必修4教案 Unit1 Women of achievement[Learning about Language]

2．A sample lesson plan for Learning about Language
(Subject-verb agreement)
Aims
To help students learn about subject-verb agreement.
To help students discover and learn to use some useful words and expressions.
To help students discover and learn to use some useful structures.
Procedures
I. Warming up
Warming up by discovering useful words and expressions
Turn to page 4 and do exercises No. 1, 2 ,3 and 4 first. Check your answers against your classmates’.
 
II. Learning about grammar
1. Reading and thinking
Turn to page 2 and read with me the text of A PROTECTOR OF AFRICAN WILDLIFE. As you read on, pay attention to the forms of sentence predicates and the subject-verb agreement shown in the sentences.
(For reference: Our group are…, Watching a family of chimps is…, Nobody before has fully understood…)
2. Doing exercises No. 1 and 2 on page 5
Turn to page 5. Look at the two sentences: Our group are all going to visit the chimps in the forest. And Our group includes six boys and five girls. Have you noticed any difference between them? Yes. If the word “group ” refers to different members, use a plural verb. If the word “group” is considered as a whole, use a singular verb. Now fill in the blanks with the proper form of the given verbs in brackets on page 5. And then go on to do Exercise No. 2 on the same page, that is, fill in the correct verb form in the letter.

III. Ready used materials for Subject-verb agreement
I got a hold of some bad pork chops the other day, and they didn't agree with me. Stomach aches aren't very pleasant. Don't you agree?
We all know these meanings of "agree," but when we talk about subject-verb agreement, we're talking about something different: matching subjects and verbs according to number. That is, when you have a singular subject, you have to match it with a singular verb form: The boy plays. When you have a plural subject, you must have a plural verb form: The boys play.
In short, simple sentences, you should have no problem with agreement. You can hear the problem: The boys plays. When it's wrong , it just sounds funny. However, there are four potential problem spots that you need to watch carefully:
o stuff in between the subject and verb
o reversed sentence order
o "-body," "-one," and "-thing" words
o "who," "which," and "that"
Stuff in between subjects and verbs
The stuff here is usually a prepositional phrase that separates the subject from the verb. Remember how we crossed out prepositional phrases in order to find the subject? Do the same thing if you're having problems with agreement. Now, thinking about that, look at the following sentence and decide what's wrong with it:
 
The dishes in the kitchen is dirty.
Good guess! The subject and the verb don't agree. What's the probable cause for the problem? Kitchen (a singular noun) is right in front of is (a singular verb). If kitchen were the subject, that would be okay. But, it's not. Cross out the prepositional phrase and you're left with:
The dishes in the kitchen is dirty.
"The dishes . . . is dirty?" Sounds wrong, doesn't it? The subject is plural, but the verb is singular. They don't agree. The correct version is:
The dishes in the kitchen are dirty.
Once you know how to look for this problem, it shouldn't be too hard to get rid of it when you proofread your paper.
Reversed sentence order
The normal pattern for English sentences is subject-verb. However, there are a few situations where this order is reversed (like this sentence):
o There are snacks on the laundry-room table.
o Where are they?
o On the table are the goodies!
See how the subject comes after the verb in each of these? If you can remember how to locate subjects and verbs, you shouldn't blunder into mistakes when writing reversed-order sentences.
"-body," "-one," and "-thing" words
The correct term for these words is indefinite pronouns, but if you remember them as "-body," "-one," and "-thing" words, you'll probably be able to spot them more easily. You only need to know one thing: if a word has one of these endings (like everybody, everyone, anyone, anything, etc.), it is always singular! You can also include each, either, and neither in this group. Look at the following:
 
1. Everyone is going on a picnic.
2. Each of the boys is taking his own lunch.
3. If anyone drops something to eat, I'll grab it before he can pick it up.
You shouldn't have problems with these if you simply memorize the endings of words that are always singular.
NOTE: We said that either and neither are always singular; however, if you have two subjects in an either . . . or or neither . . . nor construction, getting the agreement right may give you fits. To get it right, just locate the subject closest to the verb and make the verb agree with it:
o Either the mailman or the construction workers are causing Peggy to bark like crazy.
o Neither the dogs down the street nor the one next door pays any attention.
Compare this with the following:
o Either the construction workers or the mailman is causing Peggy to bark like crazy.

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