Download Agreement: Subject–Verb

*Use the “back” button to navigate away from this page.
Subject–Verb Agreement
The principle governing subject–verb agreement is simple: a verb must agree with its subject in
number (singular or plural) and person (first, second, or third).
Person
First
Second
Third
Singular
I read the newspaper
You read the newspaper
He/She reads the newspaper
Plural
We read the newspaper
You read the newspaper
They read the newspaper
Note the –s ending on the third person singular form; most agreement problems involve this
form.
Important Reminder: While an s at the end of a noun means the noun is plural, an s at the end
of the verb means the verb is singular. (Note: for the purpose of this exercise, subjects are in red,
and verbs are in blue.)
Ex:
Ex:
One dog eats.
Two dogs eat.
Identifying the subject of a verb and determining whether it is singular or plural can be difficult
because of tricky grammatical constructions.
Study the following rules carefully:
1. The number of the subject is not changed by a phrase or clause that modifies the
subject.
Ex:
A computer for every ten students is inadequate.
Ex:
Writing an essay, along with attending three workshops, is required for those who
fail this test. (Gerund phrases used as subjects are singular.)
Ex:
Mo, along with Larry and Curly, is an old friend of mine.
2. Subjects joined by and are usually plural.
Ex: Mrs. Sanchez and her daughter walk around Lake Ella every evening.
However, sometimes subjects joined by and are considered singular because they refer to one
unit or a single idea.
Ex: The peanut butter and jelly sandwich is a traditional American favorite.
Ex: Rock and roll is here to stay.
Subjects joined by and but preceded by each or every are considered singular.
Ex:
Every man and woman who enrolls at TCC needs proof of measles immunization.
3. When two subjects are joined by or or nor, the verb agrees with the nearer subject.
Ex:
Neither the teacher nor the students agree with the school board’s decision.
Ex:
Neither the students nor the teacher agrees with the school board’s decision.
4. Collective nouns may be either singular or plural. A collective noun names a group
of persons, animals, or things: jury, team, choir, herd, etc.
When the writer is thinking of the group as a single unit, the collective noun takes a
singular verb; when the writer is referring to the individual members of the group, the
noun takes a plural verb.
Ex: The baseball team practices at 4:00 every day.
Ex: The baseball team choose their own shoes.
(The team’s individual members choose their shoes; the verb is plural).
5. Indefinite pronouns as subjects cause agreement problems because some of these
words are always singular; some are plural; and some can be either singular or plural,
depending upon the sentence and how they are used. To complicate matters, these
pronouns are often followed by prepositional phrases that come between the subject
and verb.
Study the following lists carefully:
Always Singular
anybody
nobody
anyone
no one
each
none
either
neither
everybody
someone
everyone
somebody
one
Always Plural
both
few
others
many
several
Either Singular or Plural*
all
any
most
some
*When these words refer to an amount that is thought of as a quantity, they are singular; when
they refer to an amount that is thought of as a number of individual units, these words are plural.
Ex:
Ex:
Some of the crop was saved.
Some of the football players were A+ students.
6. When the relative pronouns such as who, which, or that function as the subject of an
adjective clause, make the verb agree with the antecedent of the pronoun.
Ex:
Trevor is the student who has been elected president of Phi Theta Kappa.
Ex:
The college honored those students who have maintained a B average for four
years.
7. The following expressions are singular:
A.
Single sums of money
Ex:
One hundred dollars is a reasonable price for that necklace.
B.
Titles of works or art, literature, and music
Ex:
“In Your Eyes” is always the finale of the Phil Collins concert.
Ex:
The Canterbury Tales, an early masterpiece of English literature,
was written by Geoffrey Chaucer.
2.
Some words that are plural in form are singular in usage.
Ex:
molasses
economics
civics
measles
mathematics
news
mumps
physics
aeronautics