(adapted from: http://owl.english.purdue)
This lesson gives you several guidelines to help your subjects and verbs agree.
1. When the subject of a sentence is composed of two or more nouns or pronouns
connected by and, use a plural verb.
English and french are taught at IF-RN.
2. When two or more singular nouns or pronouns
are connected by or or nor, use a singular
verb.
The cell phone or the pen-drive is in the drawer.
3. When a compound subject contains both a singular
and a plural noun or pronoun joined by or or nor,
the verb should agree with the part of the subject that is nearer the verb.
The boy or his friends run every day.
His friends or the boy runs every day.
4. “Doesn't” is a contraction of
“does not” and should be used only with a singular subject. “Don't”
is a contraction of “do not” and should be used only with a plural
subject. The exception to this rule appears in the case of the first person
and second person pronouns I and you. With these pronouns, the contraction “don't”
should be used.
He doesn't like it.
They don't like it.
5. Do not be misled by a phrase that comes between
the subject and the verb. The verb agrees with the subject, not with a noun
or pronoun in the phrase.
One of the boxes is open
The people who listen to that music are few.
The team captain, as well as his players, is anxious.
The book, including all the chapters in the first section, is boring.
The woman with all the dogs walks down my street.
6. The words each, each one, either,
neither, everyone, everybody, anybody, anyone, nobody, somebody, someone,
and no one are singular and require a singular verb.
Each of these hot dogs is juicy.
Everybody knows Mr. Jones.
Either is correct.
7. Nouns such as civics, mathematics,
dollars, measles, and news require singular verbs.
The news is on at six.
Note: the word dollars is a special case.
When talking about an amount of money, it requires a singular verb, but when
referring to the dollars themselves, a plural verb is required.
Five dollars is a lot of money.
Dollars are often used instead of rubles in Russia.
8. Nouns such as scissors, tweezers,
trousers, and shears require plural verbs. (There are two parts to
these things.)
These scissors are dull. Those trousers are made of wool.
9. In sentences beginning with there
is or there are, the subject follows the verb. Since
there is not the subject, the verb agrees with what follows.
There are many questions.
There is a question.
10. Collective nouns are words that imply more
than one person but that are considered singular and take a singular verb, such
as: group, team, committee, class, and family.
The team runs during practice.
The committee decides how to proceed.
The family has a long history.
My family has never been able to agree.
11. Expressions such as with,
together with, including, accompanied by,
in addition to, or as well do not change the
number of the subject. If the subject is singular, the verb is too.
The President, accompanied by his wife, is travelling
to India. All of the books, including yours, are in that box.
12. Internet Quiz
Go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/grammar/sentencebasics/verbsubjectagreement/quiz.shtml and do the quiz, levels A to C.
In this exercise, we focus on agreement of subject and verb. Correct the error in each sentence by typing in the correction. There is ONLY ONE error in each sentence.
01. Are an increase in the number of ISP providers a bad thing
for the consumer?
02. Everybody know that teenagers enjoy playing computer games.
03. If the university's results does not improve, it can expect to receive a
smaller grant for the next academic year.
04. Most students in the PolyU graduates and gain employment
in Hong Kong. A small percentage then move on to an international career.
05. It is a well known fact that many schools places great emphasis
on accuracy in grammar sometimes at the expense of inventiveness.
06. There is many positive things that might come out of the
merger between the two companies.
07. A recent survey shows that IT companies is not happy with
current standards of their employees' ability to innovate.
08. Which browser does users prefer, Internet Explorer or Netscape?
09. Information in 'helpfiles' are worth checking as a first
step if you have a problem with an application such as MS Word.
10. He think that he has the answer to all the world's problems,
but I'm not so sure.
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