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Subject/Verb Agreement

 

A verb must agree with its subject in number:

  • a singular verb belongs with a singular subject
  • a plural verb must have a plural subject

Usually, this means that any subject ending with 's' (i.e. plural subject) takes a verb which does not end in 's' (i.e. plural verb), and visa versa.

Examples: subjects are red and verbs are blue:

  • The student asks.
  • A vacation costs.
  • The students ask.
  • Vacations cost.

Even when the subject and verb are not directly beside one another, they must agree in number. ONLY THE SUBJECT determines the number of the verb!

Examples:

  • The students taking this course learn the principles of algebra.
  • The river and the lake contain fish. (when two subjects are joined by and, they take a plural verb)
  • The risk of infection is great.
  • The sergeant, along with his platoon members, is responsible. (Although "members" is plural, sergeant is the subject of the sentence, and so determines the number of the verb.

Questions can be confusing because they often place the subject AFTER the verb. However, the number of the verb is still determined by the subject.

Examples:

  • What is your reason?
  • What are your reasons?

Indefinite Pronouns and Collective Nouns are special subjects which need more explanation.

Indefinite Pronouns take singular verbs.

The indefinite pronouns are: Each, everyone, everybody, someone, somebody, anyone, anything, something, nothing, either, neither

Collective nouns can take either a singular or plural verb depending on the situation.

When a collective noun (like jury or team) indicates the action of the group as a unit, it is singular. When a collective noun indicates actions of the individual members of the group, it is plural.

Examples:

  • The team is winning the game. (The team is working as a single unit, so singular.)
  • The team are not working together tonight. (The team members work individually, so plural.)

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