Subject Verb Agreement

Subject-Verb Agreement

Basic Principle: Singular subjects need singular verbs; plural subjects need plural verbs. My brother is a nutritionist. My sisters are mathematicians.

See the section on Plurals for additional help with subject-verb agreement.

The indefinite pronouns anyone, everyone, someone, no one, nobody are always singular and, therefore, require singular verbs.

· Everyone has done his or her homework.

· Somebody has left her purse.

Some indefinite pronouns — such as all, some — are singular or plural depending on what they're referring to. (Is the thing referred to countable or not?) Be careful choosing a verb to accompany such pronouns.

· Some of the beads are missing.

· Some of the water is gone.

On the other hand, there is one indefinite pronoun, none, that can be either singular or plural; it often doesn't matter whether you use a singular or a plural verb — unless something else in the sentence determines its number. (Writers generally think of none as meaning not any and will choose a plural verb, as in "None of the engines are working," but when something else makes us regard none as meaning not one, we want a singular verb, as in "None of the food is fresh.")

· None of you claims responsibility for this incident?

· None of you claim responsibility for this incident?

· None of the students have done their homework. (In this last example, the word their preclude the use of the singular verb.

Some indefinite pronouns are particularly troublesome Everyone and everybody (listed above, also) certainly feel like more than one person and, therefore, students are sometimes tempted to use a plural verb with them. They are always singular, though. Each is often followed by a prepositional phrase ending in a plural word (Each of the cars), thus confusing the verb choice. Each, too, is always singular and requires a singular verb.

Everyone has finished his or her homework.

You would always say, "Everybody is here." This means that the word is singular and nothing will change that.

Each of the students is responsible for doing his or her work in the library.

Don't let the word "students" confuse you; the subject is each and each is always singular — Each is responsible.

Phrases such as together with, as well as, and along with are not the same as and. The phrase introduced by as well as or along with will modify the earlier word (mayor in this case), but it does not compound the subjects (as the word and would do).

· The mayor as well as his brothers is going to prison.

· The mayor and his brothers are going to jail.

The pronouns neither and either are singular and require singular verbs even though they seem to be referring, in a sense, to two things.

· Neither of the two traffic lights is working.

· Which shirt do you want for Christmas?
Either is fine with me.

In informal writing, neither and either sometimes take a plural verb when these pronouns are followed by a prepositional phrase beginning with of. This is particularly true of interrogative constructions: "Have either of you two clowns read the assignment?" "Are either of you taking this seriously?" Burchfield calls this "a clash between notional and actual agreement."*

The conjunction or does not conjoin (as and does): when nor or or is used the subject closer to the verb determines the number of the verb. Whether the subject comes before or after the verb doesn't matter; the proximity determines the number.

· Either my father or my brothers are going to sell the house.

· Neither my brothers nor my father is going to sell the house.

· Are either my brothers or my father responsible?

· Is either my father or my brothers responsible?

Because a sentence like "Neither my brothers nor my father is going to sell the house" sounds peculiar, it is probably a good idea to put the plural subject closer to the verb whenever that is possible.

The words there and here are never subjects.

· There are two reasons [plural subject] for this.

· There is no reason for this.

· Here are two apples.

With these constructions (called expletive constructions), the subject follows the verb but still determines the number of the verb.

Verbs in the present tense for third-person, singular subjects (he, she, it and anything those words can stand for) have s-endings. Other verbs do not add s-endings.

He loves and she loves and they love_ and . . . .

Sometimes modifiers will get between a subject and its verb, but these modifiers must not confuse the agreement between the subject and its verb.
The mayor, who has been convicted along with his four brothers on four counts of various crimes but who also seems, like a cat, to have several political lives, is finally going to jail.

Sometimes nouns take weird forms and can fool us into thinking they're plural when they're really singular and vice-versa. Consult the section on the Plural Forms of Nouns and the section on Collective Nouns for additional help. Words such as glasses, pants, pliers, and scissors are regarded as plural (and require plural verbs) unless they're preceded the periphrases of (in which case the word pair becomes the subject).

· My glasses were on the bed.

· My pants were torn.

· A pair of plaid trousers is in the closet.

Some words end in -s and appear to be plural but are really singular and require singular verbs.

· The news from the front is bad.

· Measles is a dangerous disease for pregnant women.

On the other hand, some words ending in -s refer to a single thing but are nonetheless plural and require a plural verb.

· My assets were wiped out in the depression.

· The average worker's earnings have gone up dramatically.

· Our thanks go to the workers who supported the union.

The names of sports teams that do not end in "s" will take a plural verb: the Miami Heat have been looking … The Connecticut Sun are hoping that new talent … See the section on plurals for help with this problem.

Fractional expressions such as half of, a part of, a percentage of, a majority of are sometimes singular and sometimes plural, depending on the meaning. (The same is true, of course, when all, any, more, most and some act as subjects.) Sums and products of mathematical processes are expressed as singular and require singular verbs. The expression "more than one" (oddly enough) takes a singular verb: "More than one student has tried this."

· Some of the voters are still angry.

· A large percentage of the older population is voting against her.

· Two-fifths of the troops were lost in the battle.

· Two-fifths of the vineyard was destroyed by fire.

· Forty percent of the students are in favor of changing the policy.

· Forty percent of the student body is in favor of changing the policy.

· Two and two is four.

· Four times four divided by two is eight.

If your sentence compounds a positive and a negative subject and one is plural, the other singular, the verb should agree with the positive subject.

· The department members but not the chair have decided not to teach on Valentine's Day.

· It is not the faculty members but the president who decides this issue.

· It was the speaker, not his ideas, that has provoked the students to riot.

1:Subjects and verbs must AGREE with one another in number (singular or plural). Thus, if a subject is singular, its verb must also be singular; if a subject is plural, its verb must also be plural.

In the present tense, nouns and verbs form plurals in opposite ways: nouns ADD an s to the singular form; verbs REMOVE the s from the singular form.

These agreement rules do not apply to verbs used in the simple past tense without any helping verbs.

The agreement rules do, however, apply to the following helping verbs when they are used with a main verb: is-are, was-were, has-have, does-do.

The agreement rules do not apply to has-have when used as the SECOND helping verb in a pair.

They do NOT apply to any other helping verbs, such as can, could, shall, should, may, might, will, would, must.

The subject-verb agreement rules apply to all personal pronouns except I and you, which, although SINGULAR, require PLURAL forms of verbs.

Now click on below to do exercise 1.

Part I

Directions: Each sentence below contains a choice for correct subject-verb agreement. Write the correct form in the space provided under each item.

1. At Yellowstone Park grizzly bears (doesn’t, don’t) have names; they have numbers.

2. In the meeting between human and bear, a wild-card factor (throws, throw) all calculations and studies to the wind.

3. The Yellowstone authorities should (has, have) kept thorough records on each bear.

4. When some bears (encounters, encounter) people, it is the bear who runs.

5. The great national parks (holds, hold) about 200 grizzlies, with possibly 30 of them being breeding females.

Part II

Directions: This group of sentences contains a mixture of correct and incorrect subject-verb combinations. Read each sentence carefully. If the subject and verb agree, write "correct" in the space provided below. If the subject and verb do not agree, change the number of the verb to make the two agree. Write the corrections in the space below.

6. Behind an experimental fenced yard protecting campers in Glacier National Park, six visitors has been fatally mauled by grizzlies in the past 19 years.

7. Meandering downriver toward a deer, three grizzly cubs comes within 15 yards of it.

8. To a grizzly almost anything are food except rocks.

9. Lingering snow patches often become playgrounds for grizzlies observed making snowballs.

10. Female grizzlies mates every third year in summer, without their fertilized eggs implanting in the womb until fall.

The remainder of this teaching unit deals with some more advanced subject-verb agreement rules and with exceptions to the original subject-verb agreement rule

Compound Subject

The word “compound” means “made up of two or more parts.” Two or more words can be compounded or linked by joining them with any of three words:

and, or, and nor

Here are some examples of compounding:

Compound nouns can function as a “compound subject.” In some instances, a compound subject poses special problems for the subject-verb agreement rule (+s, -s).

However, instead of using two sentences (as above), we may choose to give the above information in one sentence.

This sentence makes use of a compound subject (two subject nouns joined by and), illustrating a new rule about subject-verb agreement.

Although each part of the compound subject is singular (ranger and camper), taken together (joined by and), each one becomes a part of a plural structure and, therefore, must take a plural verb (see) to agree in the sentence.

SUBJECT-VERB RULE #1 – Two or more singular (or plural) subjects joined by and act as a plural compound subject and take a plural verb (singular + singular = plural).

You can check the verb by substituting the pronoun they for the compound subject.

Or and nor as joiners work somewhat differently from and. While the word and seems to ADD things together, or and nor do not. They suggest a CHOICE.

Look at this sentence.

This sentence makes use of a compound subject (two subject nouns joined together by or). Each part of the compound subject (ranger, camper) is singular. Even though both words function together as subject (joined by or), the subject still remains SINGULAR (ranger or camper) since a CHOICE is implied.

This compound subject, therefore, requires a singular verb to agree with it.

SUBJECT-VERB RULE #2 – Two or more SINGULAR subjects joined by or (or nor) act as a singular compound subject and, therefore, take a singular verb to agree.

Note: Two or more plural subjects joined by or (or nor) would naturally take a plural verb to agree.

However, or and nor can pose a more difficult problem.

Thus far we have been working with compound subjects whose individual parts are both either singular or plural

What if one part of the compound subject is singular and the other part is plural?

What form of a verb should be used in this case? Should the verb be singular to agree with one word? Or should the verb be plural to agree with the other?

Solution:

1. If the individual parts of the compound subject are joined by and, always use a plural verb.

2. If the individual parts of the compound subject are joined by or or nor, use the verb form (singular or plural) which will agree with the subject closer to the verb.

Group Nouns

Some nouns which name groups can be either singular or plural depending upon their meaning in individual sentences.

Now click the below to do exercise 2.

Directions: Each sentence below contains a compound subject. Choose the correct verb from the parentheses to agree with the compound subject. Write your answers in the space provided under each item.

1. Both Democrats and Republicans (is, are) electing a new leader.

2. Neither threats nor hostile action (scares, scare) the enemy.

3. The actors and the director (understands, understand) the lighting problems.

4. The surfer or the swimmers (is, are) responsible for the littered beach.

5. A good diet and a realistic exercise plan (combines, combine) to help one lose weight.

Part II

Directions: This group of sentences contains a mixture of correct and incorrect subject-verb combinations. Read each sentence carefully. If the subject and verb agree, write "correct" in the space provided below. If the subject and verb do not agree, change the number of the verb to make the two agree. Write the corrections in the space below.

6. A sweet potato and some carrots provides Vitamin A, important for healthy eyes.

7. The eyes or the skin is often adversely affected by a lack of Vitamin A.

8. Neither bleach nor dyes really helps unhealthy hair look better.

9. Ripe tomatoes, leafy Brussels sprouts, and a handy orange is rich in Vitamin C.

10. Unfortunately for the sedentary, neither diet nor vitamins alone provide sufficient fuel for good health.

Because they can describe either the individuals in the group (more than one – plural), or the group as a single entity (one only – singular), these nouns pose special problems.

However, there are some guidelines for deciding which verb form (singular or plural) to use with one of these nouns as the subject in a sentence.

If we refer to the group as a whole and, therefore, as a single unit, we consider the noun singular. In this case, we use a singular verb.

If, on the other hand, we are actually referring to the individuals within the group, then we consider the noun plural. In this case, we use a plural verb.

Of course group nouns, like other nouns, can also appear in plural forms (with an s).

When used in the plural form, group nouns mean MORE THAN ONE GROUP. Thus, it uses a plural verb.

Thus, there are three important subject – verb agreement rules to remember when a group noun is used as the subject:

1. Group nouns can be considered as a single unit, and, thus, take a singular verb.

2. Group nouns can be considered as individual members within a single unit and, thus, take a plural verb.

3. Group nouns can be given plural forms to mean two or more units and, thus, take a plural verb.

Now click below to do exercise 3.

Part I

Directions: Each sentence below contains a group noun subject. After locating the subject, choose the correct verb from the parentheses to agree with it. Write your answers in the space provided under each item.

1. In the Peace Corps, an American group (goes, go) into an underprivileged country to help the people develop skills.

2. The family members (learns, learn) a variety of different skills that are valuable in the market.

3. The U.S. Senate (has, have) made several individual proposals for starting the Peace Corps.

4. On October 4, 1960, at the University of Michigan, a young crowd (listens, listen) to John Kennedy propose the Peace Corps.

5. The tribe members (is, are) expressing their individual thanks to members of the Peace Corps.

Part II

Directions: This group of sentences contains a mixture of correct and incorrect subject-verb combinations. Read each sentence carefully. If the subject and verb agree, write "correct" in the space provided below. If the subject and verb do not agree, correct the sentence. Write the corrections in the space below.

6. The volunteer group is teaching forestry in Ecuador, pipe repair in Pachanillay, and sewing in Puembo.

7. A prestigious club has contributed funds, materials, and ideas to Peace Corps volunteers.

8. The Peace Corps team members often gets together to talk over old times.

9. In the towns visited by the Peace Corps, the government repay the work of the volunteers with gratitude.

10. A new crew are now volunteering to join the modern Peace Corps.

Plural Form / Singular Meaning Nouns

Some nouns are regularly plural in form, but singular in meaning.

Even though these nouns APPEAR to be plural because they end in s, they actually refer to only one thing made up of smaller, uncounted parts. Therefore, they are considered singular.

You can see that substituting that pronoun it instead of they makes more sense here.

Another group of plural form nouns end in –ics.

Similarly, it is a more suitable substitute for any of these words than is they.

These nouns appear to be plural (end in s), but generally refer to only one thing and are, therefore, generally considered singular.

NOTE: Occasionally, however, the –ics nouns can have a plural meaning: We can speak about individual parts of these wholes. In this case, we apply the same rule as applies to group nouns when we consider the individual members within the group (see Section 3.3): We use a plural verb.

Note the difference in meaning and, therefore, in the verb chosen (singular or plural) between the two uses of the –ics noun, statistics.

Now click below to do exercise 4.

Part I

Directions: Decide whether a singular or a plural verb is correct for each subject given. In some cases, the rule given in this section will determine the answer immediately. With –ics nouns, first determine the singular or plural meaning of the subject. Choose the correct verb from each parentheses. Write your answers in the space provided under each item.

1. Students are excited that economics (is, are) being taught this semester.

2. Unfortunately, dishonest politics (was, were) used to win the election.

3. Athletics (provides, provide) important opportunities for physical development.

4. Good news usually (travels, travel) fast.

5. Because of the mood in the Senate, statistics (was, were) compiled quickly for the report.

Part II

Directions: This group of sentences contains a mixture of correct and incorrect subject-verb combinations. Read each sentence carefully. If the subject and verb agree, write "correct" in the space provided below. If the subject and verb do not agree, correct the sentence. Write the corrections in the space below.

6. For some time now civics have been a required course in the curriculum.

7. Ceramics takes a great deal of practice for proficiency.

8. In this particular situation, the economics are hard to determine.

9. Because of constantly changing public opinion, politics offer a challenging career to both men and women.

10. Indeed, mumps is a painful illness.

Indefinite pronouns can pose special problems in subject – verb agreement.

The difficulty is that some indefinite pronouns sound plural when they are really singular.

As subjects, the following indefinite pronouns ALWAYS take singular verbs. Look at them closely.

These should be easy to remember.

However, the following indefinite pronouns ALWAYS take plural verbs.

EXCEPTIONS:

A third group of indefinite pronouns takes either a singular or plural verb depending on the pronoun’s meaning in the sentence. Look at them closely.

Now click below to do exercise 5.

Directions: Each sentence below contains an indefinite pronoun subject. Choose the correct verb from the parentheses to agree with the subject. Write your answers in the space provided under each item.

1. Among the animals, turtles cling to their basic structural design, while many others (is, are) experimenting their way to extinction.

2. Turtles are unique; each (has, have) eight cervical vertebrea, compared with seven of most mammals.

3. Turtles are honored in many countries; in China, for example, everyone (worships, worship) the legendary turtle named Weird who created the universe.

4. Turtles have specific characteristics; all (displays, display) two plated decks: the upper, called the carapace, and the lower, known as the plastron.

5. Of the female turtles, some (has, have) been found to be twice the size of the males.

Part II

Directions: This group of sentences contains a mixture of correct and incorrect subject-verb combinations. Read each sentence carefully. If the subject and verb agree, write "correct" in the space provided below. If the subject and verb do not agree, correct the sentence. Write the corrections in the space below.

6. Among the fascinating facts about turtles, another are their patterns of dots, splashes,andhieroglyphs.

7. Aquatic turtles are different from land turtles: most is unable to close their shells.

8. Everyone knows Ogden Nash’s celebrated poem about turtles.

9. No one is going to bother snappers, eaters of anything from snakes and wooden canoe chunks to baby alligators.

10. However, of the early tribes, several uses turtles for food.

So far we have considered subjects that can cause subject-verb agreement confusion: compound subjects, group noun subjects, plural form – singular meaning subjects, andindefinite subjects.

The remainder of this teaching unit examines subject – verb agreement problems that can result from word placement in sentences. There are four main problems: prepositional phrases,clauses beginning with who, that, or which, sentences beginning with here or there, and questions.

Here is a list of frequently used prepositions:

A prepositional phrase may be placed between the subject and verb.

In the above example, the singular verb is agrees with the singular subject boy.

Sometimes, however, a prepositional phrase inserted between the subject and verb makes agreement more difficult.

Car is the singular subject. Was is the singular helping verb which agrees with car. If we aren’t careful, however, we may mistakenly label riders as the subject since it is nearer to the verb than car is. If we choose the plural noun, riders, we will incorrectly select the plural verb were.

Solution to the Prepositional Phrase Problem

1. Learn the major prepositions (see page 28).

2. Be alert for prepositional phrases placed between the subject and verb, and identify the noun in the phrase immediately as the object of a preposition: An object of a preposition can NEVER be a sentence subject.

3. Locate the true sentence subject and choose a verb which agrees with it.

4. Remember the indefinite pronoun EXCEPTIONS considered in Section 3.5, p.18: Some, Any, None, All, and Most. The number of these subject words IS affected by a prepositional phrase between the subject and verb.

Now click below to do exercise 6.

Part I

Directions: Each sentence below contains an indefinite pronoun subject. Choose the correct verb from the parentheses to agree with the subject. Write your answers in the space provided under each item.

1. One of the many cultures studied by anthropologists (is, are) the Kwakiutl Indians.

2. This group of Indians (lives, live) on the Canadian Coast.

3. Often the leader of the Kwakiutl dances, (foams, foam) at the mouth and (tosses, toss) burning ashes into the crowd.

4. Wealth, like cedar bark blankets, canoes, and large sculptured copper pieces, (is, are) important to the Kwakiutl.

5. To the Kwakiutl, one of the copper pieces (equals, equal) a thousand cedar bark blankets.

Part II

Directions: This group of sentences contains a mixture of correct and incorrect subject-verb combinations. Read each sentence carefully. If the subject and verb agree, write "correct" in the space provided below. If the subject and verb do not agree, correct the sentence. Write the corrections in the space below.

6. Kwakiutl ceremonies for showing one’s wealth is called “potlatches.”

7. The host of a potlatch tries to shame his rival by displaying his wealth.

8. The host with all these goods sometimes even throw them into a giant bonfire.

9. The rival without equal amounts of riches feel greatly ashamed.

10. In our culture, some behaviors of the Kwatiutl Indian is not acceptable.

A clause beginning with who, that, or which and coming BETWEEN the subject and verb can cause agreement problems.

Like the prepositional phrase, the who / that / which clause never contains the subject.

TO AVOID SUBJECT – VERB AGREEMENT ERRORS . . .

1. Identify who / that / which clauses immediately.

2. Locate the true sentence subject and choose a verb that agrees with it.

Now click below to do exercise 7.

Part I

Directions: Each sentence below contains a choice for correct subject-verb agreement. Locate the subject of each sentence and choose the verb that agrees with the subject. Write your answers in the space provided under each item.

1. Quilting bees, which have always provided warmth and sociability for the women participating in them, (is, are) now becoming quite profitable as well.

2. American women, who were quite restricted during the Victorian Age, (has, have) always quilted as a means of keeping sane under such trying conditions.

3. The quilts that these women made of scraps of silk (was, were) called crazy quilts.

4. The quilts that these women made of scraps of silk (was, were) called crazy quilts.

5. The quilting renaissance that has swept across the country (appear, appears) to have been encouraged by feminism’s pride in women’s art.

Part II

Directions: This group of sentences contains a mixture of correct and incorrect subject-verb combinations, separated by who / that / which clauses. Read each sentence carefully. If the subject and verb agree, write "correct" in the space provided below. If the subject and verb do not agree, correct the sentence. Write the corrections in the space below.

6. The American International Quilt Association, which began with 45 members, now have 1, 680 members.

7. David Pottinger, who collects quilts, runs a general store in Indiana so that he can live amongst the shy Amish and their quilts.

8. Quilts that contain boldly-colored geometric and abstract designs was celebrated in the 1970’s as precursors of abstract art.

9. The Whitney Museum of Art, which is located in New York, was the first to officially recognize the painterly qualities of quilts.

10. The author of several articles on quilts that were published in Smithsonian magazine were for many years a roving editor for the Reader’s Digest in Europe.

When a sentence begins with there is – there are / here is – here are, the subject and verb are inverted. After all that you have learned already, you will undoubtedly find this topic a relatively easy one!

The verb in such constructions is obviously is or are. The subject, however, does not come BEFORE the verb.

Instead, the subject in this kind of sentence comes AFTER the verb, so you must look for it AFTER the verb.

In this example, because the subject, book, is singular, the verb must also be singular.

If the subject is plural, however, then the verb must be plural.

In this example, because the subject, books, is plural, the verb is also plural.

Remember: In here is – here are / there is – there are constructions, look for the subject AFTER the verb and choose a singular (is) or a plural (are) verb to agree with the subject.

And finally, sometimes creating a question will cause the subject to follow the verb as well. Here, identify the subject and then choose the verb that agrees with it (singular or plural).

Now click below to do exercise 8.

Part I

Directions: In each sentence below, the verb comes before the subject. Select your choice for correct subject – verb agreement. Write your completed sentence in the space provided under each item.

1. There (is, are) two classes of pure matter: elements and compounds.

2. What (does, do) scientists know today about elements?

3. Occurring naturally (is, are) over 100 elements, or substances that cannot be separated into different kinds of matter.

4. There (is, are) however, numerous elements that are man-made as well.

5. There (continues, continue) to be much research to add new elements.

Part II

Directions: These sentences contain a mixture of correct and incorrect subject – verb combinations, with the verb coming before the subject (inverted order). Read each sentence carefully. If the subject and verb agree, write "correct" in the space provided below. If the subject and verb do not agree, correct the sentence. Write the corrections in the space below.

6. How does elements form compounds?