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Agreement

Making adjectives, past participles and verbs agree with what they refer to. Most errors come from a subject far from its verb, or a past participle with avoir.

The past participle

With être, the past participle agrees with the subject: Les demandes sont arrivées. With avoir, it agrees with the direct object only when that object comes before the verb: les demandes que nous avons reçues.

With a pronominal verb, look for the direct object. Elles se sont présentées agrees, because se is the object. Elles se sont posé des questions does not, because the object, des questions, comes after.

Subject and verb

Find the real subject, however far it sits from the verb. In La liste des participants aux trois séances est jointe, the subject is liste.

After la plupart, the verb is plural; after chacun, it is singular. Several subjects joined by et take a plural verb.

Examples

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Practise written expression