Verbs, Tenses & Subject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

A verb indicates an action, an occurrence, or a state of being. • Transitive vs Intransitive Verbs: - Transitive Verbs: Require a direct object to receive the action and complete the sense. Example: "Kofi kicked the football." ('the football' is the direct object). - Intransitive Verbs: Express an action that does not pass over to an object; they make complete sense on their own. Example: "The baby slept peacefully." (No object). • Regular vs Irregular Verbs: - Regular Verbs: Form their past tense and past participle by adding -ed or -d (walk → walked → walked; play → played → played). - Irregular Verbs: Form past tense and past participle through vowel changes or irregular forms: * write → wrote → written * speak → spoke → spoken * swim → swam → swum * tear → tore → torn * choose → chose → chosen * broadcast → broadcast → broadcast (invariable form!) • Auxiliary Verbs (Helping Verbs): Primary auxiliaries (be, do, have) assist main verbs to express tense, aspect, or voice. Modal auxiliaries (can, could, will, would, shall, should, may, might, must) express ability, permission, obligation, or possibility.

English has three time frames (Past, Present, Future) subdivided into four aspects: 1. Simple Present: Habitual actions, general truths, and eternal facts. "The sun rises in the east." / "Kwame walks to school every morning." 2. Present Continuous: Actions occurring right at the present moment. "The students are writing their science mock examination." 3. Present Perfect: Actions completed in the past that have relevance or results in the present (have/has + past participle). "She has finished her homework." (She is ready now). 4. Simple Past: Actions completed at a specific definite time in the past. "We traveled to Cape Coast last Saturday." 5. Past Continuous: Actions that were in progress at a specific time in the past. "They were studying when the power outage occurred." 6. Past Perfect: An action that took place before another action in the past (had + past participle). "The train had already departed before we reached the railway station in Takoradi."

Concord means grammatical agreement between the subject and the verb in number (singular/plural) and person. • Golden Rule 1: A singular subject requires a singular verb (singular verbs in the simple present end in '-s' or '-es'). A plural subject requires a plural verb. - Singular: "The teacher writes on the chalkboard." - Plural: "The teachers write on the chalkboard." • Golden Rule 2: Two or more singular subjects joined by 'and' take a plural verb. - "Kofi and Ama are going to the library." Exception: When two words joined by 'and' represent a single compound entity or dish, take a singular verb: - "Bread and butter is a quick breakfast." - "Gari and beans is my favorite lunch." • Golden Rule 3: Intervening Expressions Rule: Phrases such as 'as well as', 'together with', 'along with', 'in addition to', 'accompanied by', and 'including' do NOT alter the number of the subject. Look only at the main subject preceding the phrase! - "The headmaster, together with all the teachers, IS attending the conference." - "The players, as well as the coach, ARE celebrating the victory."

• The Proximity Rule (Either...or / Neither...nor): When two subjects are joined by 'either...or', 'neither...nor', or 'not only...but also', the verb agrees in number and person with the subject CLOSER to it. - "Neither the captain nor the players were satisfied with the referee." - "Neither the players nor the captain was satisfied with the referee." • Indefinite Pronouns: - Always Singular: Each, everyone, someone, nobody, neither, either, one of the... * "Each of the students HAS a textbook." (NOT have). * "One of my brothers IS an engineer in Tema." (The subject is 'one', not 'brothers'). - Always Plural: Both, few, many, several. * "Both of the candidates are qualified." • Collective Nouns: When viewed as a single collective unit, use a singular verb: - "The Ghanaian national football team (Black Stars) IS training in Kumasi."