Info about subject verb agreement and shifts.

1. SENTENCE STYLE FOR
TECHNICAL REPORTERS
The following guidelines are easier for some to follow
than for others, but they can, with a little work, be learned
by almost anyone. Once learned, they'll become part of
your permanent knowledge base like the multiplication
tables! You won't have to learn them twice.
Take time then, even if you're fairly confident about your
grammar, to see if you need to work on any of these
areas. Try to understand the logic of the rule, what its
purpose is. Study the examples until you see how the
rule is violated and how it can be set right.

2. Subject/Verb Agreement
This rule comes first because understanding it can help you
understand some of the others. In most sentences you
follow it naturally, but it can cause trouble. The rule is as
follows:
• The subject and verb of each clause must agree in
number.
If you have a singular subject, you need a singular verb. If
you have a plural subject, you need a plural verb. Singular
and plural tell how many. Singular means one. Plural
means more than one. Both your subject and verb must
give the same signal as to how many you are talking about.

3. Subject / Verb Agreement
Read the following sentences and see if you can find any
problems with subject/verb agreement.
1. The cat come home tired.
2. The cat comes home tired.
3. The cats come home tired.
4. The cats comes home tired.
Can you explain the problem in sentences one and four? If
not, consider that with most nouns, our language forms the
plural by adding an s, but with verbs, an s is added only in
the third person singular.

4. Subject / Verb Agreement
Person/Number Chart
Singular Plural
1st person I come We come
2nd person You come You come
3rd person He, she, it or that thing They, these, or those
comes things come
All nouns, such as cat, pasta, or titanium, should be considered 3rd person.

5. Mastering Subject / Verb Agreement
1. Force yourself to listen for s sounds as you write.
• In speaking, we sometimes drop these sounds as we fade one
word into another. Because of this, we may forget the sounds are
even there.
2. Don’t be misled by false sentence subjects.
• Change “Those tomatoes from my brother looks juicy” to “Those
tomatoes from my brother look juicy.”
3. Treat “collective” nouns as singular subjects and verbs.
• Change “My family like to go to church together” to “My family likes
to go to church together.” This is a tricky one!
4. Watch out for sentences with 2 or more subjects!
• Change “Donald and Jermichael gets their fair share of penalties”
to “Donald and Jermichael get their fair share of penalties.”

6. Shifts in Verb Tense
The tense of your verb tells when events are taking place—
whether in the past, the present, or the future. Early in your
writing process, establish a "base tense" for your report,
and shift away from it only for good reason. If you're writing
about past events, use the past tense as your base tense.
If you're writing about the present or the future, build
around one of those tenses in all sentences.
• Wrong: “We went to Glass Nickel and ordered a pizza. The waitress
comes over and brings us our drinks. I can see she's going to spill
one.” [Verbs are in bold.]
• Correct: “We went to Glass Nickel and ordered a pizza. As the waitress
came back with our drinks, I could see she was going to spill one.”

7. Shift in Person
Here again, the goal is to be clear and consistent. This
time, however, your aim is to establish a steady, reliable
point of view. Doing so helps the reader understand where
the two of you stand in relation to the subject, and generally
helps build a strong writer/reader relationship.
For our purposes, the main points of view from which to
choose correspond to the persons on the Person/Number
Chart. Thus, writing based on the first person singular point
of view uses "I" and "me" as its foundation, while writing
based on the third person plural would use "they" and
"them."

8. Shift in Person
• Wrong: “Lady Gaga is my best friend. She won't let a person
down. You can always count on her to be there when you need
help.”
• Correct: “Lady Gaga is my best friend. She won't let me down. I
can always count on her to be there when I need help.”
This writer is probably talking about her own relationship
with Lady Gaga, not the reader's. Keeping point of view
consistent in all three sentences makes that clear.

9. Shift in Person
First person singular (I or We): This point of view is often
effective for informal writing, especially for writing about
your personal interests and experiences. It draws attention
to the writer, which may or may not be a good thing.
Example: “I have always enjoyed crocheting for the relaxation it
provides me.”
First person plural: Slightly more formal than first person
singular, this point of view can convey a sense that you and
the reader are partners. It takes emphasis away from the
writer as an individual and places emphasis on whatever
group is designated by "we."
Example: “When we look closely at last month's sales figures, we
can see what the future holds for our company.”

10. Shifts in Person
Second person singular or plural (You or You): Used
carefully, this point of view can make readers feel you are
speaking directly to them, are in a sense looking directly at
them.
Sometimes, however, the second person is blurred into
slang or substitutes for a more appropriate point of view.
Like first person singular, it is generally most effective in
personal or informal writing.
• strong: You can't imagine how much Helen enjoyed
talking with you the other day.
• weak: You had to be willing to give a hundred percent
whenever you went out on the floor or Coach Bavasi
would bench you.

11. Shifts in Person
Third person singular and plural (he, she, they,
them): These points of view distance you from your subject
and your reader. They make your writing less personal and
more formal. They are used for much academic, technical,
and scientific writing where tradition or the subject
demands an air of distance and objectivity.
• Example: A person who violates any of the following laws can
expect to receive prompt and immediate punishment. (third
person singular)
• Example: Students who wish to graduate in June should have
their transcripts reviewed by their advisors. (third person plural)
Note: Choosing a dominant point of view doesn't mean
you've limited yourself to a single set of pronouns for your
whole paper, only that departures from the dominant point
of view should be logical and effective.
• Example: I hope you told them we would be late.