Subject-Verb Agreement
Starring:
The Ice King
Gunter


  When writing papers, it can sometimes be pretty tough to keep up with which subjects and verbs are agreeing or disagreeing. Here are a few simple tricks for remembering how to ensure that your subjects and verbs aren't tearing your paper apart with their silly feud.

Just a reminder before we get going:
The SUBJECT of the sentence is who or what the sentence is about
The Ice King plays drums for hours at a time.
If you need a short reminder about subject, follow the saga of Mr. Morton:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtDwgQd8tTI

And verbs are the action part of the sentence.
The Ice King plays drums for hours at a time.
Short reminder?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US8mGU1MzYw

PART 1- Pronouns 
This is without a doubt one of the trickiest parts of the lesson. If you can master this, everything else will come easily.
What's so tough about it, you may ask?
Pronouns that end in "one" or "body"  will trip us up because they will be talking about multiple people (them, they)  but will be presented as a singular pronoun (like he, she, it).

For example: "Everybody wishes the Ice King would go home."
The pronoun (everybody) will function as a singular verb, thus we will use a singular verb (wishes).

If it were a plural pronoun, the verb would have to match:
Example: "They wish the Ice King would go home."



LET'S PRACTICE:
Look at the three sentences below. In each one, correct the subject-verb disagreement before it escalates into a subject-verb war. If there is no conflict, just mark it as correct on your hand-out.

1. When the Ice King starts to sing, everybody scream.
Correction:

2. While they sits in the Ice King's cell, Finn and Jake attempt to devise a plan.
Correction:

3. "Oh my Glob," shrieked Lumpy Space Princess. "Everyone listens to Finn instead of me when my plan was like...so much better!"
Correction:

PART II- PHRASES

Phrases that come between the subject pronoun and its verb —may contain plural words and confuse us. However, this is easier than it sounds. Look at the example below.


Example 1:
Each of the jewels Gunter stole has been recovered right where the Ice King left them.

Each is singular. The jewels in the phrase in between may sound confusing, but each tips us off. Each will make the verb singular.


Example 2
All of Gunter's fellow penguins plot the Ice King's death in their spare time.

Verbs that accompany pronouns such as all and some will be determined by whether the pronoun is referring to something that is COUNTABLE or not.
If you know exactly how many penguins plot the Ice King's bloody demise, then you will use the plural verb.
However, if it is something that cannot be counted, use singular

Example 3: 
All of what Gunter thinks is inappropriate for children's television and is not shown for that reason.

We can't count what Gunter thinks and so it is singular.

None is an easy one. It will typically act as a singular pronoun, but it is not incorrect to use it as a plural. It is almost as desperate for company as the Ice King is in that regard.

Example 4: 
None of the princesses are planning to attend the Ice King's tea party.
None of the princesses is planning to attend the Ice King's tea party.

It doesn't make any difference grammatically. Its use is up to you!

Let's practice:
Write one sentence using EACH, one using ALL (plural), one using ALL (singular) and NONE. For each one, explain how your subject and verb agree, leaving your sentence grammatically correct.
1.
Defense:

2.
Defense

3
Defense

4.
Defense

RESPOND TO THIS POST WITH YOUR ANSWERS FOR BOTH OF THE PRACTICE SESSIONS.

IT'S vs. ITS

IT'S VS. ITS
Starring

• Princess Bubblegum

Featuring:

• Cinnamon Bun
• Peppermint Butler 
• Chocolate Bar Guy

"So what's the big deal? Why are we posting about the difference of two words with the same configuration of letters?!"
The answer is simple. There is nothing more maddening to readers of Standard English than the misuse of this one simple rule. Seeing "it's" instead of "its" or vice versa is guaranteed to make your reader go

It's a simple rule to remember but we often write so fast that we forget to double check.

We all know the standard. Making a noun possessive requires an apostrophe
For example:
Princess Bubblegum's laboratory is full of dangerous and lethal chemicals.

That chocolate cake is one of Cinnamon Bun's favorites.

Similarly, if you are contracting a word with "is," we will also make use of the apostrophe.

For example:
Cinnamon Bun's going to run the message over from Hotdog Princess.
It is Cinnamon Bun + is


However, when dealing with the word "it," we must forget half of what we know about these rules.

If you are using it+is, you will keep the apostrophe. This will show that your word is a contraction as opposed to a possessive.

For example,
It's highly unlikely that Chocolate Bar guy is going to go to the beach today.

You will use the apostrophe because it is a contraction.

However, if you are using a possessive, it will become "its." No apostrophe, no problem.

For example:
"I'm afraid its favorite snack might be citizens of the Candy Kingdom," said Peppermint Butler, staring at the picture of the lich.