Abstract:
Subject -verb agreement is a basic rule of English grammar which states that subjects and verbs
must agree in person and number. Therefore, singular subjects need singular verbs whereas
plural subjects need plural verbs. At tertiary level, Sinhala speaking ESL (English as a second
a language) learners very often get confused with the nuances of the rules of subject -verb
agreement. For example, compare, the jury (a collective noun) is walking to the courtroom and
the jury (refers to many people as individuals) are discussing among themselves. According to
Bock and Miller (1991), elicited sentence productions show that the occasional errors of
subject-verb agreement that speakers make are more likely to occur when a singular head noun
is followed by a plural as in The producer of adventure stories have arrived than when a plural
head is followed by a plural (Nicol, Foster & Veres, 1997). The objective of this study is to
analyze the tertiary level Sinhala-speaking ESL learners’ accuracy patterns of the usage of
subject -verb agreement in their writing tasks in order to find out relevant methods to facilitate
the teaching of subject -verb agreement in English Language. A sample of 50 first year
undergraduates who are randomly selected from the University of Kelaniya participated in this
study. The research tool of this experimental study is a sentence battery consisting of gapfilling
tasks where the learners have to use the correct verb according to the given subject. Excel
spread sheets and SPSS will be used for data analysis. Two way ANOVA will be run and the
Post Hoc Tukey HSD Test will be computed to compare the significant differences in the
accurate use of each sub rule of subject and verb agreement. Findings of these accuracy patterns
can be applied to teach subject -verb agreement in the ESL classrooms more effectively. The
findings of the study will also inform syllabus design, lesson materials and lesson plans on the
use of tenses in English grammar.
