Subject-Verb Agreement -- portions

1. Subject-Verb Agreement -- portions • With words that indicate portions—percent, fraction, part, majority, some, all, none, remainder, and so forth —look at the noun in your of phrase (object of the preposition) to determine whether to use a singular or plural verb. If the object of the preposition is singular, use a singular verb. If the object of the preposition is plural, use a plural verb. • Examples: • Fifty percent of the piehas disappeared. • “Pie” is the object of the preposition “of.” • Fifty percent of the pieshave disappeared. • Pies is the object of the preposition “of.” • One-third of the cityis unemployed. • One-third of the peopleare unemployed. • NOTE: Hyphenate all spelled-out fractions.

2. Subject-Verb Agreement -- portions • All of the pie _____ gone. • All of the pies _____ gone. • Some of the pie _____ missing. • Some of the pies _____ missing. • One-third of the garbage _____ picked up. • One-third of the sentences _____ punctuated correctly. • Of all her books, none _____ sold as well as the first one is are is are is are have

3. Subject-Verb Agreement – portions Practice • Write three pair of sentences using the same beginning but yielding verbs of different plurality • EX: • Most of the puppies are gassy. • Most of the puppy is brown.

4. Subject-Verb Agreement – singular indefinite pronouns • The words each, each one, every one, either, neither, everyone, everybody, anybody, anyone, nobody, somebody, someone, and no one are singular and require a singular verb. • Ex: • Each of these hot dogs is juicy. • Everybodyknows Mr. Jones. • Neither of them is available to speak right now. • Either of us is capable of doing the job.

5. Subject-Verb Agreement – singular indefinite pronouns • Everyone in the hallway walks slowly (to walk) • Everyone in the hallway _____ slowly (to walk) • Neither of the students ________ his or her homework (to forget) • Neither of the students forgets his or her homework (to forget) • Each of the crocodiles ______ fake tears (to cry) • Each of the crocodiles cries fake tears (to cry)

6. Subject-Verb Agreement – singular indefinite pronouns • Write five sentences using the indefinite pronouns and present tense verbs.

7. S/V Agreement – Intervening Phrases • 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. • EX: • 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.

8. S/V Agreement – Intervening Phrases The doctors The doctors at the local hospital race • __________ to find a cure for the deadly infection that has appeared among the region’s population. (To race) • , __________ the hospital demanding immediate treatment. (To storm) • , __________ full to bursting with corpses. (To be) • __________ up his inventory to help people during the time of crisis. (To open) who are scared beyond rational thought, The locals The locals storm which is not designed to handle this many deaths at once, The county morgue The county morgue is The owner The owner of the local chain of grocery stores opens

9. S/V Agreement – Intervening Phrases • Practice: Write five sentences with phrases that intervene between the subject and the verb. The sentences should be written in PRESENT tense.

10. Subject/verb Agreement -- And • When the subject of a sentence is composed of two or more nouns or pronouns connected by “and,” use a plural verb. • Sheandher coware at the fair.

11. Subject/verb Agreement -- And hate • 1. He and I _________ swimming. (To hate) • 2. She and he __________ in the park in the afternoons. (To walk) • 3. John and his father __________ to get a puppy for Christmas. (To want) • 4. Umkulthoum and her sister __________ kittens. (To kill) • 5. Umkulthoum and her sister __________ sociopaths. (To be) walk want kill are

12. Subject/verb Agreement – Or/Nor • When a compound subject contains nouns or pronouns joined by “or” or “nor,” the verb should agree with the part of the subject that is nearer the verb. • The boyorhis friendsrun every day. • His friendsorthe boyruns every day.

13. Subject/verb Agreement – “or/nor” hates • Either you or he _________ swimming. (To hate) • Neither she nor we __________ in the park in the afternoons. (To walk) • John or his father __________ to get a puppy for Christmas. (To want) • Umkulthoum or her sisters __________ kittens. (To kill) • Umkulthoum or her sister __________ sociopathic. (To be) walk wants kill is

14. Subject/verb Agreement – “And/Or/Nor” Practice • Write three (present tense) sentence pairs (one wrong version, one correct version) using “and” to join subjects of a sentence. • Write three (present tense) sentence pairs (one wrong version, one correct version) using “or” or “nor” to join subjects of a sentence.

15. Subject/Verb Agreement – There • 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 aremany questions. • There isa question.

16. Subject/Verb Agreement – There is/was • There ______ an explosion at the plant. (To be) • There _______ many injuries as a result. (To be) • There ______ no reason for you to be hired. (To exist) • There ______ several varieties of dog. (To exist) are/were exists exist

17. Subject/Verb Agreement – There • Write three (present tense) sentence pairs (one wrong version, one correct version) beginning with the word “there.”