Brief introduction to Concord in English

Concord in English

The term 'CONCORD' is derived from the name of an ancient Roman goddess called 'Concordia'. Concordia was a goddess of agreement, harmony and understanding. It is as a result of this that perhaps the term 'concord' is used to means agreement.

In grammar the term Concord is used to means agreement as well. The 'golden rule' of concord is that the subject of a sentence must agree with the verb of the sentence, such that, if the subject is singular, the verb will be singular and if the subject is plural the verb will be plural.

Note that, by 'singular subject' we mean a noun or pronoun without a plural marker such as 's' and is referring to a singular person, thing or idea e.g. table, boy. While plural subjects on the other hand, take markers showing or referring to more than one person, thing or idea. For example, tables, boys.

We should note that, unlike subjects realized typically by nouns, singular verbs take 's' or 'es' while plural verbs do not take 's' or 'es', both in their simple present forms. E.g. go (plural), goes (singular); eat (plural), eats(singular). The rules of Concord do not consider the past tense forms of verbs.

Whether the subject is singular or plural, if action is in the past, the verb will take no number indicator such 's' or 'es'. For example:

1.  John breaks glasses every day. (Singular  subject-singular simple present verb)

2.  John and James break glasses every day. (Plural subject-plural simple present verb)

3.  John broke glasses when he was a toddler. (Singular subject-simple past verb)

4.  John and James broke glasses when they were toddlers. (Plural subject-simple past verb)

You will observe that the verbs in example 3 and 4 above do not change even when there is a change in the number of the subject. It is because the verb is in a simple past tense. Simple past tense verbs are not affected by the number of the subject.

Actually, this agreement we talk about in concord transcends, the subject ad verb of the sentence. Other items are sometimes considered.

Concord in English involves:

i.  Subject-Verb Agreement

     -Subject verb agreement in number (singular number and plural number)

     -Subject verb agreement in person (first, second, and third person)

ii.  Antecedent Pronoun Agreement

In line with the following, we shall consider the following types of concord in our next articles.