Subject-Verb Agreement

Subject-Verb Agreement NEC FACET Center

Remember this rule, • The subject and verb should always agree We ALWAYS agree I’m Sally Subject. I’m Vernon Verb.

And these 6 sub-rules! • 1. If a subject ends in an “s,” the verb will not. If a subject does not end in an “s,” the verb will. • 2. Even when words come in between the subject and verb, they should both agree. • 3. When joining two or more subjects with and, use a plural verb. • 4. When joining two or more subjects with neither/nor, either/or, or, and nor, use a verb that agrees with the nearer or nearest subject. • 5. Collective nouns (a group of individuals or things) use either singular or plural verbs depending upon the context. • 6. Even if a sentence is inverted, the subject should agree with the verb.

Definitions • Subject- • The word/s that name the topic of the sentence • The word/s that the sentence is about • Verb- • The word that states the action or state of the subject • Subject-Verb Agreement- • The appropriate pairing of subject and verb based on whether the subject and verb are plural or singular and whether the person is first, second, or third.

How to check S-V agreement • Identify the verb (action or state of being word) • Identify the subject (who or what the sentence is about) • Check whether the subject is plural or singular or special. Then check whether is it first, second, or third person. • Based on your findings about the subject, make sure the verb fits.

Identifying the Verb • Ask which word shows action or relationship to the verb. • The dog jumps over the fence. • Stephanie and Bethany have names that rhyme. • Everybody came to JoAnn’s party. • Did you see the shirt she wore? • That house is so dilapidated.

Conjugating a verb • For present tense, generally add an –s or –es for third person singular. Otherwise, add nothing to the verb.

Special verbs

Identifying the Subject • Ask who or what the sentence is about. • The dog jumps over the fence. • Stephanie and Bethany have names that rhyme. • Everybody came to JoAnn’s party. • Did you see the shirt she wore? • That house is so dilapidated.

Rule # 1 • 1. If a subject ends in an “s,” the verb will not. If a subject does not end in an “s,” the verb will. I’m Sally Subject, and I’m single. Hi Sally. I’m Vernon Verb, and I am single. If I’m single, Vernon Verb better be too.

Rule #1: Agreement • Singular subjects need singular verbs. • Singular subjects include the following: • I, you, he, she, it, dog, house, etc. • I eat. You eat. She eats. • You have ears. She has ears. The dog has ears. • Plural subjects need plural verbs. • Plural subjects include the following: • We, they, dogs, houses, etc. • We eat. They eat. The dogs eat. • We have ears. They have ears. The houses do not have ears.

Rule #1Practice: Singular and Plural Subjects • My hair suffer/suffers from the terrible humidity. • Their hairstyles look/looks the same. • Jodi is/are my closest confidant. • The FACET Center is/are my favorite place to be. • Fast food employees smile/smiles when they see me coming.

Rule #1(some exceptions)Special Subjects: words that end in -s • Some words that end in –s are singular. • The news sometimes makes my head hurt. • Mathematics is my favorite subject. • Some words that end in –s are plural because they have more than one part. • The scissors cut through paper easily. • The pants are brand-spanking-new.

Rule #1 (some exceptions)Special Subjects: indefinite pronouns • Indefinite pronouns do not refer to a specific person or item. • Ex. Everyone, anyone, each, either, everybody, someone, nothing, one, nobody, neither, anything • Always singular • Anybody, anyone, anything, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything, neither, nobody, no one, none, nothing, one, somebody, someone, something • Always plural • Both, few, many, several • Sometimes singular, sometimes plural • Some, any, all, most

Rule #2 • 2. Even when words come in between the subject and verb, they should both agree. Please don’t separate us! But if you do, we’ll still agree.

Rule #2Separated subject and verb • The subject and verb should always agree, no matter how many words are separating them! • Billy, the master carpenter, charges exorbitant prices. • Billy is the subject. “Charges” agrees with “Billy.” • Billy, along with all of his co-workers, charges exorbitant prices. • Billy is still the subject. “Charges” agrees with “Billy.” • Did you know that Billy, my best friend ever of all of my carpenter friends, doesn’t charge me at all? • Billy is still the subject. “Doesn’t” agrees with “Billy.”

Rule #3 • When joining two or more subjects with and, use a plural verb. Hey Sally! Meet my sister, Stephanie Subject.

Rule #3Compound Subjects • A compound subject occurs when two or more subjects are grouped using a conjunction (such as and, nor, or). • Usually compound subjects are plural. • Tom and Sally eat food. • Neither the horse nor the mule want to graze on muggy days.

Rule #3Compound Subjects Cont. • Compound subjects are singular when • they refer to the same idea/entity • My most stable friend and my only means to independence is my car. • *Friend and means to independence are both referring to the car. • NOT My most stable friend and my only means to independence are my car. • they are considered one unit • they are preceded by “each” or “every” • Each house, trailer, and apartment serves as someone’s home. • NOT Each house, trailer, and apartment serve as someone’s home.

Rule #4 • When joining two or more subjects with neither/nor, either/or, or,and nor, use a verb that agrees with the nearer or nearest subject. No, Stephanie. Vernon and I agree. He’s closer to me. But Vernon… Either Sally or Stephanie will agree with Vernon, whoever’s closest.

Rule #4Examples: Neither, nor, either, or • Neither the counselor nor the parents know what to do with Billy Bob. • know agrees with parents, not counselor • The receptionist or the tutors try to help you. • Try agrees with tutors, not receptionist • Either the dogs or the cat defend the house when the humans are away. • Defend agrees with cat, not dog

Rule #5 • Collective nouns (a group of individuals or things) use either singular or plural verbs depending upon the context.

Rule #5Special Subjects: collective nouns • Collective nouns refer to a group. • Ex. team, audience, staff, herd, class, majority • Generally, collective nouns are singular. • Ex. The team wins. • Ex. The class cheers when the teacher announces no homework. • Collective nouns may be plural when referring to its members as individuals. • The staff were complaining about the influx of paperwork. • *To clarify the sentence, you may add a modifier.

Rule #6 • Even if a sentence is inverted, the subject should agree with the verb.

Rule #6Subjects after the verb • When the subject follows the verb, the two must still agree. • There is an incredible amount of food under my bed. • is agrees with amount • There are many food items under my bed. • are agrees with food items • Waiting on the Dr. Phil’s desk to be graded was a stack of papers ten feet high. • was agrees with stack • Waiting on Dr. Phil’s desk to be graded were papers stacked ten feet high. • were agrees with papers

Practice! • The dogs howl/howls at night. • The desk stay/stays messy, despite how much we hope it will clean itself. • The students who always wear sunglasses in class smell/smells like sunscreen today. • Melissa and Joan love/loves watching Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. • The blank worksheets and the teacher’s edition remain/remains in my bag at all times.

More Practice! • Neither the math tutor nor the English tutors want/wants to play in the puddle today. • Either the English tutors or the math tutor play/plays hopscotch on the weekends. • The team win/wins every game. • The family speak/speaks in turn as each name is called. • “Open the door,” say/says Timmy every time he comes near an automatic door. • Off fly/flies the papers as the door swooshes open.

Just remember, Sally and Vernon always agree. Bye, Vernon! See you later, Sally!

Subject-Verb Agreement