SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT
What's a Subject?
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God saved the world.
God is the subject because he did the saving.
•
Ram is amazingly humble.
Ram is the subject because he is the person who is amazingly humble.
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SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT
Car – Singular
Subject Verb Agreement
Subject verb agreement refers to the fact that the subject and verb
in a sentence must agree in number. In other words, they both
must be singular or they both must be plural.
You can’t have a singular subject with a plural verb or vice versa.
The tricky part is in knowing the singular and plural forms of
Cars – Plural
subjects and verbs.
Singular and plural subjects, or nouns, are usually pretty easy. In
most cases the plural form of a noun has an “s” at
the end. Like this:
Car – singular Cars – plural
SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT
Subject-Verb Agreement Examples
Here are a few properly construction subjects and verbs along with a
few incorrect formulations.
I walk Singular
You walk Singular and Plural
He/She/It walks Singular
We walk Plural
They walk Plural
Incorrect Examples:
Walks.
She Walk.
They Walks.
SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT
Subject-Verb Agreement in Different Constructions
For simple sentences, subject-verb agreement isn’t difficult to figure
out.
John is leaving.
They are leaving.
These sentences are incredibly simple, which means it’s also
incredibly simple to determine the correct subject and verb
case.
SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT
When Phrases Come Between the Subject and Verb
When a phrase interrupts the subject and the verb, the verb must
agree with the subject regardless of the phrase.
Examples:
The man who plays soccer IS handsome.
The men who play soccer ARE handsome.
That toy, which I found in the oven IS ruined.
SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT
10 Rules of Subject Verb Agreement
RULE 1:
The subject and verb must agree in number: both must be singular, or both must be plural.
Thus, if a subject is singular, its verb must also be singular; if a subject is plural, its verb must also be
plural.
In present tenses, nouns and verbs form plurals in opposite ways:
nouns ADD an s to the singular form,
BUT
verbs REMOVE an s from the singular form
Direction: Circle the correct verb in each of the sentences below. Check
your answers on the following
page.
1. Your friend (talk-talks) too much.
2. The man with the roses (look-looks) like your brother.
3. The women in the pool (swim-swims) well.
4. Bill (drive-drives) a cab.
5. The football players (run-runs) five miles every day.
6. That red-haired lady in the fur hat (live-lives) across the street.
7. He (cook-cooks) dinner for his family.
8. The boys (walk-walks) to school every day.
9. The weather on the coast (appear-appears) to be good this weekend.
10. The center on the basketball team (bounce-bounces) the ball too high.
SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT
10 Rules of Subject Verb Agreement
RULE 2:
The number of the subject (singular or plural) is not changed by words(or a phrase) that
come in between the subject and the verb.
SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT
Here is a list of frequently used prepositions:
SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT
Car is the singular subject. Was is the singular helping verb which agrees with car. If we aren’t careful,
however, we may mistakenly label riders as the subject since it is nearer to the verb than car is. If we
choose the plural noun, riders, we will incorrectly select the plural verb were.
SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT
10 Rules of Subject Verb Agreement
RULE 3:
Some subjects always take a singular verb even though the meaning may seem plural.
Plural form subjects with a singular meaning take a singular verb. (e.g. news, measles, mumps, physics, etc.)
Plural form subjects with singular or plural meaning take a singular or plural verb, depending on meaning.
(e.g. politics, economics, etc.)
In this example, politics is a single topic; therefore, the sentence has a singular verb.
SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT
In this example, politics refers to the many aspects of the situation; therefore, the sentence has a plural verb.
Plural form subjects with a plural meaning take a plural verb. (e.g. scissors, trousers)
In this example, the subject of the sentence is pair; therefore, the verb must agree with it. (Because scissors is the
object of the preposition, scissors does not affect the number of the verb.)
SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT
10 Rules of Subject Verb Agreement
RULE 4:
The following words may be singular or plural, depending upon their use in a sentence: some, any, all,
most.
1) take singular verbs when they refer to a unit or quantity
Some of the money was missing.
An amount of money.
2) take plural verbs when they refer to number or individuals
Some of the gold coins were missing.
A number of coins.
SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT
The pronouns ANY, NONE or SOME and the nouns ALL and MOST:
The pronoun NONE:
1) takes a singular verb when its meaning is “No Single One” or “Not One”
None of the gold coins was missing.
Not one of the coins
2) takes a plural verb when its meaning is “No Two” or “No Amount”
None of the goods were missing.
no amount of the goods
None of the forests were destroyed.
no amount of the forests
When the subject is a fraction or a word such as HALF, PART, PLENTY or REST, its intended number is suggested by the
object of the preposition that follows it.
Three-fourths of the enemy’s army is wounded.
Three-fourths of the enemy’s soldiers are wounded.
SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT
10 Rules of Subject Verb Agreement
RULE 5:
Subjects joined by “and” are plural. Subjects joined by “or” or “nor” take a verb that agrees with the
last subject.
SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT
With compound subjects joined by or/nor, the verb agrees with the subject nearer to it.
In the above example, the plural verb are agrees with the nearer subject actors.
In this example, the singular verb is agrees with the nearer subject
director.
Directions: Circle the correct verb in the sentences below.
11. Each of the girls (look-looks) good on skis.
12. Everybody (was-were) asked to remain quiet.
13. Neither of the men (is-are) here yet.
14. (Is-Are) each of the girls ready to leave?
15. Several of the sheep (is-are) sick.
16. Some members of the faculty (is-are) present.
17. Nobody in the class (has-have) the answer.
18. Each of the girls (observe-observes) all the regulations.
19. All of the milk (is-are) gone.
20. Most of the seats (was-were) taken.
SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT
10 Rules of Subject Verb Agreement
RULE 6:
“There” and “here” are never subjects. In sentences that begin with these words, the subject is usually found later
on in the sentence.
SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT
Directions: In each sentence below, the verb comes before the subject. Select your choice for correct subject – verb
agreement. Write your completed sentence in the space provided under each item.
1. There (is, are) two classes of pure matter: elements and compounds.
2. What (does, do) scientists know today about elements?
3. Occurring naturally (is, are) over 100 elements, or substances that cannot be separated into different kinds of matter.
4. There (is, are) however, numerous elements that are man-made as well.
5. There (continues, continue) to be much research to add new elements.
SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT
10 Rules of Subject Verb Agreement
RULE 7:
Collective nouns may be singular or plural, depending on their use in the sentence.
SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT
10 Rules of Subject Verb Agreement
SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT
10 Rules of Subject Verb Agreement
RULE 8:
SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT
10 Rules of Subject Verb Agreement
Some nouns, while plural in form, are actually singular in meaning.
Nouns such as ‘civics’, ‘mathematics’,‘ dollars’, and ‘news’ require singular verbs.
SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT
10 Rules of Subject Verb Agreement
“Doesn’t” is a contraction of “does not” and should be used only with a singular subject. “Don’t” is a
contraction of “do not” and should be used only with a plural subject.
