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SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT General Rule: Make subjects and verbs agree. Singular subjects agree with singular verbs; plural subjects agree with plural verbs. For example: The girl (singular subject) laughs (singular verb). The girls (plural subject) laugh (plural verb). TEST YOUR SKILLS!! Circle the correct answer. 1. The blue stain on the sheets (comes, come) from the blue jeans I washed with them. 2. There (was, were) many applicants for the position. 3. None of the suspects (have, has) confessed. 4. Everyone (need, needs) to turn in papers by Friday. 5. The dog and the cats (beg, begs) to go outside. 6. The dog, together with the cats, (begs, beg) to go outside. 7. The nurses or Dr. Brown usually (takes, take) the night shift. 8. Neither Mrs. Simpson nor her students (agree, agrees) with the decision. Answers: 1. comes. (Ignore words and phrases that intervene between the subject and the verb.) 2. were. (The verb agrees only with the subject, even if the subject follows the verb.) 3. has. (Indefinite pronouns always take a singular verb.) ***Indefinite pronouns*** each, either, and neither,--one words (no one, anyone, none, everyone, someone), ---body words (nobody, somebody, everybody, anybody), --thing words (nothing, something, anything). 4. needs. (“Everyone” is an indefinite pronoun. It takes a singular verb.) 5. beg. (Compound subjects joined by and take plural verbs.) 6. begs. (Phrases like “together with,” “as well as,” and “along with” are not the same as and. They do not make a compound subject requiring a plural verb.) 7. takes. (If compound subjects are joined by or or nor, the verb agrees with the subject closer to it.) 8. agree. (If the compound subjects are joined by or or nor, the verb agrees with the subject closer to it.) Write Place University of Dayton http://learningsupport.udayton.edu/writeplace/index.htm