Subject-Verb Agreement Problem among English as Second Language Learners: A Case Study of One Hundred Level Undergraduates of Federal University of Technology, Minna

Abstract

Subject- verb agreement is very vital in language and consequently, in communication and depicts the extent to which a user of the language in both speaking and writing media has internalized the rule. Anyone who speaks or writes English language without errors in subject/verb agreement among others is considered as a good and an experienced speaker. However, the present day usage of English language by learners at various levels of education is bedeviled by errors in agreement between subject and verb, among others. It is in the light of this that this paper seeks to address the problem by not only drawing the attention of the public to it but also proffers solutions to it. The paper highlights four possible areas of subject/verb agreement and recorded errors found in each of the groups. The four main groups and the error frequency of each of the groups are: problem involving pronouns has more error frequencies (142) followed by tense (107), nouns (65) and errors involving intervening variables (64). Some of the recommendations include making students more sensitive to subject/verb agreement in the input that surrounds them to enable students use English language in natural settings.