GRAMMAR AGREEMENT: LAWS OF AGREEMENT AND EXAMPLES - LITERATURE - 2024

The grammatical agreement is the relationship between two grammatical units: a sample a particular feature (such as gender) consistent with a feature of the other. In Spanish, this conformity requires that the modifiers agree with the nouns that modify in number and gender (example: el gato, los gato, las gatas).

However, not all languages ​​have this matching rule. For example, in English only this and that ("this" and "that") change their form to these and those to show noun-determiner agreement. On the other hand, grammatical concordance in highly synthetic languages ​​is usually very high.

Such is the case of Latin, where adjectives agree in number, gender and case with the nouns they modify. This can be evidenced in bonus vir and bonis viri ("good man" and "good men", singular and plural number), bona femina ("good woman", female gender) and bonae feminae ("of a good woman", case genitive).

Laws of concordance

In the Spanish language, the grammatical accidents of number, gender and person must necessarily coincide between certain variable elements of the sentences.

Two types of grammatical agreement are distinguished. One of these is the nominal (gender and number coincidence); the second is the verbal (coincidence of number and person).

Thus, the noun must agree with the article (and other determiners) or adjectives that accompany it: "the tall girl" (feminine, singular) or "those past times" (masculine, plural).

Also, the pronoun must agree with its antecedent or its consequent: "I see little of my sisters " (feminine gender, plural number) or "I sent a gift to the boyfriend" (masculine gender, singular number).

There is grammatical agreement between the subject and the attribute, the subject and the predicative or subject and the participle of the verb of the periphrastic passive: "Juan is a teacher", "they seemed exhausted" or "those were divided".

Regarding verbal agreement, the subject must agree with his verb both in number and in person: "He plays" (third person, singular), "they play" (third person, plural) or "we play" (first person, plural).

In addition to these rules for nominal and verbal agreement, there are general laws that govern their use and which will be explained below.

Coordination of two or more singular nouns

When two or more singular nouns are coordinated and represent different entities, they will be considered as a plural number in both nominal and verbal agreement. This also applies in the case of pronouns.

Examples

- It is very difficult to keep the dog and cat still.

- I bought this shirt and pants there.

- Oil and vinegar do not mix.

- He and she are separated.

Coordination of two or more nouns of different grammatical gender

In case the coordinated nouns (or pronouns) combine masculine and feminine genders, the masculine form will be taken for grammatical agreement.

Examples

- The man and the woman walked together (compare with “the woman and the girl walked together)

- He took a potato, a carrot and a radish, and put them in a bag.

Coordinate elements with a second person pronoun

When one or more elements are coordinated and one of these is a second person pronoun, the second person plural (you) or the third person plural (you) is taken for the agreement.

Examples

- I am convinced that you and the baby will be fine (you).

- I am convinced that you and the baby will be fine (you).

However, if one of the coordinate elements is a first person pronoun (even if there is a second person pronoun), the first person plural is taken for the match.

Examples

- The dean and I counted up to seven misspellings.

- Maria, you and I know very well what happened.

Examples of grammar agreement

Below are some excerpts from Antoine De Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince (1943). In these the grammatical concordance will be analyzed: first the nominal one and then the verbal one.

Nominal agreement

Fragment 1

"You are beautiful, but you are empty," he still told them. You cannot die for you. Undoubtedly, a common passerby will believe that my rose looks like you ”.

In this first fragment we can observe the concordance of gender and number between the subject ("you", "roses") and the predicative ("beautiful", "empty"), and also between nouns and determiners ("a passerby", " my rose").

In addition, you can see the agreement in the case of pronouns. "Les" has as its antecedent "the roses", while the antecedent of "you" is "you"

Fragment 2

“But she alone is more important than all of you, since she is the rose to whom I have watered. Since she is the rose whom I put under a balloon. Since she is the rose that I sheltered with the screen ”.

By comparing the first sentence with "But he alone is more important than all of you" the concordance can be clearly seen. It should be noted that the adjective "important" does not change for masculine or feminine.

Fragment 3

«Since she is the rose whose caterpillars I killed (except for the two or three that became butterflies). Since she is the rose whom I heard complain, or praise herself, or even, sometimes, shut up ”.

Likewise, if alternate versions are used, the grammatical agreement is evident: “the tree whose trunk (…)”, “the one that became a butterfly”, “the roses” and “sometime”.

Verbal agreement

Fragment 4

"As the planet now gives a complete turn every minute, I have a second's rest… This is not funny, ' said the lamplighter -. You and I have been talking for a month now ”.

In this last fragment it is observed how the subjects agree in person and number with their verbs. Likewise, it is appreciated that the coordinated pronouns "you and I" take the first person plural in the conjugation.

In this way, changes in the number or person will imply changes in the conjugation: "the planets give", "we don't have", "I said" and "you and he are talking."

References

1. Quirk, R.; Greenbaum, S.; Leech, G. and Svartvik, J. (1985). A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. London: Longman.
2. Algeo, J. and Acevedo Butcher, C. (2010). The Origins, and Development of the English Language. Boston: Wadsworth.
3. Royal Spanish Academy. (2005). Pan-Hispanic Dictionary of Doubts. Taken from lema.rae.es.
4. Alvar Ezquerra, M.; Castillo Carballo MA; García Platero, JM and Medina Guerra, AM (1999). Writing and style manual. Madrid: Editions Istmo.
5. Rodríguez Guzmán, JP (2005) Graphic grammar to the juampedrino mode. Barcelona: Carena Editions.