with “or” or “nor” the verb agrees with the words closest to the verb

—  Neither the instructor nor the students has / have any control over the number of 8 o’clock classes

—  Neither the instructor nor the students has / have any control over the number of 8 o’clock classes (plural verb)

—  Either two credit cards or a membership is / are needed before you can rent movies

—  Either two credit cards or a membership is / are needed before you can rent movies (singular verb)

—  Note: While the above example is correct, it is usually better to place the plural word closer to the verb

—  Either a membership or two credit cards are needed before you can rent movies (plural verb)

Indefinite Pronouns

—  Indefinite pronouns are singular

—  every, everyone, everybody, each, neither, either, none, one, no one

—  Every student has / have a unique student number

—  Every student has / have a unique student number

—  None of us admit / admits to sending the e-mail message

—  None of us admit / admits to sending the e-mail message

—  Ignore prepositional phrases coming between the subject and the verb

—  Each of the five departments is / are hiring new instructors

—  Each of the five departments is / are hiring new instructors

Collective Nouns

—  Words such as jury, committee, or herd will be singular when everyone in the group is acting together

—  The jury is / are deciding the fate of the accused

—  The jury is / are deciding the fate of the accused

—  Collective nouns will be plural when the members of the group are not acting together

—   The jury is / are undecided on the guilt of the accused

—  The jury is / are undecided on the guilt of the accused

Here, There, and It

—  When the sentence begins with Here or There, the subject follows the verb and controls whether the verb is plural

—  Here are my reasons for quitting (plural)

—  There is no need to pay me next week (singular)

—  It is always singular

—  It was the long hours that bothered me (singular)

—  RULES – When the sentences start with “THERE” and “HERE”, the subject will be always be placed after the verb

Words Ending in S

—  Words such as economics, AIDS, physics and news are singular

—  Economics is fun and exciting

—  The news is usually broadcast live

—  Words such as scissors, eyeglasses and pants that name things with two parts are plural

—  My glasses were broken when I did a face plant

"Learning grammar is the hardest part I think."

i'm absent

Morning


I didn't go to class today because i'm having diarrhea. Or in simple words i'm having a stomachache. Maybe food poisoning is the reason. My friends said that they learn active and passive voice today. What to do ? I'm so weak to go to the class. About active and passive voice :

ACTIVE VOICE SENTENCES

- indicate that the subject of verb is acting
- Example :
 The dog jump onto the boy
The dog( subject ) is doing the jumping (verb )

REASON TO USE ACTIVE VOICE SENTENCES

>Most writer prefer to use active voice because it is more direct.
>Less awkward and clearly states relationship between subject and action.

PASSIVE VOICE SENTENCES

- the subject and object flip-flop
- subject becomes the passive recipient of the action
- example
> The boy was jumped on by the dog
 Boy (subject) was being jumped on (verb)

REASON TO USE PASSIVE VOICE SENTENCES

 - Used when the agent ( doer of an action ) is obvious, unknown or unnecessary
> Her purse was stolen

- Used when the agent is known but the speaker/writer does not want to mention it
> A mistake has been made

- Used when the agent is very general such as people or somebody
> English is spoken here

- Used  when the speaker wants to emphasize a result or receiver of the action instead of the performer.

* The professor was hit by three snowballs
- Three snowballs hit the professor.

Edlina said that we must finish our current event essay to be presented on the next Tuesday.

Night

Class is cancelled due to Miss Zu is having an emergency case.

"Learn nothing for a day is a waste."

real time has come #

It is a speaking test today,everyone !

I wake up early today, so that I will not be late for the speaking test. My group is the starting of the whole day. If my group did the speaking test badly, it would be a disaster for all the other group. 

For your information, our group consists of three person only : Mira, Edlina and me myself. So, it is quite difficult when it comes to the discussion part. My group gets culture as our topic. Being too nervous stops my brain from working at a faster rate. I don't know what I'm trying to say. I'm lack of ideas. Plus, my hands giggling, my heart throbbing faster than the usual, and the words are just swimming in my brain. I can't interpret it out. I'm just trying my best Miss Zu. Hopefully Miss Zu gives the mark that we deserved.  

"Reading helps you to speak without limitations."

it is just around the corner my dear,,

Morning

Our class session start with demo by Zyra's group. Their group are picked by Miss Zu to demonstrate the real condition of speaking test. Miss Zu shows us the rubric for the individual and group assessment for the speaking test. Then, she gives us some notes on transition signal to use when we want to interrupt, to express agreement or disagreement, to make suggestions and etc. Before the class ends, we must write down our members for the speaking test that will be held on 24 March 2011. I wonder why my group is always gets the first turn. Yup, my group is the first group for the speaking test. Just imagine it !

"In order to be a great speaker, you got to converse."

Night

No night class for today since it was reserved for A class for their speaking test. So, it is a gold time for us to practise for our speaking test. Good luck for speaking test, everyone.......

a talk on i-learn

Class are cancelled due to a talk organised by the staff from Pusat i-Learn Bahagian Hal Ehwal Akademik. 

"Now I realise how precious i-learn among UiTM students."

test yourself !!!

Morning

We start the class with listening test. This is just a trial and preparation for the real test that will be held on 19 March 2011, Saturday. Next, we do the trial test for information transfer essay in group. This is also a preparation for the test tonight.   

"Listening test is quite difficult for a visual learner like me." 

Night

We have a mid-term test for one and a half hour at LT2.

my essay is too long for information transfer essay :(

Today's activity is about the presentation of information transfer essay from each group. My group did it badly. I'm so sorry to all my group members for not being a good leader. Miss Zu said that it has too many wordings for an information transfer essay. She said that we are making it like an extended essay and she wants us to re-do the essay. An information transfer essay requires you to write a simple and short essay but compact and full of information needed. We'll re-do it again so that we will learn from the mistakes that we have done. Thanks to Miss Zu.

"For information transfer essay, the shorter is the better."

let's transfer information from non-linear to linear text

Our focus today is about information transfer. Miss Zu guides us on how to transfer information from non-linear to linear text. At first, I didn't understand it much. I was like .........

But then Miss Zu gives us the recipe. Here are the content of the recipe.

Tips on how to do the information transfer :

• Spend 5 minutes reading the graphs/charts etc.
• Make sure you understand axes.
• Make sure you follow lines on graph.
• Focus on the key information.
• If two graphs – compare.
• Think about the time period – tenses.
• Vary your vocabulary.
• Organize information clearly.
• Write neatly.

Formula of writing the information transfer :

#TITLE

#OVERVIEW (1st paragraph)

#CONTROLLING IDEA and KEY FEATURES (2nd, 3rd & 4th paragraph)

#PREDICTION and PROPOSAL (last paragraph)

Example :

How students spend their time after classes

The pie chart shows the percentages of how students spend their time after classes consisting of outdoor activities, going for movies, studying, socializing and indoor activities.

According to the pie chart, the highest percentage of how students spend their time after classes is 35% which is indoor activities while the lowest percentage is 10% that is outdoor activities. This is due to the less energy consume while doing the indoor activities compared to the outdoor activities.

Socializing is the second popular activities among students. It shows that 25% of students tend to spend their time by chatting online like facebooking. They find socializing activities are fun and interesting.

Based on the pie chart, there is a difference percentage between studying and going for movies which is 10%. It shows that 20% of the students choose studying while 10% of the students choose going for movies. This is because studying does not need high cost compared to watch movies.

In future, if most students choose indoor activities, then it will lead to unhealthy lifestyle. Therefore, the government should make campaigns to encourage the students to balance their activities.

"Practice makes perfect."

Night

We do a reading comprehension about H1N1. Miss Zu gives us 40 minutes to finish it. Then, we discuss it together. Class is dismissed early for today because we are just doing the comprehension.  

i'm scared

I don't know how to start, but it keeps distracting my mind. Today, I'm feeling a little scared to Miss Zu. Miss Zu was very angry and fierce at that moment.

Luckily it is not our group that gets the first turn to present the introductory paragraph. So, I'm just using the gold time wisely to make the last checking before my group present it. I am the who is going to present it. I make my first move with 'bismillah'. I hope Miss Zu will not angry to me. Alhamdulillah, everything goes as planned. It just a minor mistakes on the structure of the essay. It was a great relief that she does not angry during my presentation of introductory paragraph on current event.

"Maybe it is a part of learning."

PERSONAL EXAMPLE

Almost every night, she would go “clubbing“at the nightspots in Jalan Bukit Bintang and Sultan Ismail, Kuala Lumpur's golden triangle, looking for fun and "extra cash". With her black skin-tight miniskirts with a revealing top, she easily draws attention from the males as soon as she walks into any of these nightspots. The 21 years-old girl, Amy comes from a state in the east coast of West Malaysia. She started as a sales promoter at a shopping centre in the city, but her monthly salary of RM800 is hardly enough for her to survive in KL. To make matters worse, she has to send home approximately RM200 a month for her parents and 5 siblings who are still schooling. It is hard for her since the burden of the family is at her hand. Her family is depending on her. Amy now lives in a dark situation where she is happy outside not in inside. There are factors that can cause someone to become a prostitute such as lack of attention from the parents, money problem and negative peers influence.

FACTS AND STATISTICS

Prior to the 1980’s, predatory animals were rare sights in rural areas in Malaysia. Even in wilderness areas, bears, tigers, and other predatory animals were rarely being spotted.  As far as this concern, people that were attacks with these kinds of animals are not always the friendly animals.  Between 1989 and 1995 there have been 14 tigers attack peoples.  In one attack, a rubber tapper was killed in his rubber farm near Negeri Sembilan.  Attacks by bears and alligators are also increasing during this period of year. This statistics shows that there is an increasing of wild animal attacks. The reasons why these animal attacks peoples are because they are hungry, feel threatened and try to protect their young.

RHETORICAL QUESTIONS

Racism is one of the world’s major issues today. Do you aware of how much racism still exists in our school, work forces, and anywhere social lives? Racism very much exists and it is about time that people need to start thinking about the solutions to this matter. Can we achieve One Malaysia’s mission with this kind of mind set? Think about it. Many people believe that it depends on if a person was brought into the world as a racist or not but that is not the case at all. In fact, an individual cannot be born a racist but only learn to become one as they grow from child to adulthood. Institutions, government, and anti racism group in Malaysian’s past history are the possible solutions to racism.

QUOTATIONS

“Vandalism comes naturally from our soul.” These words come from a teenage boy and his friends who lax in drawing graffiti on the wall of a building. Teenage boys said that this work is a piece of art where they often did this to express their feelings or thoughts about certain things in our life. Furthermore, he said that they also draw the graffiti whenever they feel like doing it. This type of vandalism does not only involve teenagers but also adults.(Hook) However, these teens do not know that they have vandalized the image of the building as well as the environment.(Transition) Vandalism can be prevented if the government creates a law that severely restricts vandals in destroying the environment, giving motivational talk as well as giving punishment by doing community service.(Thesis Statement)

CURRENT EVENT

According to New Straits Times, the latest case was a dead baby girl found floating in a sewage tank behind a girls' college hostel in remote Kelantan two days ago. The decomposed body was found by a group of boys playing nearby. Two more abandoned baby cases were reported that day in Malacca and Kuala Lumpur. This situation can be caused by many factors which surround us. Thus, baby dumping is caused by peer pressure, modern technology and lack of knowledge in individual self. 

CONTRAST TO THE THESIS STATEMENT

Have you heard that being skinny is the ‘it’ thing. Across the globe, teenagers are starving themselves to be skinny. The models force themselves to be skinny and look great. They will do anything such as taking pills and drugs so that they will not gain any weight. Why is this so? Well look around you, the media feeds us constant image of skinny public figure, portraying the fact that being skinny is beautiful. To be fat is a sin. But is it worth to be taking pills and drugs in order to maintain your beautiful figure? Is this an appropriate diet technique?  Absolutely not. As a matter of fact, the major impact of engaging in extreme diet is nutrition deficiency, diseases and mental problem.

DEFINTION

Streptococcus pneumonia, or pneumococcal is the most common cause of bacterial meningitis in adults, children, and dogs, and is one of the top two isolates found in ear infection. It is more common in the very young and the very old person. It can also be distinguished based on its sensitivity to lysis by bile. The bacterium Streptococcus pneumonia is a common cause of secondary pneumonia following influenza. The risk of death from pneumonia or influenza is higher for people with heart disease, diabetes, or weakened immune systems such as from HIV (The hook). Nowadays, this infection was spread up towards the world (The transition). According to this infection, it can cause distress as they need more money for the treatment, being embarrassment to the other person and reducing their self-esteem (The thesis statement).