Page 74 - New Medley 4 Semester 1

Think and Answer • Critical Thinking

A. Do you think that most of the people in Phagwara believed in rumours and superstitions

about the ghost? How did Joginder and Sumer help the people overcome such beliefs?

B. Mention some qualities of Joginder and Sumer with examples from the story to support
your answer.

Grammar Spot • Subject-verb agreement
• Transitive and intransitive verbs
• Simple present tense

Subject–Verb Agreement

Read the given sentences.

1. A fruit seller sells fruits.
2. Monkeys eat bananas.

 In sentence 1, the subject (a fruit seller) is singular and takes a singular verb that ends
with -s (sells). When the subject of a sentence is a singular noun or pronoun, we use

a singular verb. We form a singular verb by adding -s or -es to the main verb.
 In sentence 2, the subject (monkeys) is plural. It takes a plural verb (eat). It does not

end with -s or -es. When the subject of a sentence is a plural noun or pronoun, ‘I’ or
‘you’, we use a plural verb (e.g., I think, you think).

 In all sentences, the subject must agree with the verb in number.

 We use is and has with singular nouns and pronouns.

 We use are and have with plural nouns and pronouns, e.g., Tom and Sam are in the
ground.

 We always use have with ‘I’ and ‘you’.

We already know that we add -ing with the main verbs and use am/is/are as helping
verbs when we talk about actions in progress at the time of speaking.

Examples: 1. I am painting a scenery.
(Singular subject) (Singular verb) REMEMBER
2. He is chasing a monkey. We use ‘am’ or ‘have’ with ‘I’,

(Singular subject) (Singular verb) according to the requirement
3. They are talking about the ghost. of the sentence.
(Plural subject) (Plural verb)

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