Grammar: Subject-Verb Agreement

         Making Subjects and Verbs Agree


 

What is a subject?

The subject is the part of a sentence or clause that commonly indicates what it is about, who or what performs the action (that is, the agent). The subject is typically a noun or Often it appears at the beginning of the sentence. In a sentence, every verb must have a subject. If the verb expresses action—like a sneeze, jump, bark, or study—the subject is who or what.

What is a verb?

A verb can show action either mental or physical action. It can also show state of being. In grammar, number refers to the two forms of a word: singular (one) or plural (more than one)

    Singular subjects take singular verbs:

                Ex.  The car stays in the garage
Note:-

        Each, Someone, Either, Anyone, Neither, Nobody, One, Somebody, No one, Anybody, Everyone,                 Everybody these subjects always take singular verbs.
                         Ex. Someone in the game was (not were) hurt.

Rules:-

1) The following words may be singular or plural, depending upon their use in a sentence, some, any, all, most. Most of the news is good. (singular)


 Most of the flowers were yellow. (plural)

 All of the pizza was gone. (singular)

 

2) “Subjects joined by ‘and’ are plural. “Subjects joined by ‘or’ or ‘nor’ take a verb that agrees with the last subject.

 

Bob and George are leaving.

Neither Bob nor George is leaving.                                                                        

 

3) THERE and HERE are never subjects. In sentences that begin with these words, the subject is usually found later on in the sentence.

 

There were five books on the shelf. (WERE, agrees with the subject BOOK)            

 

4) Collective nouns may be singular or plural, depending on their use in the sentence.

 

A collective noun is a noun used to name a whole group. (UNISON)

Following are some common examples:

     Army, crowd, orchestra, audience, flock, public, class, group, swarm, club, herd, team, committee,             jury, troop, trio, United States

     The orchestra is playing a hit song. (Orchestra is considered as one unit—singular.) 


     The orchestra were asked to give their musical backgrounds. (Orchestra is considered as separate individuals— plural

 

5) Expressions of time, money, measurement, and weight are usually singular when the amount is considered one unit.

 Five dollars is (not are) too much to ask.

 

6) Some nouns, while plural in form, are actually singular in meaning.

 

   Mathematics is (not are) an easy subject for some people.

 Like:-

    Mumps, home, economics, social studies, economics, measles, calisthenics, statistics, civics, physics,     gymnastics, phonics, news, acrobatics, aesthetics, thesis, mathematics

 

7) Don’t and doesn’t must agree with the subject.

 

    Use doesn’t after he, she, it.

    Doesn’t he (not don’t) know how to sail?

 


10 Subject-Verb Agreement Rules 

RULE 1: When two subjects are joined by 'and' , the verb is plural. 
                   For  example: My friend and his mother are in town. 

RULE 2: When two singular nouns joined by ‘and’ refer to the same person or thing, the verb is singular.
For example: The captain and coach of the team has been sacked. In case these were two different individuals, two articles need to be used: The captain and the coach of the team have been sacked. 

RULE 3: Indefinite pronouns (everyone, each one, someone, somebody, no one, nobody, anyone, anybody etc.) are always singular. 
For example: Everyone is selfish. We do not use 'are' in this sentence. This rule does not apply to: few, many, several, both, all, some. 

RULE 4: When the percentage or a part of something is mentioned with plural meaning the plural verb is used. 
For example: 40 of every 100 children are malnourished.

 RULE 5: When the subjects joined by ‘either or’ or ‘neither nor’ are of different persons, the verb will agree in person and number with the noun nearest to it.
For example: Neither you nor your dogs know how to behave. Either of the books is fine for MAT preparation. Always remember that, when either and neither are used as pronouns, they are treated as singular and always take the singular verb.

RULE 6: If connectives/appositives like along with, together with, as well as, accompanied by, etc. are used to combine two subjects, the verb agrees with the subject mentioned first. For example: Mr. Ram, accompanied by his wife Sita and his brother, was banished to the forest. 


Sentence Correction: Concepts & Rules


 RULE 7: A number of/ the number or ‘A number of (some countable noun)’ is always plural. ‘The number of (some countable noun)’ is always singular.
 For example: A number of students are going on the trip. 

RULE 8: The singular verb form is usually used for units of measurement or time. 
For example: Five gallons of oil was required to get the engine running. 

RULE 9: When any of ‘few, many, several, both, all, some’ is used with a countable noun, the verb is plural. 
For example: Some men are needed for the battle. 

RULE 10: When any of ‘few, many, several, both, all, some’ is used with an uncountable noun, the verb is singular. 
For example: Some milk is spoilt. Subject-Verb agreement is essential to make sure that a sentence is grammatically correct. Thus, the above ten basic rules can help you to master subject-verb agreement.



PRACTICE

Underline the subject (or compound subject) and then identify the verb that agrees with it:-


1. Your friendship over the years and your support (has/have) meant a great deal to us. 

2. Hamilton Family Center, a shelter for teenage runaways in San Francisco, (offers/offer) a wide variety of services. 

3. The main source of income for Trinidad (is/are) oil and pitch. 

4. The chances of your being promoted (is/are) excellent. 

5. There (was/were) a Pokémon card stuck to the refrigerator. 

6. Neither the professor nor his assistants (was/were) able to solve the mystery of the eerie glow in the laboratory. 

7. Many hours at the driving range (has/have) led us to design golf balls with GPS locators in them. 

8. Discovered in the soil of our city garden (was/were) a button dating from the Civil War dating from the turn of the century. 

9. Every year, during the midsummer festival, the smoke of village bonfires (fills/fill) the sky. 

10. The story performers (was/were) surrounded by children and adults eager to see magical tales.

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