VOA慢速英语--Subject-Verb Agreement and the News

 

Imagine you are reading or listening to an American news story. Perhaps it is a health and lifestyle story.

Diabetes¹ is a serious, chronic² disease on the rise around the world...

Over time, diabetes can damage the heart, blood vessels³, eyes, kidneys and nerves.

Some of the nouns might seem like they could be plural⁴. But they are not. For example, why does the story say “diabetes is...”?

Today, we will explore that very question.

Specifically, we will explore subject-verb agreement in the news.

Subject-verb agreement

Subject-verb agreement means that a sentence’s subject and verb agree in number. Here is an example:

My friends like to travel.

The subject, my friends, is plural. Therefore, the verb is plural as well.

If the sentence were about one friend, it would be different:

My friend likes to travel.

This is the basic idea of subject-verb agreement.

However, when you are reading or listening to English language news, you might hear some strange cases of subject-verb agreement.

The news, in fact, is full of strange cases of subject-verb agreement, as we will see.

Unusual kinds of subject verb agreement

English speakers often make nouns plural when they add an –s to the end of the word. For example, cat becomes cats; dog becomes dogs; house becomes houses.

But English speakers do not always consider nouns that end in –s to be plural. In fact, we gave you an example just a short time ago:

The news, in fact, is full of strange cases of subject-verb agreement.

English speakers use news with a singular verb.

Countries/organizations

Some common terms in the news might seem to have unusual subject-verb agreement.

You might find these terms in stories about international politics, for example.

These terms are often proper nouns. Although they have an –s ending, they are singular.

Here is one such example:

The Philippines has become the second country to voice displeasure over the film “Abominable.”

Here, the speaker uses a singular verb structure - has become.

English speakers also use a singular verb with another country: The United States.

So, you might read a news story that says, “The United States is going to increase tariffs⁶ on certain goods” or “The Philippines is planning to export more products next year.”

When English speakers refer to the Philippines or the United States with a pronoun, they use “it” - a singular pronoun.

Some organizations also take singular verbs.

The United Nations is probably the most famous example.

Illnesses with – s on the end

Health and lifestyle stories also have confusing cases of subject-verb agreement.

Many common illnesses take singular verbs.

Diabetes is one example we already noted⁷ earlier.

Diabetes is a serious, chronic disease on the rise around the world...

Over time, diabetes can damage the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys and nerves.

Measles⁸ is another example:

Measles makes people very sick, and it is especially dangerous for young children. It can lead to other health problems such as pneumonia⁹ or encephalitis.

You might also read about rabies, rickets¹⁰, shingles¹¹ and mumps¹². All of those illnesses usually take singular verbs.

Closing thoughts

The next time you are reading the news, pay close attention to subject-verb agreement. Ask yourself the following question: Does the sentence have normal subject-verb agreement? If not, what might explain the sentence’s unusual subject-verb agreement?

Asking yourself these kinds of questions will help you learn patterns. By learning these patterns, you can improve your reading and writing skills.

I'm Jill Robbins.

And I’m John Russell.

Words in This Story

chronic – adj. medical : continuing or occurring again and again for a long time

displeasure -- n. a feeling of unhappiness or annoyance¹³

tariff⁵ – n. a tax on goods coming into or leaving a country

product – n. something that is made or grown to be sold or used

illness – n. a specific condition that prevents your body or mind from working normally : a sickness or disease

pneumonia – n. medical : a serious disease that affects the lungs and makes it difficult to breathe

encephalitis – n. inflammation of the brain

pattern – n. the regular and repeated way in which something happens or is done

1 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

2 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

3 vessels   

n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人

参考例句：

• The river is navigable by vessels of up to 90 tons. 90 吨以下的船只可以从这条河通过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All modern vessels of any size are fitted with radar installations. 所有现代化船只都有雷达装置。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 plural   

n.复数；复数形式；adj.复数的

参考例句：

• Most plural nouns in English end in's '.英语的复数名词多以s结尾。
• Here you should use plural pronoun.这里你应该用复数代词。

5 tariff   

n.关税，税率；(旅馆、饭店等)价目表，收费表

参考例句：

• There is a very high tariff on jewelry.宝石类的关税率很高。
• The government is going to lower the tariff on importing cars.政府打算降低进口汽车的关税。

6 tariffs   

关税制度； 关税( tariff的名词复数 )； 关税表； （旅馆或饭店等的）收费表； 量刑标准

参考例句：

• British industry was sheltered from foreign competition by protective tariffs. 保护性关税使英国工业免受国际竞争影响。
• The new tariffs have put a stranglehold on trade. 新的关税制对开展贸易极为不利。

7 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

8 measles   

n.麻疹，风疹，包虫病，痧子

参考例句：

• The doctor is quite definite about Tom having measles.医生十分肯定汤姆得了麻疹。
• The doctor told her to watch out for symptoms of measles.医生叫她注意麻疹出现的症状。

9 pneumonia   

n.肺炎

参考例句：

• Cage was struck with pneumonia in her youth.凯奇年轻时得过肺炎。
• Pneumonia carried him off last week.肺炎上星期夺去了他的生命。

10 rickets   

n.软骨病，佝偻病，驼背

参考例句：

• A diet deficient in vitamin D may cause the disease rickets.缺少维生素D的饮食可能导致软骨病。
• It also appears to do more than just protect against rickets.除了防止软骨病，它还有更多的功能。

11 shingles   

n.带状疱疹；（布满海边的）小圆石( shingle的名词复数 )；屋顶板；木瓦（板）；墙面板

参考例句：

• Shingles are often dipped in creosote. 屋顶板常浸涂木焦油。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The roofs had shingles missing. 一些屋顶板不见了。 来自辞典例句

12 mumps   

n.腮腺炎

参考例句：

• Sarah got mumps from her brother.萨拉的弟弟患腮腺炎，传染给她了。
• I was told not go near Charles. He is sickening for mumps.别人告诉我不要走近查尔斯， 他染上了流行性腮腺炎。

13 annoyance   

n.恼怒，生气，烦恼

参考例句：

• Why do you always take your annoyance out on me?为什么你不高兴时总是对我出气？
• I felt annoyance at being teased.我恼恨别人取笑我。