Download Subject-Verb Agreement

WHAT IS A SENTENCE?
Subject ||
Verb
Students|| study.
Birds
||
fly.
CLAUSES AND PHRASES – BUILDING
BLOCKS

Clause: a group of related words that contains a
subject and a verb
Independent Clause: Can stand on its own as a
complete sentence
 Dependent Clause: Needs an independent clause to
complete its meaning


Phrase: a group of related words that does not
contain both a subject and a verb (we will get to
examples of these later)
HOW DOES DIAGRAMMING HELP?

1.
2.
3.
The following sentences contain errors in subjectverb agreement. Diagram each sentence to help
explain why the verbs are incorrect.
One of my instructors have written a letter of
recommendation for me.
That group of students have a question.
The price of these jeans are unreasonable.
SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT
 Subject:
Doer of an action in a sentence
 Use a singular verb with singular
subjects.
 Finer points:
 Do not make verbs agree with
intervening prepositional phrases.
 Do not make verbs agree with material
that adds on to the subject without using
“and” (usually surrounded by commas).
 When subjects are joined by or or nor the
verb agrees with the noun closest to it
(can be singular or plural).
INDEFINITE PRONOUNS

Singular








Each
Either, Neither
Another
Anyone, Anything,
Anybody
Someone, Something,
Somebody
One, No one, Nobody
Everyone, Everybody,
Everything
Nothing

Plural





Both
Few
Many
Several
Depend on context






None
Any
All
More
Most
Some
OTHER FINE POINTS
 Collective
nouns: These may be considered
either singular or plural depending on the
intended meaning.
 Examples of collective nouns: group,
committee, crowd, choir, faculty,
congress, family, etc
 Some nouns look plural but take a
singular verb: news, physics, economics,
etc.
 Title of a single work is singular (The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)
TRICKIER EXAMPLES
 Five
hours is too long to wait.
 Skip is a boy who practices his drums
every evening.
 Fifty dollars is a lot of money.
 Measles is a contagious disease.
 Everyone in the class is coming to my
house.
SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT, CONT.

Use a plural verb with a plural subject.
 Compound subjects joined by and are plural
unless they are considered one unit (ex: Ham
and eggs is a delicious breakfast.)
 Some words that relate to one item actually
take a plural verb (scissors, tweezers, pants)
 The scissors cut the cloth easily.
 Half the pears were eaten before we arrived
home.
 Physics and chemistry are difficult
subjects.
 Neither Rod nor his friends wish to attend
my party.
SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT, CONT.
 In
sentences in which one subject is
affirmative and the other is negative,
the verb agrees with the subject that
is used affirmatively.
 She, not we, is responsible for the
meeting.