SUBJECT
SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT
• In the present tense, verbs agree with their subjects in NUMBER (singular/plural)
and in PERSON (first, second, or third). The present tense ending –ss (or –es) is used
on a verb if the subject is THIRD PERSON SINGULAR. Otherwise, the verb takes
NO ENDING.
SINGULAR PLURAL
First Person I read We read
Second Person You read you read
Third Person He/she/it reads They read
After learning the basic fundamentals of subject-verb agreement, read and
understand these special rules and after some practice, forming correct
sentences will be easy!
1. Make the verb agree with its subject, not with the word in between
High levels of pollution cause damage to the respiratory tract
The subject is levels
levels, NOT pollution
2. With subjects joined with or, nor, either…or, or neither… nor, make the verb
agree with the part of the subject NEARER to the verb
A driver’s license or credit card is required
See, the term “driver’s license” was not used in making the verb
agree the se
sentence. Instead it was the term “credit card”
Neither the lab assistant nor the students were able to download the
information
3. Treat most indefinite pronouns as SINGULAR
Anybody Each Everyone Nobody Somebody
Anyone Either Everything No one Someone
Anything Everybody Neither Nothing Something
Everybody was taking the lecture in the class.
Everyone on the team supports the coach.
4. Make the verb agree with its subject even when the subject follows the verb
There are surprisingly few children in our neighbourhood.
There were a social worker and a crew of twenty volunteers at the sceneof the
accident.
5. Words such as athletics, economics, measles and news are usually SINGULAR,
despite their plural form
Statistics is among the most difficult courses in our program
6. Titles of works, company names, words mentioned as words, and gerund
phrases are SINGULAR
Lost Cities describes the discoveries of many ancient civilizations
7. Treat collective nouns (e.g. team, audience, crowd, class, family) as
SINGULAR unless the meaning is clearly plural
1. SINGULAR
Collective nouns nearly always emphasize a group as a UNIT
The class respects the teacher
2. PLURAL
Occasionally, a collective noun is treated as plural to draw attention to
the INDIVIDUAL members of the group
The class are debating amongst themselves
If that is the case, it is better to change it to:
The class members are debating amongst themselves
Now try answering these exercises to measure how much you learned!
EXERCISE 1
Underline the subject (or compound subject) and then identify the verb that
agrees with it.
Everyone in the telecom focus group (has/have) experienced problems with
cell phones
1. Your friendship over the years and your support (has/have) meant a great
deal to us.
2. Hamilton Family Center, a shelter for teenage runaways in San Francisco,
(offers/offer) a wide variety of services.
3. The main source of income for Trinidad (is/are) oil and pitch.
4. The chances of your being promoted (is/are) excellent.
5. There (was/were) a card stuck in the ATM.
6. Neither the professor nor his assistants (was/were) able to solve the mystery of
the eerie glow in the laboratory.
7. Many hours at the driving range (has/have) led us to design golf balls with
GPS locators in them.
8. Discovered in the soil of our city garden (was/were) a button dating
from theCivil War.
9. Every year, during the midsummer festival, the smoke of village bonfires
(fills/fill) the sky.
10. The story performers (was/were) surrounded by children and adults eager to
see magical tales.
ANSWER KEY- Exercise 1
1. Your friendship over the years and your support (has/have) meant a great
deal to us.
2. Hamilton Family Center, a shelter for teenage runaways in San Francisco,
(offers/offer) a wide variety of services.
3. The main source of income for Russia (is/are) oil and gass.
4. The chances of your being promoted (is/are) excellent.
5. There (was/were) a card stuck in the ATM.
6. Neither the professor nor his assistants (was/were) able to solve the mystery of
the eerie glow in the laboratory.
7. Many hours at the driving range (has/have) led us to design golf balls with
GPS locators in them.
8. Discovered in the soil of our city garden (was/were) a button dating
from theCivil War.
9. Every year, during the midsummer festival, the smoke of village bonfires
(fills/fill) the sky.
10. The story performers (was/were) surrounded by children and adults eager to
see magical tales.
