Grammar Troublespots subject-verb agreement subject-verb agreement Writing Center, University of Houston

About this Section Each complete sentence should express andexpress a complete thought and havehave a Subject and a Verb. In this section you will learn more about:  relationships,  relationships between Subjects and Verbs,  problems regarding,  problems regarding Subject-Verb Agreement,  ways to correct such problems.

Terms: is a noun or pronoun partnered with a predicate verb. A Subject is a noun or pronoun partnered with a predicate verb. have traditionally been defined as words that show action or state of being. Verbs have traditionally been defined as words that show action or state of being. Determining singular or plural endings can be confusing because an –s ending on a noun indicates plural, whereas an –s on a verb indicates singular. NOTE: Determining singular or plural endings can be confusing because an –s ending on a noun indicates plural, whereas an –s on a verb indicates singular.

Verbs that show agreement Agreement in number occurs  with verbs used without auxiliaries in the Present Simple Tense and  with the following auxiliaries: am/is/are; was/were; do/does; has/have. Examples: (singular) Acid rain causes many troubles. (plural) Acid rains cause many troubles.

Verbs that do not show agreement Auxiliaries like will, would, can, could, shall, should, may, might, and must  do not change and  are always, whatever the subject, followed by the simple form of the verb. Examples: (singular) The river might freeze. (plural) The streams will probably freeze too.

Subjects with singular verbs Words like each, every, everyone, everybody, someone, somebody, something, anyone, anything, no one, nobody, nothing  require a single verb and, therefore, are often troublesome for second-language learners. Examples: (singular) Everybody is happy. (singular) Each student has to be in class on time.

Agreement with there in subject position When a sentence starts with There plus a form of be, the verb agrees with the head word of the phrase that follows the verb.  Therefore, first determine if the head word is singular or plural. Examples: (singular) There is one bottle on the table. (plural) There are a lot of people in the room.

Compound subjects  When a sentence has a compound subject (more than one subject), the verb must be plural in form.  When the subject is formed with either…or or neither…nor, the verb agrees with the phrase closest to it. Examples: (pl.) My aunt and my sisters visit me every year. (pl.) Either my aunt or my sisters visit me every year. (sg.) Neither my sisters nor my aunt visits me every year.

Agreement in relative clauses When you write a relative clause beginning with who, which, or that, look for its referent – the word that who, which, or that refers to.  The referent determines whether the verb should be singular or plural. Examples: (sg.) The journalist who wants to interview you works for a business magazine. works for a business magazine. (pl.) The journalists who want to interview you work for a business magazine. work for a business magazine.

Agreement with one of Attention! One of is followed by a plural noun and a singular verb, agreeing with the head of word one. Example: (sg.) One of her friends likes to swim.

Agreement with some, most, any, all, none Quantity words like some, most, any, all, and none are used in the following pattern:  a plural verb form with plural countable nouns,  a singular verb form with noncountable nouns. Examples: (pl.) Most of the students are fond of sports. (sg.) Most of furniture is very old.

Materials used: Sources: Raimes, Ann. Grammar Troublespots: An Editing Guide for Students, Cambridge University Press, 1998 Raimes, Ann. Grammar Troublespots: An Editing Guide for Students, Cambridge University Press, 1998Artwork: PowerPoint ClipArt PowerPoint ClipArt Click on return button to go back to the exercises. back to the exercises.