Download Subject / Verb Agreement Rules

Subject / Verb Agreement Rules
Use these rules to help you figure out correct subject verb agreement.
1. When a sentence has two or more subjects joined by and a plural verb is used.
Examples: Students and teachers park in front of the auditorium.
Pizza, cake and ice cream have always been his favorite foods.
EXCEPTION - When every, each, or many a comes before a subject, the verb should be
singular.
Examples: Every man, woman and child remembers that cold winter.
Many a woman chooses motherhood over a career.
2. When a sentence has two or more subjects joined by or or nor, choose a verb that agrees with
the subject closest to it.
Examples: Fudge or cookies are a good choice for dessert.
Neither Tammy nor her sister likes to travel.
3. The pronouns each, either, neither, one, everyone, no one, nobody, anyone, anybody,
someone, everybody, and much are singular and will require a singular verb.
Examples: Everyone in the class is going on the trip.
Neither teacher plans to cover the entire textbook.
Someone living on our street is building a new deck.
4. The pronouns several, few, both, many, and others are plural and require a plurarl verb.
Examples: Several of my friends work in the library.
Many on the honor roll study long hours.
5. The pronouns some, any, none, all, and most may be either singular or plural. Look at the
noun in the prepositional phrase to decide whether to use singular or plural verbs.
Examples: Some of the cake was eaten.
All of the contestants were present.
6. Collective nouns such as team, family, jury, faculty, and committee are singular when
considered as a unit. These will take a singular verb.
Examples: My family drives to California each year.
The faculty recommends that the new handbook be approved.
If individual members or parts of a group are considered separate (like they are disagreeing), a
plural verb is needed.
Examples: The dance team buy their own costumes.
The Honor Society compete in the math competition.
7. Singular nouns that have a plural form like mathematics and measles take a singular verb.
Example: The news is filled in current events.
8. Words that express an amount, a measurement, or weight take a singular verb.
Example: Fifteen dollars is a lot for a movie ticket.
9. Titles may have words in them that are plural, but a title is a name of only one book or work of
art. Titles take a singular verb.
Example: The Three Musketeers is a famous book set in France.
Use this chart to help you with Pronoun Cases.
Remember nominative pronouns are used as subjects and predicate nouns.
Objective pronouns are used as direct objects, indirect objects,or objects of
prepositions.
Nominative
Possessive
Objective
Personal Pronouns
Singular
1st person
I
my, mine
me
2nd person
you
your, yours
you
3rd person
he
she
it
his
her, hers
its
him
her
it
1st person
we
our, ours
us
2nd person
you
your, yours
you
3rd person
they
their, theirs
them
Plural
Relative and interrogative pronouns
who
whose
whom
whoever
whomever
which/that/what
which/that/what