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Grammar Troublespots

subject-verb agreement
Writing Center, University of Houston
About this Section
Each complete sentence should
• express a complete thought and
• have a Subject and a Verb.
In this section you will learn more about:
 relationships between Subjects and Verbs,
 problems regarding Subject-Verb Agreement,
 ways to correct such problems.
Terms:


A Subject is a noun or pronoun
partnered with a predicate verb.
Verbs have traditionally been defined as
words that show action or state of being.
NOTE: Determining singular or plural endings can be
confusing because an –s ending on a noun indicates
plural, whereas an –s on a verb indicates singular.
Verbs that show
agreement
Agreement in number occurs
 with verbs used without auxiliaries in the Present
Simple Tense and
 with the following auxiliaries: am/is/are;
was/were; do/does; has/have.
Examples:
(singular) Acid rain causes many troubles.
(plural) Acid rains cause many troubles.
Verbs that do not show
agreement
Auxiliaries like will, would, can, could, shall,
should, may, might, and must
 do not change and
 are always, whatever the subject, followed by the
simple form of the verb.
Examples:
(singular) The river might freeze.
(plural) The streams will probably freeze too.
Subjects with singular
verbs
Words like each, every, everyone, everybody,
someone, somebody, something, anyone,
anything, no one, nobody, nothing
 require a single verb and, therefore,
are often troublesome for
second-language learners.
Examples:
(singular) Everybody is happy.
(singular) Each student has to be in class on time.
Agreement with there
in subject position
When a sentence starts with There plus a form
of be, the verb agrees with the head word of the
phrase that follows the verb.
 Therefore, first determine if the head word is
singular or plural.
Examples:
(singular)
(plural)
There is one bottle on the table.
There are a lot of people in the room.
Compound subjects
 When a sentence has a compound subject
(more than one subject), the verb must be
plural in form.
 When the subject is formed with either…or or
neither…nor, the verb agrees with the phrase
closest to it.
Examples:
My aunt and my sisters visit me every year.
(pl.) Either my aunt or my sisters visit me every year.
(pl.)
(sg.)
Neither my sisters nor my aunt visits me every year.
Agreement in relative
clauses
When you write a relative clause beginning with
who, which, or that, look for its referent – the
word that who, which, or that refers to.
 The referent determines whether the verb should
be singular or plural.
Examples:
(sg.)
(pl.)
The journalist who wants to interview you
works for a business magazine.
The journalists who want to interview you
work for a business magazine.
Agreement with one of
Attention! One of is followed by a plural noun
and a singular verb, agreeing with the head of
word one.
Example:
(sg.) One of her friends likes to swim.
Agreement with some,
most, any, all, none
Quantity words like some, most, any, all, and
none are used in the following pattern:
 a plural verb form with plural countable nouns,
 a singular verb form with noncountable nouns.
Examples:
(pl.) Most of the students are fond of sports.
(sg.) Most of furniture is very old.
Materials used:
Sources:
 Raimes, Ann. Grammar Troublespots:
An Editing Guide for Students,
Cambridge University Press, 1998
Artwork:
 PowerPoint ClipArt
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