Compose and revise with subject-verb agreement, verb tenses that fit, perfect tenses and correlative conjunctions

Learning goal: This lesson teaches five parts of Ohio's 2026 Writing Foundations standard WF.5.3, first implemented in 2027-28. You will write in complete sentences to demonstrate knowledge of conventions: use subject-verb agreement correctly when composing and revising writing; use verb tenses to convey various times, sequences, states and conditions; recognize and correct shifts in verb tense, including subject-verb agreement; use perfect verb tenses to compose and revise writing; and use correlative conjunctions correctly when composing and revising writing. The first part of the same standard, using varied pronouns and their antecedents correctly, is taught in the companion lesson on complete sentences, verb tenses, connectors and pronoun antecedents.

Composing and revising. When you compose, you turn ideas into sentences. When you revise, you reread the draft the way a reader would and improve it. The five checks in this lesson are easy to miss while composing, because your attention is on the ideas. They are much easier to catch on a second, slower reading.

Check 1: Subject-verb agreement. A verb must agree with its subject in number. In the simple present tense, a singular subject (one person or thing, or he, she or it) takes a verb that ends in -s: "The dog barks." Helping verbs called modals, such as can, will, should and must, never take -s: "She can swim." Singular they, used for one person, still takes the form without -s: "They walk." A plural subject takes the verb without -s: "The dogs bark." I and you also take the form without -s: "I walk. You walk." Three common verbs have forms of their own: be (I am, you are, she is, they are; in the past, I was, you were, she was, they were), have (she has, they have) and do (she does, they do). For every verb except be, the past tense has one form for all subjects (she walked, they walked; she had, they had). So agreement needs the most care in the present tense and wherever is, are, was, were, has, have, does or do is used.

Six places where agreement often goes wrong:

- Words between the subject and the verb. The verb agrees with its subject, not with the nearest noun. "The box of crayons is on the shelf." To check, cover the phrase of crayons.
- Two subjects joined by "and" usually make a plural subject: "Maya and her brother walk to school." The exception is when the two words name one person or one thing: "My neighbor and best friend is coming" (one person who is both), "Macaroni and cheese is my favorite."
- Two subjects joined by "or" or "nor." The verb agrees with the nearer subject: "Either the twins or Dana feeds the fish." "Either Dana or the twins feed the fish."
- Sentences that begin with There or Here. The subject comes after the verb: "There are three reasons." "Here is the map."
- Each, everyone, everybody and nobody are singular in formal writing: "Each of the players has a uniform." "Everyone is ready."
- A group word such as class, team or family is usually singular in American English when the group acts as one unit: "Our team practices on Mondays."

Check 2: Verb tenses convey times, sequences, states and conditions.

- Times. The simple tenses place an action in time: "We planted beans last week. We water them every day. We will pick them in July." The simple present also tells a habit or something that is always true.
- Sequences. When two events are both in the past, the past perfect can mark the earlier one, so the reader knows the order even when the sentence does not tell the events in order. "When we arrived, the game started" means that we arrived and then the game started. "When we arrived, the game had started" means that the game started before we arrived.
- States. A state is the way something is, not an action. Tense tells when the state holds. "The pond is frozen" (now). "The pond was frozen last week" (then; it may not be frozen now). "The pond has been frozen since Monday" (the state began on Monday and is still true).
- Conditions. An if sentence joins a condition and a result. Two patterns are common. For a condition that may really happen, use the present tense in the if part and will in the result: "If the creek rises tonight, the trail will close." For a condition the writer only imagines, use the past tense in the if part and would in the result: "If I had a canoe, I would paddle to the island." The speaker has no canoe.

Check 3: Shifts in verb tense. A shift is a change from one tense to another. A shift is inappropriate when the tense changes but nothing about the time, the order of events or a condition explains it: "We hiked to the ridge, eat our lunch and watched the hawks." All three actions belong to the same past hike, so eat must be ate. A change of tense is correct when the time really changes: "Last spring we planted the garden. Now we pick tomatoes every week, and next year we will add a second bed."

To recognize a shift, underline every verb and label its tense. At each change, ask: Does the change show a real difference in time, in the order of events, or in a condition? Signal words such as yesterday, last year, now, every day, tomorrow and by then help you answer. Some correct changes happen inside one situation: "If the creek rises tonight, the trail will close" talks about one future night, but a condition with if uses the present and its result uses will. If nothing about time, order or condition explains the change, correct the verb.

Shifts and subject-verb agreement go together. Whenever you correct a tense, check agreement again, because the present tense shows agreement that the past tense hides. Suppose a draft says, "The scout walked to the ridge and looks across the valley." To put both verbs in the past, write walked and looked; neither changes with the subject. To put both in the present, write walks and looks; now each verb needs -s because the scout is singular. If the subject were the scouts, the present verbs would be walk and look.

Check 4: Perfect verb tenses. A perfect tense is a form of have plus the past participle of the main verb. Ohio's examples are "I have finished my work. She has finished her work." In the present perfect, the helper agrees with the subject: has with he, she, it or a singular noun; have with I, you, we, they or a plural noun. Had and will have are the same for every subject.

- Present perfect (has or have + past participle): an action finished at some time before now that still matters now, or a state that began in the past and continues. "I have finished my work, so I can help you." "We have lived here for six years."
- Past perfect (had + past participle): the earlier of two past times. "By noon she had finished her work."
- Future perfect (will have + past participle): something that will be finished before a future time. "By Friday we will have finished the mural."

One condition: do not use the present perfect with a word that names a finished time, such as yesterday, last week or in March. Write "I finished my work yesterday," not "I have finished my work yesterday."

For a regular verb, the past participle ends in -ed, the same as the past tense (finish, finished, has finished). Irregular verbs have forms you must learn: go, went, gone; see, saw, seen; do, did, done; write, wrote, written; eat, ate, eaten; take, took, taken; grow, grew, grown. Two mistakes are common. One is using the past form after have: "has went" should be "has gone." The other is using the participle with no helper: "I seen it" should be "I saw it" or "I have seen it."

Check 5: Correlative conjunctions. Correlative conjunctions are pairs of words that work together to join two equal parts of a sentence: either ... or, neither ... nor, both ... and, not only ... but also, whether ... or. Ohio's example is "You can have either cake or pie for dessert." Another: "I cannot decide whether to walk or to ride."

1. Use the right partner. Neither goes with nor, not with or.
2. Keep the two parts parallel. The same kind of word or word group follows each half of the pair. In "either cake or pie," each half is followed by a noun. "She not only plays the flute but also the drums" is not parallel: a verb follows not only, and a noun follows but also. Revised: "She plays not only the flute but also the drums."
3. Check agreement. When either ... or or neither ... nor joins two subjects, the verb agrees with the nearer subject. Both ... and makes a plural subject.
4. Neither ... nor is already negative. Write "I like neither beets nor turnips," not "I don't like neither beets nor turnips."

Original draft for revising — The Feeder Count (the class, the teacher and the numbers are invented for this lesson; the sentences are numbered so that you can refer to them)

(1) Every October our class count the birds at the feeders behind the school. (2) Each of the observers have a pair of binoculars. (3) Last Friday we set up two feeders, fills them with sunflower seeds and waited by the window. (4) By the time the first chickadee landed, Ms. Okafor already explained the tally sheet. (5) Neither the cardinals nor the blue jay were afraid of us. (6) We not only recorded the number of birds but also their colors. (7) So far this year we counted 46 birds, and Dana have seen nine different kinds. (8) If the weather stays dry next week, we count again.

Worked model inside the lesson — revising sentences 1 to 3. Sentence 1: the subject is our class, a group acting as one unit, so the verb is singular: counts. The present tense is right, because every October names a habit. Sentence 2: cover of the observers; the subject is each, which is singular: "Each of the observers has a pair of binoculars." The present tense is right here too, because the sentence still tells about the every-October habit. Sentence 3: Last Friday moves the time to the past, and that change is correct. Nothing changes the time again inside the sentence, so fills is an inappropriate shift: "Last Friday we set up two feeders, filled them with sunflower seeds and waited by the window." (Set is already past; its past form is the same as its base form.)

Worked example 1 — Finishing the revision. Sentence 4: two past events are in a sequence. The explaining came before the landing, so it takes the past perfect: "By the time the first chickadee landed, Ms. Okafor had already explained the tally sheet." Sentence 5: with neither ... nor, the verb agrees with the nearer subject, the blue jay, which is singular: "Neither the cardinals nor the blue jay was afraid of us." Sentence 6: a verb follows not only and a noun follows but also, so the parts are not parallel. Move not only: "We recorded not only the number of birds but also their colors." Sentence 7: so far this year names a time that reaches up to now, so the present perfect fits, and the helper must agree with each subject: "So far this year we have counted 46 birds, and Dana has seen nine different kinds." Sentence 8: the dry weather is a condition that may really happen, so the result takes will: "If the weather stays dry next week, we will count again." The time changes three times in the revised paragraph (from the every-October habit to last Friday, then to the year so far, then to next week), and the tense follows each change. Two more tense changes are also correct: the past perfect in sentence 4 marks the earlier of two past events, and stays in sentence 8 is the present tense that the if pattern uses.

Worked example 2 — Agreement in four trouble spots. "The list of winners (hang / hangs) by the door." Cover of winners; the subject is list: hangs. "There (is / are) two owls in the barn." The subject, two owls, comes after the verb: are. "Either the drummers or the singer (start / starts) the song." The nearer subject is the singer: starts. "Both the drummers and the singer (start / starts) the song." Both ... and makes a plural subject: start.

Worked example 3 — Shift or correct change? "Ten years ago our town built a footbridge over the creek. Hundreds of walkers use it every week. Last March a flood covered the path for three days, but the bridge stays dry the whole time." (The town and its bridge are invented for this example.) Built is past, for ten years ago. Use is present, and the time has changed to a habit that is true now, so that change is correct. Covered is past, for last March. Stays is present, but the time is still last March, so it is an inappropriate shift: "the bridge stayed dry the whole time."

Worked example 4 — Perfect tenses in revising. "I have went to the nurse already." The past participle of go is gone: "I have gone to the nurse already." "She has finished her report last night." Last night names a finished time, so use the simple past: "She finished her report last night." Two short sentences, "The bus left. Then we reached the stop," can be combined to show the sequence: "When we reached the stop, the bus had left." The past perfect marks the leaving as the earlier event.

Worked example 5 — Composing with correlative conjunctions. "Jo does not like beets. Sam does not like beets." Combined: "Neither Jo nor Sam likes beets." The pair is already negative, so not is dropped, and the verb agrees with the nearer subject, Sam. "The trail is steep. The trail is muddy." Combined: "The trail is both steep and muddy." An adjective follows each half. "You can bring a sandwich. You can buy lunch instead." Combined: "You can either bring a sandwich or buy lunch." A verb follows each half.

Worked example 6 — Composing: choose the tense for the meaning. (a) A state that began in the past and is still true: the gym closed in May and is closed today. "The gym has been closed since May." The simple past, "The gym was closed in May," would not tell the reader about today. (b) An imagined condition: the class has one feeder and wishes for two. "If we had a second feeder, we would see more finches." The past tense in the if part and would in the result show that the second feeder is not real. (c) Something finished before a future time: "By Friday we will have filled the feeders four times." The future perfect looks back from Friday.

Representation task — revising chart. Make a chart with five rows, one for each check: subject-verb agreement; tenses for times, sequences, states and conditions; shifts in verb tense; perfect tenses; correlative conjunctions. In each row write the question you ask while revising, one incorrect sentence of your own and its correction.

Sentence practice. (1) Write three sentences about the same pet or plant: one for a habit, one for a state that began in the past and is still true, and one for a real condition with if. (2) Rewrite in the present tense and check agreement: "The river rose, and the ducks moved to the bank." (3) Combine with a correlative conjunction: "The library has books. The library has maps."

Independent performance. Compose a paragraph of eight to ten sentences about a class project, a game or a trip. Include at least one sentence in the present perfect and one in the past perfect, one if sentence, one sentence that begins with There is or There are, and two different correlative conjunctions. Then revise it in two passes. On the first pass, underline every verb, draw an arrow to its subject and label its tense. On the second pass, circle each correlative pair and bracket the two parts it joins.

Success criteria: Every sentence is complete. Every verb agrees with its subject, including verbs separated from their subjects, verbs after There, and the helpers has and have. Each tense matches the time, sequence, state or condition I mean. The tense changes only where the time, the order of events or a condition calls for it, and I can explain each change. Every perfect tense has has, have, had or will have plus the correct past participle, and no present perfect verb sits beside a finished-time word. Each correlative pair has the right partner and joins two parallel parts, and the verb after either ... or or neither ... nor agrees with the nearer subject.