Subject –Verb AGREEMENT

1. Subject –Verb AGREEMENT The flowers is blooming beautifully! (What’s wrong with this sentence?) “Flowers” is the subject, so the verb should be “are”, not “is”.

2. Subject-Verb Agreement Although this lesson is often taught in terms of singular and plural forms, we are approaching this subject differently. Think of agreement as a system of balance… a system of positives and negatives. Here are some rules of Agreement that you do not want to forget. Rule 1: If the noun subject does not end with an “s”, the verb must end with an “s”. The dogbarks at night. S V Rule 2: If the noun subject ends with an “s”, the verb does not need an “s” ending. The dogsbark at night. S V Rule 3: If two or more noun subjects are joined by “or or nor” the verb must agree with the subject closest to it. The dog nor the catsare hungry VS The dogs nor the catis hungry Rule 4: If the subjects are joined by “and”, the verb will never end with an “s”. The dog and the catmake lots of noise. The dogs and the catmakelots of noise. The dogs and the catsmake lots of noise.

3. *Be aware that irregular noun plurals such as sheep, children, mice, etc. always use a verb without and “s” ending. Simply imagine that these words end with an “s”! • Rule 5: If the subject of a sentence is a singular indefinite pronoun, the verb must end with an “s”. • Examples of these pronouns are as follows: either, neither, one, someone, somebody, everybody, anybody, everyone, each, every, etc. • Everybodyplays soccer at lunchtime. • S V • Eachwants to attend the Great America outing in August. • S V • Neithercomes to the class reunions. • S V • ALERT!!! • *Be careful to identify prepositional phrases or other clauses present because they can separate the subject from the verb. Get them out of the way because they can easily cause confusion. If you are not careful, you will think the noun in the prepositional phrase is the subject and you will make the verb agree with it. • Everybody (in each of the schools) pays for his/her tickets months in advance. • The paper (that won first prize) was later published as a book. • The teachers (inside the auditorium) (who came to fight the new contract) seem • to have changed their minds.

4. Rule 6:If the subject of a sentence is a plural indefinite pronoun, the • verb should not end with an “s”. These are called flexible indefi- • nite pronouns. • Examples of these pronouns are as follows: some, half, part, most, etc. • Someappear to be missing. • Mostcome with all of the accessories. • ALERT!!! • *Be aware that when these flexible indefinite pronouns are followed by a prepositional phrase, they loose their ability to determine what the verb should be. In such cases, the noun inside the the prepositional phrase following the pronoun determines the verb. • Some (of the apples)appear to be missing. • Some (of the apple)appears to be missing. • Most (of the outfits) come with all of the accessories. • Most (of the outfit) comes with all of the accessories.

5. Remember that you must take your time to proofread whatever you write; otherwise, you will make inevitable errors that could have easily been avoided. Ensuring that you have agreement in your writing is not hard, it’s merely a matter of making the decision to apply the valuable lessons that you have learned! Examples of Subject-Verb Agreement Incorrect: The children is well behaved. Correct: The children are well behaved. Incorrect: Papers found inside the container was thrown in the recycling bin. Correct: Papers found inside the container were thrown in the recycling bin. Incorrect: Sheila, Rob and Roshanda passes out papers during morning routes. Correct: Sheila, Rob and Roshandapass out papers during morning routes. Incorrect: Neither the salespeople nor the manager try to help. Correct: Neither the salespeople nor the manager tries to help.