Download Subject-Verb Agreement

Subject-Verb Agreement
Subjects of sentences must "agree" with their verbs in terms of number. Whether the
subject is singular (person, cookie, he, it, child, television, business) or plural (people,
cookies, they, children, businesses), the verb must match it:
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The person is waiting.
The cookie tastes delicious.
He plays football.
It lives in the ocean.
The child plays the game.
The business has made a profit.
The people are waiting.
The cookies taste delicious.
They play football.
They live in the ocean.
The children play the game.
The businesses have made a profit.
1. The first step in identifying and correcting subject-verb agreement errors is to
be able to identify the subject of the sentence.
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Most sentences in English are in S+V+O order, so the subject often comes at the
beginning of the sentence.
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The subject "performs" the action of the verb, so if you can identify the main verb
of the sentence, ask yourself "Who/What is performing that action?" Your
answer is the subject of the sentence.
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Sometimes the subject is separated from the verb by intervening words, phrases,
or clauses.
a. prepositional phrases:
The flower beside the two tall trees is a budding rose.
The cars in the parking lot have their windows open.
b. adjective clauses:
The girls that live in the dorm like to laugh.
c. The subject and verb may be separated by a word or group of words that
gives more information about the subject. These words or phrases are often
marked by commas.
Bill Clinton, the president of the United States, was found guilty of having an
affair.
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Sometimes there are compound subjects or compound verbs:
My friend and I eat lunch together everyday.
My friend works and goes to school.
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Sometimes the subject and the verb are reversed:
a. Sentences beginning with 'there' have reversed order:
There are three students in the cafeteria.
There is a stain on the floor.
b. Sometimes subjects and verbs are reversed for stylistic purposes:
Hardest hit by the tragedy was the mother of the family.
Here comes the plane!
Subject-Verb Agreement – MCTC Writing Center 2012
Subject-Verb Agreement
2. After you have determined which noun in the sentence is the subject, you must
decide if it is singular or plural.
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Most nouns in English become plural by adding 's' to the noun: girl girls. Some
nouns change their form to become plural: child children. In present tense
verbs:
singular subject
's' in verb
The cat eats
plural subject
no 's' in verb The cats eat
Seems easy right? The difficulty comes when the subject isn't clearly singular or plural.
Take a look at the following subjects. Are they singular or plural?
everybody
no one
all
some
neither
half
to sleep
there
some
mathematics
the news
homework
Let's take a look at some of the common errors in making subjects and verbs agree:
COMMON SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT ERRORS
A. The most common error in subject-verb agreement is not making verbs agree
with third-person singular subjects.
1st person
2nd person
3rd person
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SINGULAR
I am/do/go/have/study
You are/do/go/have/study
It is/does/goes/has/studies
He
is/does/goes/has/studies
She
is/does/goes/has/studies
PLURAL
We are/do/go/have/study
You are/do/go/have/study
They are/do/go/have/study
Each spring the doctor tells my father to take a vacation.
The student has three classes.
Be careful: There are some words which end in ‘s’ but they are singular, including
news, politics, economics, electronics, athletics.
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Athletics (is/are) important in collegiate extracurricular activities.
Politics (is/are) interesting prior to presidential elections.
B. Make subjects and verbs agree even when they are separated by other words.
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A vase of flowers (make/makes) a room attractive.
Two members of the exploration party (have/has) been commended for bravery.
The president, as opposed to many senators, (support/supports) the gun control
bill.
Subject-Verb Agreement – MCTC Writing Center 2012
Subject-Verb Agreement
C. Compound subjects generally take a plural verb:
 A backpack, a canteen, and a rifle (was/were) issued to each of the officers.
When subjects joined by AND are considered a single or refer to the same person or
thing, they take singular verb form:
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Drinking and driving (remains/remain) a major cause of highway accidents.
John Kennedy’s closest friend and political ally (were/was) his brother.
D. The subject and verb must agree when a gerund (-ing noun), infinitive (to +
verb) or noun clause is the subject of the verb. These subjects take verbs in
singular form.
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Being a workaholic (have/has) many disadvantages.
To copy someone else’s answers on tests (is/are) wrong.
What we requested (is/are) more supplies for the workroom.
E. The subject and verb must agree when the clause or sentence begins with
there is/are, there was/were, or there has been/there have been.
 There (is/are) ten students in the class.
‘There’ is a filler subject. The true subject is students.
CAUTION:
This is especially challenging when conjunctions are used:
There’s a lot of problems in the world.
F. Uncountable nouns take a singular verb.
 The money (is/are) in the wallet.
 The homework (is/are) due tomorrow
Uncountable nouns? Nouns that cannot be counted or made plural.
Example: One homework, Two homeworks. One money, two moneys.
G. Collective nouns (nouns that define groups of people or animals) can take either a
singular or plural verb, depending on the sentence. These nouns take a singular
verb when they refer to a group as a unit.
 My family writes to me every month.
 Our class wants to go to the museum.
 The team for our school wears red and white jerseys.
 The faculty elects a senate every year.
 The committee needs to have another meeting.
Subject-Verb Agreement – MCTC Writing Center 2012
Subject-Verb Agreement
These nouns may take plural verbs when they refer to individuals or parts of the group.
However, this is more formal and less common usage. Note these examples:
 The faculty prefer the semester system. (The focus is on the individual faculty
members.)
 The audience clearly love the show. (The focus is on the individual members of
the audience).
If you feel uncertain, you can always clarify these sentences by adding “members”— the
audience members, the faculty members, etc. Members becomes the subject, and then
it is clearly a plural subject.
Common collective nouns: family, team, audience, group, jury, crowd, band, class, and
committee.
H. Indefinite pronouns take singular verbs.
Indefinite pronouns include the following: anybody, anything, each, everybody,
everyone, either, neither, nobody, no one.
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I.
Everybody (need/needs) a day off once in awhile.
Neither of the students (is/are) performing well in class.
Quantifier words like all, any, half, most, none, and some used as subjects can
take either a singular or a plural verb, depending on the context.
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All of the people dislike the new tax.
All of the money is gone.
In these cases you must look at that word in the prepositional phrase that follows the
subject to determine whether to use a singular or a plural verb.
J. Singular subject joined by either… or, or neither….nor usually take a singular
verb.
 John or Paul buys groceries for the family every week.
 Either the president or the vice-president answers every letter.
 Neither anger nor happiness ever shows on his face.
If one of the subject is singular and the other is plural, the verb agrees with the one
closest to the subject.
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Mr. Smith or his sons go everyday to pick up the mail.
Neither the students nor the teacher understands the new schedule.
K. Make verbs agree with the antecedents of who, that, and which.
When the relative pronouns who, which, or that are used as a subject, the verb
agrees with the antecedent of the pronoun.
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Fear is one of the ingredients that goes into creating stereotypes.
Guilt, fear, and jealousy are ingredients that go into creating stereotypes.
Subject-Verb Agreement – MCTC Writing Center 2012