Grammar for Clarity: Agreement, Pronouns, Tense and Modifiers

Grammar is about meaning

Grammar is not a set of rules invented to catch students out. It is the system that lets readers understand exactly what you mean. Compare:

• The coach told the player that he had made the team. (Who made the team, the coach or the player?)
• Each of the students have their own locker... I mean has... wait.

When grammar slips, readers either misunderstand or stop trusting the writer. The Grade 10 curriculum asks you to use grammar conventions correctly and appropriately to communicate clearly and fluently. This lesson targets the errors that most often weaken high school writing.

1. Subject-verb agreement: the tricky cases

A singular subject takes a singular verb (the box is); a plural subject takes a plural verb (the boxes are). The tricky part is finding the real subject.

• Phrases in between: ignore prepositional phrases. The list of chores is long.
• Indefinite pronouns each, every, everyone, everybody, anyone, someone, no one, nobody, either, neither are singular: Everyone has a ticket.
• Either/or, neither/nor: the verb agrees with the closer subject: Neither the players nor the coach is ready. / Neither the coach nor the players are ready.
• **Compound subjects with and** are plural: Maya and Theo are here.
• Collective nouns (team, class, family, committee) are usually singular in Canadian usage when acting as one group: The team is winning.
• Inverted sentences: find the subject after the verb: There are three reasons. / Here is the list.

2. Pronouns: agreement, case and reference

Agreement. A pronoun must match its antecedent (the noun it replaces) in number. The students handed in their essays. When gender is unknown or not relevant, the **singular they** is widely accepted in Canadian writing and by MLA: Each student handed in their essay. (Some teachers prefer plural rewrites in formal essays: All students handed in their essays.)

Case. Use subject pronouns (I, he, she, we, they, who) as subjects and object pronouns (me, him, her, us, them, whom) as objects.

• Priya and I went skating. (Test: I went skating, not me went skating.)
• The coach gave the jerseys to Priya and me*.* (Test: gave the jerseys to me.)
• between you and me (never between you and I).

Reference. Every pronoun must point clearly to one antecedent. Watch especially for this, that, it, which and they used to refer to a whole idea or to nothing at all: They say winters are getting shorter. Who is they? Name them.

3. Consistent verb tense

Choose a tense and stay in it unless the time really changes.

• Narratives are usually in the past tense (or consistently present).
• Literary essays use the literary present: The narrator writes one word.
• Shift only for a reason: The narrator writes "Yes," which reverses the cold "Ok." that began their exchange in September (began is in the past because September comes earlier in the story than the moment being discussed; when in doubt, keep everything in the present).

Unintended shifts, such as The narrator eats alone and then turned on the radio, are among the most common errors in Grade 10 essays.

4. Modifiers and parallel structure (review)

• Dangling modifier: Skating across the pond, the ice cracked. (The ice was not skating.) Fix: Skating across the pond, we heard the ice crack.
• Misplaced modifier: She almost ate the whole pizza vs. She ate almost the whole pizza: placement changes meaning.
• Parallel structure: items in a list or comparison take the same form: to plan, to draft and to revise.