BASIC READING/WRITING

GRAMMAR GUIDE: SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT

Basic Rules:

P Every sentence has a subject and a verb.

P The subject, a.k.a. noun, is the person, place, thing or idea that the sentence is about.

P The verb tells you what the subject is doing, has done, or will do.

P Subjects and verbs follow opposite rules when it comes to their singular and plural forms:

A subject that ends in “s” is usually plural, although there are several exceptions.

A verb that ends in “s,” however, is always singular, with very few exceptions.

P The secret to subject-verb agreement is correctly identifying the subject of a sentence first,

and then knowing whether the subject is singular or plural.

Subject-Verb Agreement Rules:

Rule #1: If the subject of a sentence is singular, the verb must be singular.

The dog chases the cat.

A child hides behind the house.

My friend dances with me at the club.

Rule #2: If the subject of a sentence is plural, the verb must be plural.

The dogs chase the cat.

The children hide behind the house.

My friends dance with me at the club.

Rule #3: Don’t assume that the subject is the first words in a sentence.

With a menacing snarl, the dog chases the cat.

Behind the house the children hide.

On Friday nights my friends dance at the club like crazy.

Rule #4: Don’t get confused by words that come between the subject and the verb.

The dog, a mangy and mean looking mutt, chases the cat.

The children, afraid of getting in trouble, hide from their mother behind the house.

His application from for the new job has gone missing.

People who listen to heavy metal songs tend to wear all black.

This book, especially the first ten pages, is extremely boring.

Rule #5: When the subject of a sentence has two or more subjects connected by and, use a plural verb.

Ms. Scott and Mr. Stroud are two assistant principals at Stone Mountain.

My sister and I share a very special bond.

Rule #6: When two or more singular nouns are connected by or or nor, use a singular verb.

Peanut butter or spaghetti is my favorite food.

Neither my mother nor my father knows about my new boyfriend.

Rule #7: If the subject of a sentence contains a singular noun and a plural noun joined by or or nor” the

verb should agree with the part of the subject that is nearest to the verb.

The moon or the stars are visible at night.

The stars or the mood is visible at night.

Rule #8: The words each, either, neither, everyone, everybody, anybody, anyone, nobody, somebody, someone and no one are singular and required a singular verb.

Each of my students has the potential to become something great.

Everybody knows Ms. Hanzlick is the best teacher ever.

Either answer is correct.

Rule #9: Words such as civics, mathematics, dollars, measles, and news are called “collective nouns,” and even though they end in –s, they are singular and require a singular verb.

The news comes on a six o’clock.

A thousand dollars is a lot of money.

Civics is my favorite class at school.

Rule #10: Words like scissors, socks, pants, and anything else you say you have “a pair of” are

plural, even though they only refer to one thing, and thus require plural verbs.

These scissors are dull.

Those pants were too small for him.

Rule #11: Words like group, team, committee, class, and family refer to more than one person but are nevertheless considered singular words and therefore take a singular verb.

The class is out of control.

My family loves to go camping.

Rule #12: With words that indicate portions—percent, fraction, part, majority, some, all, none, remainder, etc.—you must look at the noun in your “of phrase” to determine whether to use a singular or plural verb. If the object of the preposition is singular, use a singular verb. If the object of the preposition is plural, use a plural verb.

Some of the pie is missing.

Some of the pies are missing.

		SINGULAR	PLURAL
SUBJECTS (NOUNS)	“REGULAR”	a dog an apple a church a knife a lullaby a monkey a hero an appendix	many dogs many apples many churches many knives many lullabies many monkeys many heroes many appendices
	“IRREGULAR”	I you he/she/it this/that a child a man/woman each either/neither everyone/anyone/someone everybody/anybody/somebody x x x the dollars the news mathematics a mouse a goose a fish a sheep an analysis a phenomenon a cactus a vertebra	we you they these/those many children many men/women x x x x (pair of) scissors (pair of) pants (pair of) socks x x x many mice many geese many fish many sheep many analyses many phenomena many cacti many vertebrae
VERBS		runs jumps swims plays laughs watches spies misbehaves exaggerates goes does has am / is	run jump swim play laugh watch spy misbehave exaggerate go do have are

Created by C. Hanzlick, Spring 2007