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Chapter 10 Subject-Verb Agreement 10th Edition, © 2011, Cengage Learning Locating Subjects and Making Them Agree with Verbs Prepositional Phrases Intervening Elements There and Here Inverted Sentences Subjects Joined by And Company Names, Organization Names, and Publication Titles Chapter 10, Guffey-Seefer, Business English, 10e, Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning, All Rights Reserved 10-2 Prepositional Phrases • When locating subjects, ignore prepositional phrases. • The subject of a verb will not be the object of a preposition. • Some of the most common prepositions are of, to, in, from, for, with, at, and by. • Less easily recognized are the prepositions except, but, like, and between. Chapter 10, Guffey-Seefer, Business English, 10e, Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning, All Rights Reserved 10-3 Examples • One of the companies is hiring new employees. • E-mail messages from the president are important. • Everyone except Stephanie and Todd is working. Chapter 10, Guffey-Seefer, Business English, 10e, Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning, All Rights Reserved 10-4 Intervening Elements When locating subjects, ignore intervening groups of words such as those introduced by in addition to, such as, as well as, including, and together with. • TeleCon, Inc., along with several other companies, is submitting bids. • The buyer, as well as two of our operators, is examining the equipment. Chapter 10, Guffey-Seefer, Business English, 10e, Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning, All Rights Reserved 10-5 There and Here In sentences beginning with there or here, look for the true subject after the verb. • There are several new products. (Invert the sentence: Several new products are there.) • Here is a list of potential customers. (Invert: A list of potential customers is here.) Chapter 10, Guffey-Seefer, Business English, 10e, Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning, All Rights Reserved 10-6 Inverted Sentences Look for the subject after the verb in inverted sentences and in questions. • Across the street is a recycling center. (Invert: A recycling center is across the street.) • Is one of the technicians going to call? (Invert: One of the technicians is going to call.) Chapter 10, Guffey-Seefer, Business English, 10e, Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning, All Rights Reserved 10-7 Subjects Joined by And Compound subjects joined by and require a plural verb. • Our office manager and our sales manager are interviewing applicants. • Writing concisely and proofreading carefully are important. Chapter 10, Guffey-Seefer, Business English, 10e, Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning, All Rights Reserved 10-8 Company Names, Organization Names, and Publication Titles Although they may appear plural, company names and titles of publications are singular and require singular verbs. • Fagan, Dunn, and Roe, Inc., is expanding. • Seven Secrets to Successful Investing is a top seller at Amazon.com. Chapter 10, Guffey-Seefer, Business English, 10e, Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning, All Rights Reserved 10-9 Special Rules for Subject-Verb Agreement Or and Nor Indefinite Pronouns Collective Nouns Chapter 10, Guffey-Seefer, Business English, 10e, Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning, All Rights Reserved 10-10 Or and Nor When two or more subjects are joined by or or nor, the verb should agree with the closer subject (the one following or or nor). • Neither the house nor its outbuildings are insured. • Neither the outbuildings nor the house is insured. • Either Kim or you are responsible for supplies. • Either you or Kim is responsible for supplies. Chapter 10, Guffey-Seefer, Business English, 10e, Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning, All Rights Reserved 10-11 Indefinite Pronouns Some indefinite pronouns are always singular, some are always plural, and some may be singular or plural depending upon the words to which they refer. Chapter 10, Guffey-Seefer, Business English, 10e, Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning, All Rights Reserved 10-12 Always Singular anyone, anybody anything, each either, every everyone, everybody everything, neither nobody, nothing someone, somebody something Always Plural both few many several Singular or Plural all more most some any none Chapter 10, Guffey-Seefer, Business English, 10e, Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning, All Rights Reserved 10-13 Examples • Each of the policies is separate. (Always singular) • Few of the companies are interested. (Always plural) • Some of the pie is missing. (Some refers to pie, which is singular.) • Some of the jelly beans are missing. (Some refers to jelly beans, which is plural.) Chapter 10, Guffey-Seefer, Business English, 10e, Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning, All Rights Reserved 10-14 Collective Nouns • Collective nouns such as faculty, committee, or council may be singular or plural depending on their mode of operation. • When a collective noun operates as a single unit, its verb should be singular. • The council is meeting Thursday. • Next week the faculty is voting. Chapter 10, Guffey-Seefer, Business English, 10e, Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning, All Rights Reserved 10-15 Collective Nouns When the elements of a collective noun operate separately, the verb is plural. The faculty were concerned about their room assignments. (Better to say, The faculty members were concerned about their room assignments.) Chapter 10, Guffey-Seefer, Business English, 10e, Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning, All Rights Reserved 10-16 Additional Rules for SubjectVerb Agreement The Number and A Number Quantities and Measures Fractions, Portions, Percentages Who and That Clauses Phrases and Clauses Chapter 10, Guffey-Seefer, Business English, 10e, Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning, All Rights Reserved 10-17 The Number and A Number As sentence subjects, the number is always singular; a number is always plural. • The number of requests is growing yearly. (Singular) • A number of stocks are traded daily. (Plural) Chapter 10, Guffey-Seefer, Business English, 10e, Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning, All Rights Reserved 10-18 Quantities and Measures When they refer to total amounts, quantities and measures are singular. When they refer to individual units that can be counted, quantities and measures are plural. • Five yards of fabric is the amount needed to complete that garment. (Quantity as a single unit) • Five days are needed to complete the project. (Quantity as individual units) Chapter 10, Guffey-Seefer, Business English, 10e, Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning, All Rights Reserved 10-19 Fractions, Portions, Percentages Fractions, portions, and percentages may be singular or plural depending on the nouns to which they refer. • One third of the bonds have been sold. (One third refers to bonds and, therefore, is plural.) • One third of the job has been completed. (One third refers to job and, therefore, is singular.) Chapter 10, Guffey-Seefer, Business English, 10e, Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning, All Rights Reserved 10-20 Fractions, Portions, Percentages A portion of our management team favors the plan. (Portion refers to team and, therefore, is singular.) A large percentage of the employees also favor the plan. (Percentage refers to employees and, therefore, is plural.) Chapter 10, Guffey-Seefer, Business English, 10e, Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning, All Rights Reserved 10-21 Who and That Clauses • Verbs in who and that clauses must agree in number and person with the nouns to which they refer. • In who and that clauses introduced by one of, the verb is usually plural because it refers to the object of the preposition. • In who and that clauses introduced by the only one of, the verb is singular. Chapter 10, Guffey-Seefer, Business English, 10e, Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning, All Rights Reserved 10-22 Examples • Nan Rivera is one of those instructors who are very professional. (The verb are is controlled by instructors.) • AT&T is the only one of the wireless carriers that is able to sell the iPhone. (The word only suggests that the writer wishes to emphasize the singularity of the subject.) Chapter 10, Guffey-Seefer, Business English, 10e, Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning, All Rights Reserved 10-23 Phrases and Clauses Use a singular verb when the subject of a sentence is a phrase or a clause. • Learning to operate all the pieces of office equipment is a big task. • Relying too much on others is detrimental. Chapter 10, Guffey-Seefer, Business English, 10e, Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning, All Rights Reserved 10-24