Grammar: agreement, voice and reported speech: Class 11 English

Key points

The verb must agree with its subject in number. A singular subject takes a singular verb, and a plural subject takes a plural verb. The distance between them does not change this rule: The box of pencils is on the table. The subject is box, not pencils.

Common agreement rules:

• Two subjects joined by and take a plural verb (Ali and Sara are here), unless they name one thing or person (Bread and butter is my breakfast).
• With either…or, neither…nor and or, the verb agrees with the subject nearest to it (Neither the teacher nor the students were late).
• Words such as each, every, everyone, nobody, anybody and one take a singular verb (Each of the boys has a book).
• Collective nouns such as team, class and committee take a singular verb when the group acts as one unit, and a plural verb when its members act separately.
• Uncountable nouns and nouns that look plural but name a single thing take a singular verb (The news is good. Mathematics is a difficult subject).
• A phrase such as along with, as well as or together with does not change the number of the subject (The teacher, along with the students, is going).

In the active voice the subject does the action (The farmer grows wheat). In the passive voice the subject receives the action (Wheat is grown by the farmer). Use the passive when the doer is unknown, unimportant or better left out, as in news reports and formal writing: The window was broken.

To change active to passive:

• Make the object of the active sentence the subject of the passive sentence.
• Use the right form of the verb to be in the same tense as the active verb, followed by the past participle of the main verb.
• Put the old subject after by, or leave it out if it is not needed.

Examples across tenses: simple present, Ali writes a letter becomes A letter is written by Ali. Simple past, Ali wrote a letter becomes A letter was written by Ali. Present perfect, Ali has written a letter becomes A letter has been written by Ali. Future, Ali will write a letter becomes A letter will be written by Ali. With a modal verb, Ali can write a letter becomes A letter can be written by Ali.

Direct speech gives the exact words of the speaker, in inverted commas. Indirect speech reports them without quoting, and it does not use inverted commas. When the reporting verb is in the past tense, the tense in the reported words usually moves one step back: the present simple becomes the past simple, the present continuous becomes the past continuous, the present perfect becomes the past perfect, the past simple becomes the past perfect, will becomes would and can becomes could.

Other changes in indirect speech:

• Pronouns change to fit the person who is reporting (She said, "I am tired" becomes She said that she was tired).
• Words of time and place change: now becomes then, today becomes that day, tomorrow becomes the next day, yesterday becomes the day before, here becomes there, this becomes that.
• A statement uses the linking word that. A yes or no question uses if or whether. A wh question keeps its question word, and the word order becomes that of a statement.
• A command or request uses to with the verb (He told me to sit down). A negative command uses not to.

A tense does not have to change when the reported statement is a general truth: The teacher said that the sun rises in the east.

There are three articles. A and an are indefinite and go with singular countable nouns that are not specific. Use a before a consonant sound (a book, a university) and an before a vowel sound (an apple, an hour). The is definite and is used when the listener knows which thing is meant, for unique things (the sun), for superlatives (the best player), and before the names of rivers, seas, mountain ranges and groups of islands (the Indus, the Himalayas). No article is used with plural or uncountable nouns in a general sense (Water is essential) or with most names of people and countries.

Study tip: In any transformation exercise, first mark the subject, the verb and the tense. Make the change in steps and then read the new sentence aloud to check that it sounds right.

Definitions and flashcards

Say the meaning first, then open the card to check.

Short questions with model answers

These are the kind of questions asked for 2, 3 and 5 marks. Try each one before opening the answer.

Common mistakes

• Making the verb agree with the nearest noun instead of the real subject (The quality of the products are good).
• Changing the tense in reported speech for a general truth.
• Keeping the question word order in indirect questions (She asked where do I live).
• Using an before a consonant sound such as university or European.
• Dropping the form of to be in the passive, writing The letter written by Ali instead of The letter was written by Ali.

Practise this chapter

Practice questions and timed test Printable worksheet