Download Unit 8 Lecture Notes, Subject

Unit 8 Lecture Notes, Subject-Verb Agreement
Subject-Verb Agreement
Another common grammatical error found in writing is when a subject of a clause (either a dependent or
independent clause) does not agree with its verb. Most of these errors occur when the verb is in the present tense
and when the subject is 3rd person singular; some agreement errors occur in the past tense with irregular verbs like
'to be'. However, this unit will focus on subject-verb agreement in the present tense. Look for 3rd person singular
in the chart below.
TO EAT, TO PLAY
Person
Singular
Plural
1st
I
EAT, PLAY
WE
EAT, PLAY
2nd
YOU
EAT, PLAY
YOU ALL
EAT, PLAY
3rd
HE, SHE, IT
EATS, PLAYS
THEY
EAT, PLAY
Notice that the verb form is the same for 'to eat' and 'to play' for all persons (singular and plural) EXCEPT for 3rd
person singular. Therefore, if the subject of a clause is identified as 3rd person singular, the verb in the present
tense must end with an 's'. (In the case of some irregular verbs, an 's' also ends the verb in the past tense.) Do
not confuse this 's' on the verb with the 's' that makes nouns plural. Look at the examples in 1.-3.:
1. John likes to play guitar.
2. The woman looks disheveled because her dress is torn.
3. The cat is sleeping on the couch while I am developing this unit.
In 1., 'John' is a 3rd person singular subject because 'John' can be identified with 'he' (3rd person
singular). Similarly in 2., 'the woman' can be identified with 'she' and 'her dress' can be identified with 'it'. Finally
in 3., 'the cat' is also identified with 'it', so 'the cat' is also considered a 3rd person singular subject.
Subject-verb agreement errors are usually easily found and corrected when the subject is close to the
verb. However, there are many instances when a subject-verb agreement error is easily overlooked. Furthermore,
there are also special subject-verb agreement rules that apply in certain circumstances. We will examine these in
the rest of this unit.
Unit 8 Lecture Notes – Subject/Verb Agreement: Page 1
Intervening Words Between the Subject and the Verb
Many times a subject does not appear right next to a verb, and in these cases, it is easy to have a subject-verb
agreement error. Look at 1. and 2. and determine which sentence contains the correct form of the verb:
1. The dust on the shelves is thick.
2. The dust on the shelves are thick.
If you chose 1. as the sentence with the correct verb form, then you are right! 'The shelves' is not the subject in
either of the sentences, but 'the dust' is. 'The dust' is a 3rd person singular subject, so the verb must end with an 's'
(as in 'is').
There are 2 ways you could arrive at the conclusion that 1. contains the correct verb form. First, you could've
recognized that 'on the shelves' is a prepositional phrase, and objects of prepositional phrases ('shelves') cannot be
subjects of sentences. Secondly, you could've also asked the question, "What's thick?". The answer to this
question is 'the dust', not 'the shelves'.
Indefinite Pronouns as Subjects
A special case of subject-verb agreement occurs when the subject of a clause is an indefinite pronouns. Indefinite
pronouns are pronouns that do not refer to a specific person or thing. Certain indefinite pronouns are categorized
as either always singular or always plural. However, there is a small group of indefinite pronouns that can act as a
singular subject or as a plural subject.
Singular Indefinite Pronouns
These pronouns are always considered as a singular subject and therefore require an 's' on the verb in the present
tense:
EACH
ONE
EVERYBODY
SOMEONE
NOTHING
EITHER
EVERYONE
NOBODY
ANYONE
SOMETHING
NEITHER
ANYBODY
SOMEBODY
NO ONE
ANYTHING
'Everybody' and 'everyone' are usually problematic because in our minds we are thinking "more that one";
however, these 2 indefinite pronouns are grammatically singular and therefore require an 's' on the end of the
verb in the present tense. One way to remember that these indefinite pronouns are singular is by remembering
that most of them contain either 'one', 'thing' or 'body'. Then you only have to remember that 'each', 'either', and
'neither' are considered singular indefinite pronouns as well.
The sentences below are examples of some of these indefinite pronouns being used as subjects.
1. Everybody is ready to learn correct subject-verb agreement.
2. Neither of the students pays for her tuition.
3. Someone is hiding in the closet.
Notice that the verbs in blue end in 's', thereby illustrating correct subject-verb agreement with the singular
indefinite pronoun (shown in bold) acting as the subject of the verb.
Unit 8 Lecture Notes – Subject/Verb Agreement: Page 2
Plural Indefinite Pronouns
A few indefinite pronouns acting as subjects always require a plural verb in the present tense (a verb not ending
with an 's'). Therefore, these indefinite pronouns can be identified as 3rd person plural, and verbs in the present
tense that have plural subjects do not end with an 's' on the verb. These indefinite pronouns are the following:
BOTH
FEW
MANY
SEVERAL
Below are some examples of these indefinite pronouns being used as subjects of verbs. Notice that the verbs do
not end in 's'.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Both of them like grits.
Many of my friends are nearby.
Several of the birds come to the feeder every day.
Few of the trees remain standing.
Indefinite Pronouns That Can Be Singular or Plural
The most problematic indefinite pronouns acting as subjects are those that can be considered either singular or
plural depending on the meaning of the sentence. These indefinite pronouns are given below:
all
any
most
some
half
part
When these indefinite pronouns are subjects, one must look within the prepositional phrase that follows it. In
particular, it is the object of the preposition that drives what verb form should be used. (NOTE: Only when one of
these indefinite pronouns is the subject should one look inside the prepositional phrase to determine the correct
verb form; in all other cases, you ignore the prepositional phrase!) Sentences 1. and 2. illustrate the same
indefinite pronoun being used as the subject, yet the verb form differs in both.
1. Some of the reports are deleted.
2. Some of the report is deleted.
In 1., 'of the reports' is the prepositional phrase, and the object of the preposition in this phrase is 'reports'. Since
'reports' is plural, the verb must not end with an 's'. In 2., however, the object of the preposition is 'report' which is
singular. Therefore, the verb ends with an 's'.
Unit 8 Lecture Notes – Subject/Verb Agreement: Page 3
'Either-or' and 'Neither-nor' Subjects
Compound subjects in clauses that are joined by 'and' are plural subjects and therefore require a plural form of the
verb (one not ending in 's') as in 1.:
1. Susan and I like to go hiking in the fall.
'Susan and I' in 1. is a plural subject and can be identified with 1st person plural. Therefore, the verb must be a
plural verb and must not end with 's'.
However, verbs forms are determined differently if the compound subjects are connected with 'either-or' or
'neither-nor' as in 2. and 3.:
2. Neither the professor nor the students enjoy being in school on sunny days.
3. Neither the students nor the professor enjoys being in school on sunny days.
When a compound subject is connected by 'either-or' or 'neither-nor', the part of the compound subject that is
closest to the verb determines the form of the verb. In 2., 'students' is closer to the verb, so the verb must be a
plural verb (one not ending in 's'). On the other hand, 'professor' is closer to the verb in 3., and since this part of
the subject is 3rd person singular, the verb must end in 's'.
Reversed Sentence Orders
In general, word order in English sentences is such so that the subject precedes the verb. However, one can
construct sentences in which the subject follows the verb as in the following sentences:
1. Here is my ticket.
2. There are my sisters.
3. On the branch sits a beautiful songbird.
In 1. and 2., 'here' and 'there' are not subjects of the sentence even though they appear in the subject
position. Instead, we must look behind the verb for the true subject and then determine whether the verb agrees
with the subject. Similarly, 'on the branch' in 3. is not the subject, and again we must look at what follows the verb
to find the subject. Once we've found the true subject, we can then choose the correct verb form that agrees with
this subject.
Unit 8 Lecture Notes – Subject/Verb Agreement: Page 4