It is common for students to have trouble making their subjects and verbs agree. Agreement means that a singular subject needs a verb in the singular form, and a plural subject needs a verb in the plural form. While this type of mistake does not usually affect the overall meaning of your sentence, it is a very noticeable error that will take away from the credibility of your writing. Here are some basic examples of subject verb agreement.
- Singular subject and Singular verb
- A teacher often expects students to show initiative in class.
- Plural subject and Plural verb
- Teachers and their assistants meet every week to discuss student progress.
- Singular subject and Singular verb
- One of my most challenging classes was a course in logic.
- Plural subject and Plural verb
- There are many reasons for the increased enrolment.
This is a basic concept, but even high-level students make errors in subject verb agreement from time to time. Here are some things to consider in order to help you avoid this type of error.
Compound Subjects
Two or more subjects connected with and are usually plural.
- The library and the gym are closed for the winter break.
- Here are your student ID and your application.
An exception to this rule is if the compound subject functions as a singular thing.
- Beets and goat cheese is an excellent combination.
When compound subjects are connected with or, either/or, neither/nor, not only/but, the verb needs to agree with whichever subject is closer.
- Neither the president nor the deans have addressed the recent article about drug use on campus.
- Neither the deans nor the president has addressed the recent article about drug use on campus.
Indefinite Pronouns
- each
- either
- neither
- one
- someone
- everyone
- anyone
- somebody
- everybody
- nobody
- anybody
- something
- anything
- everything
- nothing
Indefinite pronouns are singular.
- Anyone in this room is capable of violence under the right circumstances.
- One of the three men accused of the crime has no criminal record.
- Neither of his ideas was very appealing.
Collective Nouns
- class
- team
- group
- family
- couple
- audience
- council
- committee
- crowd
Collective nouns are usually singular.
- The class is taking the exam at the end of the week.
- The audience was primarily made up of college students.
If you want to focus on the individual members of the group, not the group as a whole, the collective noun can be treated as plural.
- Singular
- The class respects the teacher.
- Plural
- The class are debating the issue amongst themselves.
The number is singular and a number is plural.
- The number of people entering university has increased significantly over the last thirty years.
- A number of students were asked to take part in a college survey.
Word Order: Subjects after Verbs
In some cases, the subject will come after the main verb in a sentence. For example, in a sentence that begins with there, the subject is found after the verb.
- There are surprisingly few children in this neighbourhood.
We sometimes invert the order of the subject and verb in order to add emphasis to a sentence or to give our writing style.
- Only after you have submitted the final assignment does the teacher discuss his own view on the subject.
- In each one of them is a desire to be the best.
Fractions, Percentages and Units of Measurement
Fractions and measurements are affected by the prepositional phrase. If they are used with a singular noun, they are singular. If they are used with a plural noun, they are plural.
- Singular
- Two-thirds of the country was under the control of the invading army.
- Plural
- Half of the countries involved in the war were crippled economically.