Subject-Verb Agreement PDF

## Subject-Verb Agreement **The basic principle of subject-verb agreement is that if the subject is singular, the verb should be singular, and if the subject is plural, the verb should be plural.** There are ten major guidelines. In the examples under the following guidelines, the simple subjects...

## Subject-Verb Agreement **The basic principle of subject-verb agreement is that if the subject is singular, the verb should be singular, and if the subject is plural, the verb should be plural.** There are ten major guidelines. In the examples under the following guidelines, the simple subjects and verbs are *italicized*. 1. **Do not let words that come between the subject and verb affect agreement.** * Modifying phrases and clauses frequently come between the subject and verb: *The various types of drama were not discussed.* *Angela, who is hitting third, is the best player.* *The price of those shoes is too high.* * Certain prepositions can cause trouble. The following words are prepositions, not conjunctions: along with, as well as, besides, in addition to, including, together with. The words that function as objects of prepositions cannot also be subjects of the sentence.* *The coach, along with the players, protests the decision.* * When a negative phrase follows a positive subject, the verb agrees with the positive subject.* *Philip, not the other boys, was the culprit.* 2. **Do not let inversions (verb before subject, not the normal order) affect the agreement of subject and verb.** * Verbs and other words may come before the subject. Do not let them affect the agreement. To understand subject-verb relationships, recast the sentence in normal word order. *Are Juan and his sister at home?* [question form] *Juan and his sister are at home.* [normal order] 3. **A singular verb agrees with a singular indefinite pronoun.** * Most indefinite pronouns are singular. *Each of the women is ready at this time.* *Neither of the women is ready at this time.* *One of the children is not paying attention.* * Certain indefinite pronouns do not clearly express either a singular or plural number. Agreement, therefore, depends on the meaning of the sentence. These pronouns are *all, any, none, and some*. *All of the melon was good.* *All of the melons were good.* *None of the pie is acceptable.* *None of the pies are acceptable.* 4. **Two or more subjects joined by *and* usually take a plural verb.** *The captain and the sailors were happy to be ashore.* *The trees and shrubs need more care.* * If the parts of a compound subject mean one and the same person or thing, the verb is singular; if the parts mean more than one, the verb is plural.* *The secretary and treasurer is not present.* [one] *The secretary and the treasurer are not present.* [more than one] * When *each* or *every* precedes singular subjects joined by *and*, the verb is singular.* *Each boy and each girl brings a donation.* *Each woman and man has asked the same questions.* 5. **Alternative subjects—that is, subjects joined by *or*, *nor*, *either/or*, *neither/nor*, *not only/but also*—should be handled in the following manner:** * If the subjects are both singular, the verb is singular. *Rosa or Alicia is responsible.* * If the subjects are plural, the verb is plural.* *Neither the students nor the teachers were impressed by his comments.* * If one of the subjects is singular and the other subject is plural, the verb agrees with the nearer subject.* *Either the Garcia boys or their father goes to the hospital each day.* *Either their father or the Garcia boys go to the hospital each day.* 6. **Collective nouns—*team, family, group, crew, gang, class, faculty, and the like*—take a singular verb if the verb is considered a unit, but they take a plural verb if the group is considered as a number of individuals.** *The team is playing well tonight.* *The team are getting dressed.* In the second sentence the individuals are acting not as a unit but separately. 7. **Titles of books, essays, short stories, and plays, a word spoken of as a word, and the names of businesses take a singular verb.** *The Canterbury Tales was written by Geoffrey Chaucer.* *Ives is my favorite name for a pet.* *Markel Brothers has a sale this week.* 8. **Sums of money, distances, and measurements are followed by a singular verb when a unit is meant. They are followed by a plural verb when the individual elements are considered separately.** *Three dollars was the price.* [unit] *Three dollars were lying there.* [individual] *Five years is a long time.* [unit] *The first five years were difficult ones.* [individual] 9. **Be careful of agreement with nouns ending in *-s*. Several nouns ending in *-s* take a singular verb—for example, *aeronautics, civics, economics, ethics, measles, mumps*.** *Mumps is an unpleasant disease.* *Economics is my major field of study.* 10. **Some nouns have only a plural form and so take only a plural verb—for example, *clothes, fireworks, scissors, pants*.** *His pants are badly wrinkled.* *Mary's clothes were stylish and expensive.* **EXERCISE:** Underline the correct verb form. 1. There *is, are* very little remote wilderness left in the world. 2. Neither the jungles, nor the oceans, nor the desert *has, have* gone unexplored. 3. Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain, *is, are* no exception. 4. Before 1953, though, many a thrill-seeker *was, were* hoping to be the first to stand on its summit. 5. Everyone *know, knows* that George Mallory died trying in 1924.