Subject-Verb Agreement with "is" and "are"

Verda McGraw, M. Ed.

Expected Outcome: The person will say "is" and "are" correctly in sentences with subject pronouns.

Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to introduce the grammar rule of subject pronouns agreeing with the verbs "is" and "are" and to provide examples and practice for subject-verb agreement.

Target Vocabulary:

1. are
2. are they
3. away
4. doing
5. feeling
6. getting
7. he
8. he is
9. is
10. is he
11. is she
12. it
13. looking
14. making
15. playing
16. putting
17. reading
18. sad
19. she
20. she is
21. something
22. they
23. they are
24. what
25. writing

Target Language Skill: Using the correct form of the "being" verb to agree with a subject pronoun.

Suggested Objectives:

1. The person will use the verb "is" correctly in a sentence with the pronouns "she" or "he."
2. The person will use the verb "are" correctly in a sentence with the pronouns "we" or "they."

Teaching Activities:

Before beginning this lesson, be sure that the person knows how to say the words in the target vocabulary list. If there are any word meanings that the person does not know, work on this as well. In Unity® there are two ways to say verb phrases. You can say the individual words such as "he" and "is." Each one of these words takes two hits. Or you can say the verb phrases, such as "he is" using just two hits. Establish the way that you want to teach and then stay consistent with this. Some teachers of Unity prefer to teach single words first so that the person gets used to the motor patterns for one word at a time. After this, they may teach the "shortcut" method of saying the pronoun-verb phrases. Both the single words and the phrases are included in the Smart Charts for this lesson.

A. Speaking

1. Ask the person to listen to you while you say short sentences with "is" and "are." Say "He is happy." "She is nice." "They are taking a nap. "We are going." Ask him or her to say just the verb that you said. If the person needs help, model the word "is" on the device. Model "are" on the device.
2. Say some silly sentences using an incorrect verb. "She are my friend." We is not going." Ask the person if the sentence sounds right. Ask what he or she things is wrong with the sentence.
3. You can use the Smart Charts to make words for a sentence strip. Enlarge the words on a copier and tape or glue them onto cards. Ask the person to help you make a silly sentence with the word cards. Say the silly sentence. Ask the person to help you "fix" the sentence. Ask him or her to say the sentence you made.

B. Reading

1. Read the PowerPoint book for this lesson as a shared reading project. Ask the person to listen to both sentences, then tell you the correct one. Be sure to give lots of praise for good answers.
2. Use the PowerPoint book to review "-ing" verbs if the person is not ready to do the pronoun-verb phrases.

C. Writing

1 Make your own PowerPoint book with digital photos that you and the person choose. Write a caption for each picture that contains a pronoun-verb phrase.
2 Ask the person to read the book to someone.
3 Establish a computer connection with the device. If you need help with this, go to support.prentrom.com and do a search for "computer access."
4 Open a Word document and let the person write sentences, or make up a story. Print the document and share with someone.

D. Generalization

1. When you are reading other books, call attention to subject pronouns and the verbs that come after.
2. Make more silly sentences with the target vocabulary words. Practice changing the sentences into questions. Move the word cards on the sentence strip. Ask the person to say the question.
3. Talk about contractions and how we use them. Look for contractions in reading books. Listen for contractions in what other people are saying. Find contractions in the device. Contractions are actually in stage six, but the person may be getting ready to use them if they understand how to use "is" and "are" correctly.
4. What pronoun is not in the target word list? Talk about the correct verb to use with "you." Practice some sentences with "you are" and "are you." Say some silly sentences with "you is" and "is you."