Voices and Visions: Advanced Literacy and Communication · 6th Year

Active learning ideas

Subject-Verb Agreement and Pronoun Usage

Active learning helps students internalise subject-verb agreement and pronoun rules by making abstract concepts tangible. When students manipulate sentences or correct errors in real time, they move from passive recognition to active application, which strengthens retention for exam conditions and everyday writing.

• NCCA Curriculum Specifications
• NCCA: Primary - Exploring and Using
• NCCA: Primary - Understanding

• 30–45 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Chalk Talk
• 30 min · Pairs

Pairs: Sentence Scramble

Provide jumbled sentences on cards with mismatched subjects, verbs, and pronouns. Pairs sort and rewrite for correct agreement, then swap with another pair to check. Discuss changes as a class.

Analyze common errors in subject-verb agreement and how to correct them.

Facilitation Tip

During Sentence Scramble, circulate and ask guiding questions like 'Does the verb match the subject in number? How do you know?' to keep pairs focused on the core rule.

What to look for

Present students with 5-7 sentences containing common subject-verb or pronoun-antecedent agreement errors. Ask them to identify the error and rewrite the sentence correctly. For example: 'The team of scientists, along with their assistants, were presenting their findings.' Corrected: 'The team of scientists, along with their assistants, was presenting its findings.'

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Self-Awareness
• Self-Management

Activity 02

• Chalk Talk
• 45 min · Small Groups

Small Groups: Error Hunt Relay

Divide a paragraph with deliberate errors among groups. Each member finds and corrects one subject-verb or pronoun issue, passes to next. Groups present final versions.

Explain how pronoun case changes based on its function in a sentence.

Facilitation Tip

In Error Hunt Relay, provide answer keys with full explanations so teams can self-check and discuss discrepancies immediately after each round.

What to look for

Students bring a paragraph from an essay or creative writing piece. In pairs, they read each other's work, specifically looking for subject-verb and pronoun-antecedent agreement errors. They highlight potential errors and write a brief note to their partner suggesting a correction, e.g., 'Check subject-verb agreement here: 'The data show...' should be 'The data shows...' or 'The data show...''

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Self-Awareness
• Self-Management

Activity 03

• Chalk Talk
• 35 min · Whole Class

Whole Class: Grammar Auction

Write ambiguous sentences on board. Class bids 'points' on correct verb or pronoun form, justifying choices. Teacher reveals standard usage and awards points.

Construct sentences demonstrating correct subject-verb and pronoun-antecedent agreement.

Facilitation Tip

For Grammar Auction, pre-teach or review collective nouns and indefinite pronouns with clear examples so students can bid confidently on correct sentences.

What to look for

Pose a scenario: 'Imagine you are editing a speech for a school principal. The speech includes the sentence: 'Everyone in the student council need to bring their permission slips.' What specific grammatical issues do you see, and how would you correct them to ensure clarity and correctness?'

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Self-Awareness
• Self-Management

Activity 04

• Chalk Talk
• 40 min · Individual

Individual: Personal Paragraph Edit

Students write a paragraph on a current event, self-edit for agreement errors using checklists, then peer review in pairs.

Analyze common errors in subject-verb agreement and how to correct them.

What to look for

Present students with 5-7 sentences containing common subject-verb or pronoun-antecedent agreement errors. Ask them to identify the error and rewrite the sentence correctly. For example: 'The team of scientists, along with their assistants, were presenting their findings.' Corrected: 'The team of scientists, along with their assistants, was presenting its findings.'

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Self-Awareness
• Self-Management

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teach subject-verb agreement by starting with simple, clear examples before introducing exceptions like collective nouns in Irish English. Use auditory and visual reinforcement—students benefit from hearing correct sentences read aloud and seeing them written on the board. Avoid overwhelming students with too many rules at once; scaffold the content from singular/plural basics to compound subjects and tricky pronouns like 'who' and 'whom'.

Students will confidently identify and correct subject-verb mismatches and pronoun-antecedent disagreements in isolated sentences and connected writing. They will explain their corrections using grammatical terminology and adjust their writing habits independently.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Sentence Scramble, watch for students assuming collective nouns like 'team' always take plural verbs. Redirect them by asking, 'In Irish English, does the verb refer to the group as a single unit or the members individually?' and have them adjust the sentence accordingly.

  During Sentence Scramble, if students write 'Everyone have a role', prompt them to rebuild the sentence using 'has' and remind them that 'everyone' is singular despite referring to many people. Ask them to create a new example with 'everyone' to reinforce the pattern.

• During Role-play Dialogues, listen for students using phrases like 'Me and my friend went'. Pause the dialogue and ask, 'Is this phrase the subject of the sentence? How would you rephrase it to sound more formal or correct?'

  During Role-play Dialogues, if a student says 'The data show the results', ask them to consider whether 'data' is treated as singular in formal writing. Provide examples from style guides or academic texts to support the discussion.

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Methods used in this brief

• Chalk Talk