Concord by Eguriase S. M. Okaka

 

 

CONCORD

BY EGURIASE S. M. OKAKA

 

“Concord” is a noun that means “agreement” or “harmony”, and in relation to the two parts of a sentence in context of grammar and meaning “Concord” indicates agreement or harmony in person, number, gender, or tense.

 

So, whichever grammatical form a student chooses. Concord, invites him or her to choose other forms agreeable to it. Consequently, concord can be unilateral. If the agreement or harmony being sought involves a grammatical form, or bilateral, if the agreement or harmony being sought involves two grammatical forms.

 

Concord, could also take other forms, but, however way we go or come in talking about concord, one thing is very certain; that the verb, in context of its tense or meaning must be at accord with the subject, in person, number and gender.

 

The various kinds of concord that every examination student in English language must take good note of include the following: Concord of person, Concord of number, Concord of gender and Concord of tense.

 

CONCORD OF PERSON

This is the concord of subject and verb. The concord of person demands that the verb agrees with the subject in number and all.

 

Examples:

·        The teacher is in the classroom.

·        The students are in the classroom.

 

CONCORD OF NUMBER

The concord of number demands agreement between subject or their equivalents (noun or pronoun) and (their) verbs. In the concord of number, singular nouns or pronouns agree with singular verbs, while plural nouns or pronouns agree with plural verbs.

 

Examples:

·        The saints are the glorified children of God.

·        It is you who break the laws that have the curse of law.

·        He talks occasionally in the classroom.

 

SOME EXCEPTION IN THE CONCORD OF NUMBERS

Words plural in form but singular in meaning, examples:

·        His means of living is not dependable.

·        Mathematics is the queen of sciences.

·        Economics is the science which studies human behavior as a relationship between ends and scare means which have alternative uses. (Lord Robins)

·        Their understanding of measles is inadequate.

 

Words, singular in form but plural in meaning, examples:

·        The police were not able to quell Aba Women’s riot.

·        The cattle of the Fulani herdsmen are many.

·        Our poultry are the best in the town.

 

Expression like everybody, no one, anybody, everyone, somebody, et cetera, that are always judged as singular when used as clause-subject, even though they have also a plural focus.

 

Example:

·        Everyone is here, are they?

·        Nobody talks of justice, don’t?

·        Has everybody got their books?

·        Has anyone bought their identity cards?

 

A plural verb with two subjects connected by “and” but when coordinators like “as well as”, “accompanied by”, “along with”, et cetera, matches a singular subject with one or more nouns, the verb must be singular.

 

Examples:

·        Obi and Ada are here.

·        The Secretary: as well as his son here.

 

CONCORD OF GENDER

The concord of gender or sex-type classification is the concord of nouns or pronouns of the third person.

 

Examples:

·        Obi behaves well. When he is supervised.

·        He is not happy: that the pastor together with his son is here.

 

CONCORD OF TENSE

This is the concord of the object-clause and the main verb in the main or principal clause usually in context of a compound sentence. The kind of agreement described in the concord of tense normally comes with indirect speech.

 

 Example:

·        It was raining when I came to the train station last night.

·        They lived in a house which had red walls.

 

THE END