Intransitive Verbs Session 1

Sentence Patterns with Intransitive Verbs

Lecturer by Mr. Hendi

November 14, 2012

Written By Sutriono

Lesson 1

Sentence Pattern:

Noun + Verb.

Noun Phrase	Verb Phrase
Noun	Verb
Clouds	gathered
The sun	dimmed
Noun + Noun (Compound subjects)	Verb + Verb (Compound predicates)
The professor and his colleagues	read and study
He and his colleagues	Lecture and teach
Neither hellene nor her friends	read or study
Neither they nor she	reads or studies

 * And,neither..... nor, or -à modifiers and connectors.

Agreement and compound subjects

1. If the part of the compound subject are joined by AND,wheather they are singular or plural form of the verb is used

Example:

The boys and the girl are playing

Mark and Helene approve.

2. If the part of the compound subject are singular and joined by such connectives as or, nor, either......or, neither.......nor, not only.....but also, the singular form of the verb is used.

Example:

Either Ilham or his friend is expected.

Neither Selly nor Ayu works.

3. If the part of the compound subject joined by or, nor, either.....or, neither....nor, not only....but also are different in number of person, the part nearest the verb determines the number of the verb.

Example:

Neither Helene nor her sisters work.

Not only the students but also Prof. Ober is waiting.

Agreement and Collective Nouns

          Occasionally a noun that singular in form may be used in a plural sense.

          The crowed were waving their arms and shouting.

          The committee were arguing.

Usually, however, nouns like class, group, committee, and jury and so on called collectives are considered singular and the-s form of the verb is used with them.

          The committee is meeting.

          The jury has been dismissed.

Verb form and auxiliaries that do not change form for agreement.