English Support Skills
The happy ending: subject/verb agreement
Subjects and verbs are definitely the most important participants in a sentence. Remember, the subject is the actor or acting concept in a sentence, and the verb does all the work and tells us what the subject is doing. They are always together. Therefore, it is very important that these two agree.
No matter what happens in their private life, they have to follow the rule that:
A singular subject takes a singular verb.
and
A plural subject takes a plural verb.
How do you recognise whether a subject or a verb is singular (one) or plural (more than one)?
One of the clues, apart from common sense, is in the "s".
If a verb or the auxiliary verbs ends with "s", it is singular.
Auxiliary verbs are words such as: has, is, was.
If a subject ends with "s", it is generally plural.
If that confuses you, the singular verb follows the pronouns: he, she, it.
Here is an example that shows the singular subject and its corresponding verbform:
Singular subject and verb:
| Present tense | Present Perfect | Past tense form of "to be" |
|---|---|---|
| She loves He loves It loves |
She has loved He has loved It has loved |
She was pretty He was pretty It was pretty |
The plural verb follows the pronouns: they, we, you
Plural subject and verb
| Present tense | Present Perfect | Past tense form of "to be" |
|---|---|---|
| They love We love |
They have loved We have loved |
They were pretty We were pretty |
Most of the time, subject-verb agreement is fairly easy. However, there are a few situations when this can be confusing.
Here are some rules:
1. When the subject consists of two or more nouns or pronouns and is connected by "and", you need to use a plural verb.
Examples:
- The mice and Cinderella are busy.
- Cinderella and the mice are doing a lot of work.
- Petunia and John are sewing the dress.
2. When the subject consists of two singular nouns and is connected by either, or, neither, nor, use a singular verb.
Examples:
- Petunia or John have been doing the shopping.
- Either the stepsister or Cinderella is going to marry the prince.
- Neither one sister nor the other one is very nice.
3. When a compound subject is mixed with one singular and one plural noun and connected with neither, nor, either or, the verb agrees with the subject nearer to it.
Examples:
- Either the pumpkin or the mice are getting the main role in the tale.
- Either the mice or the pumpkin is getting the main role in the tale.
- Either the prince or the parents are having a nervous breakdown.
- Either the parents or the prince is having a nervous breakdown.
4. Don't be confused by plural or singular words in a phrase that comes between the subject and the verb.
Examples:
- The main problem of the wicked stepsisters is the glass slipper.
- An important character, apart from the mice, is the pumpkin.
- The fairy godmother, with her passion for shoes, is in the right place at the right time.
- The stepsisters, who are not really related to Cinderella, have smelly feet.
- The pumpkin, who has serious adjustment problems, has suddenly gained status.
- The dog, after having seen what happened to the mice, is scared of fairy godmothers.
5. Some pronouns point back to another pronoun or noun used earlier. The word to which the pronoun refers is called the antecedent. The personal pronoun must agree with its antecedent in person, gender and number.
Examples:
- The fairy godmother waves her wand frantically.
- The mice finally offer their help to Cinderella.
- The prince drives everybody crazy with his search for the owner of the glass slipper.
- The pumpkin sees his psychologist almost every day.
6. The pronouns each, everyone, everybody, anyone, anybody, someone, and somebody are singular. Don't get confused by what follows after them.
Examples:
- Each of the stepsisters was annoying in her own way.
- Everyone of the mice was bragging about his/her adventure.
- Anybody who has a glass slipper is invited to see the prince.
- The prince is looking for somebody who has a lot of blisters on her feet.