When you first started learning
English, you probably learned a very basic rule, which is that
in an English sentence the subject and the verb must agree.
What does that mean? Let's have a look. So, basically, it's quite
simple. When you have a singular subject, you have a singular
verb; when you have a plural subject, you have a plural verb.
Okay? And most of the time, that's pretty easy. For example,
we say: "The chair is black", singular subject, singular verb.
Right? Or we say: "The chairs are black", plural subject,
plural verb. Okay? So, most of the time, it's quite easy for
you to decide which verb to use with the subject. But sometimes it's not that
clear; it's not that obvious. And in this lesson, I'm going to
focus on four words that sometimes cause students a
little bit of confusion in this area of subject-verb agreement.
Those four words are the pronouns: "all", "most", "some",
and "not". Now, why are these a little bit
confusing? Because sometimes they take a singular verb and
sometimes they take a plural verb. It depends on the context;
depends on the sentence, depends on the situation. Okay? But by
the end of this lesson, you're going to know 100% which one to
use; when to use the singular verb and when to use the plural
verb. Okay? To get you started thinking
about this subject, look at this sentence. Okay? "All of the
equipment is on sale." Is that correct? Or should we say: "All
of the equipment are on sale"? Think about that for a second,
and I'll be back to explain. Okay, so let's look at some
pairs of sentences to see how this works. The first one is the
one that I'd asked you to think about. So, the correct answer
is: "All the equipment is on sale." Okay? Another way we
could say this is: "All the computers are on sale." Okay?
I'm going to explain the principle to you in a minute. In
the meantime, try to see if you see any patterns here. "Most of the information is
true, but most of the reports are true." Okay? Good. Think
about that. Let's look at another example: "Some of the
advice is useful. Some of the ideas are useful." Okay. Are you
starting to see a little pattern, there? Okay? And the
last one: "None of the jewellery is missing" or "None of the
rings are missing." So, what's going on here? Did
you see the pattern? So, basically, what's happening is
when we have the pronoun and we match it with an uncountable
noun, such as "equipment", then we use a singular verb. Okay? So, if you're not sure what an
"uncountable noun" is or what a "countable noun" is, then, of
course, you can watch my other video where I explain to you
exactly what uncountable and countable nouns are. And you can
also get our resource; the r source that I've written on t
is subject. Okay? But I'm g ing to explain to you in short s
you understand right now. So, an "uncountable noun" is
something which we cannot count. Right? Smart. Like what? For
example: "sugar". I can't really count, right? All of those
grains of sugar, or salt, or flour. That's something
uncountable. Also, sometimes when we look at collective
words, like "furniture", that we consider uncountable because we
look at the whole group, but something that's countable is
"tables" because we can count tables. Right? Also, a general word, like
"food". Okay? "Food" is a general word, so we consider it
something that we cannot count, but "pizzas" are countable
because you can count the individual pizzas. Okay? There
is a long list of uncountable nouns, and you should know that.
You need to know that in English, so check the resource
and it'll... I've classified it for you. Okay? But for now, let's look at the
patterns. So: "The equipment is"... Right? Uncountable and
singular, but "The computers are" -- countable; plural. "The
information is" -- uncountable; singular. "The reports are" --
countable; plural. Right? "The advice is" -- singular. "The
ideas are" -- plural. "The jewellery is" -- singular,
right? Because "jewellery" is considered a collective,
uncountable word or noun, but: "The rings are". Okay? So, that's the rule that you
have to follow. And if you follow that rule with these
pronouns: "all", "most", "some", and "none", then you will always
be right. And why is it important? Because this mistake
-- subject-verb agreement is a very basic mistake. And if you
make that kind of mistake, it's really going to bring down your
score if you're doing an exam, like the IELTS or TOEFL, or any
English exam. And also if you use this kind of language or you
make this kind of mistake in your business writing, it
doesn't look good for your employer or for a client. Okay?
So, let's practice a little bit more now to make sure that
you've really got it. All right, so let's practice
what we've learned. Okay? So, what I would like you to do is:
While we're doing these sentences, decide whether to use
the verb "was" or "were". "Was", of course, is the singular and
"were" is the plural; it's the verb "to be", but of course,
it's in the past just to change things a little bit. Because we
don't only have to use the verb "to be"; we can use any verb.
I'm just using this one to make it simpler for you to see the
difference between the singular and the plural. Okay, so let's give it a go.
Number one: "Most of the vocabulary was easy" or "Most of
the vocabulary were easy"? What should it be? "Most of the
vocabulary was easy". "Vocabulary" is considered one
of those collective, uncountable words. Okay? And, therefore, we
use the singular. If it said: "Most of the words", then it
would be "were easy". "Most of the words were easy." Good. Next: "All of the suitcases
_____ heavy." What should it be? "was" or "were"? "All of the
suitcases were heavy", because "suitcases" is a countable noun.
If it said: "All of the luggage", then we have to say:
"was heavy". "All the luggage was heavy". "Luggage" is
considered an uncountable noun. All right? I know it can be a
little bit annoying, but once you look at some of the examples
and you sort of really put them into your mind, it'll come much
more easily. Okay? I promise you. Next: "Some of the news _____
disturbing". "was" or "were"? "Some of the news was
disturbing." Okay. Now, you're saying: "But Rebecca, there's an
's' there. And when there's an 's', I noticed it's usually
plural." Yes, you're 100% right. Usually it is, but not always,
like in words, like "the news". Okay? "News" is considered
singular; it's uncountable. All right. So, therefore, we use the
singular. But if it said: "Some of the reports were disturbing",
okay? Then it would be plural. All right? You got it. Next, number four: "None of the
people _____ hurt." "was" or "were"? "None of the people were
hurt." Okay. Now, what happened this time? This one is plural
and there is no "s". Okay? This one was singular and it had an
"s"; this one plural. Know this. Sometimes English is funny.
Right? We know that. So, this is a plural word. Okay? But if he
said... Yeah. Okay? It's plural. That's all. All right. Number five: "Some of
the bands _____ excellent." "Bands" like rock bands. Okay?
Music groups. "Some of the bands" -- yes -- "were
excellent". Okay? "Bands", here it's a regular plural word. Next. Sorry, here we could say,
for example: "Some of the music". If we said: "Some of the
music", it's an uncountable, so then it would be: "Some of the
music was excellent." Okay? Good. Next: "Most of the training
_____ helpful." "was/were"? Okay? This is uncountable. So,
when we have uncountable, what do we use? The singular. "Most
of the training was helpful." Very good. But if we said here:
"Most of the courses were helpful." Okay? "Courses" would
be countable, and then plural. Next: "All the developments
_____ positive." "was" or "were"? "All the developments
were positive." Okay? This is a regular plural word, so we need
a plural verb. All right? If we said, for example: "All the
progress" or "All the progress was positive." That's an
uncountable word. Okay? And the last one: "None of the
homework _____ difficult." "None of the homework", what should it
be? "was difficult". Okay. So, "homework" is another
uncountable noun. Okay? "None of the homework was difficult."
But, for example: "None of the math problems were difficult."
Okay? So, you have to change it according to this noun; whether
this noun is uncountable or countable. All right? Now, you spent time, you watched
this video, and you want to get this once and for all; you don't
want to keep on learning this again and again. So, if you want
to master it once and for all, do a few things. Okay? First of
all, make sure that you understand clearly what
"countable" and "uncountable nouns" are. Right? And if you
have any uncertainty, which is possible because it can be a
little bit confusing, go and watch that lesson of mine on
countable and uncountable nouns. Then go to our website, do a
quiz on this so you can get some more practice. Okay? Practices
makes you much better. Okay? Practice will really take you
forward. Get that resource on countable and uncountable nouns;
make your own sentences, maybe take some of those examples from
there and write some sentences in your comments using these
pronouns and you using these uncountable and countable nouns.
Okay? You can do it. It's really not that complicated, but you
need to practice it so that your time watching this video was
really worthwhile. Okay? And, last of all: Don't forget
to subscribe to my YouTube channel so you can keep on
getting lots of other lessons that will help you learn English
much more quickly and effectively. Okay? Thanks very
much for watching, and all the best with your English. Bye for
now.
