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A subject must agree in number with its verb. If the subject of a sentence is singular, its verb must be singular. If a subject is plural, its verb must also be plural. This is called subject-verb agreement.
Example: The parrot (singular) whistles (singular) folk songs.
The parrots (plural) whistle (plural) folk songs. The singular and plural forms of verbs rarely cause problems. The number of a word refers to whatever the word is, singular or plural. When a word refers to one thing, it is singular. When it refers to more than one thing, it is plural. The singular and plural forms of verbs rarely cause problems.
Verb forms under singular and plural. I dig. We dig. You dig. We dig. He, she, it digs. They dig. Except for he, the only difference between singular and plural verbs in the third person present, which always ends in-s.
The verb “be” does not follow the usual pattern. In the following list, notice that “be” has special forms in both the present and past tenses in all three persons.
Forms of “be”, under present tense and past tense. First Person: I am, we are, I was, we were. Second Person: You are, you are, you were, we were. Third person he, she, it is, they are, he she, it was, they were.
Phrases between a subject and verb. Do not be fooled by other nouns in a sentence. Be sure that the verb agrees with the subject. You will have a problem with subject-verb agreement if you cannot identify the subject in a sentence. To find the subject, first find the verb and then ask who? Or what? before it. Watch out when a prepositional phrase appears between the subject and verb. Dot be misled by the noun that appears in the phrase. Make the verb agree in number with the subject. The tree with dark purple leaves is a Zimbabwean maple. (Tree not leaves is the subject)
The paintings on the wall are by local students. (Paintings, not wall is the subject.) Commonly used prepositions include, about, above, across, after, as, at, before, between, by, during, for, from, in, inside, into, near, of, off, on, over, since, through, to, until, up, upon, with. Compound prepositions include according to, along with, because of, due to, in addition to, in front of, instead of, next to, on top, and out of. To decide, which word is the subject, say the sentence without the phrase. If you have chosen the correct word as the subject, the sentence will still make without the phrase.
Indefinite pronouns as subjects: Use a singular verb with a singular indefinite pronoun and a plural verb with a plural indefinite pronoun. Indefinite pronouns do not refer to a definite person or a thing. Some indefinite pronouns are singular, some are plural, and some can be either.
Following is a list of indefinite pronouns under singular and plural. Singular — another, anybody, anyone, anything, either, everybody, everyone, everything, neither, nobody, no one, one, someone, something each, somebody.
Plural: both, few, many, several. Singular or plural: all, any, most, none, some. Memory trick: One way to remember, which indefinite pronouns are singular is to look at the endings. Many of the singular words have endings that have that, refer to one thing: -other, -one, -body, or-thing. Also many of the singular pronouns are compound (anything, someone): none of the plural pronouns are compound. For the indefinite pronouns that are always singular or plural, the correct verb choice will often be the one that sounds right to you.
Incorrect: Everyone have a map of the race course. Correct: Everyone has a map of the race course. (Everyone is singular; it takes a singular verb, has. Incorrect: Both of the cats catches mice. Correct: Both of the cats catch mice. (Both is plural, it takes a plural verb, catch).
The indefinite pronouns that are either singular or plural cause the greatest number of agreement problems. Treat the pronoun as singular if it refers to one thing. If the pronoun refers to several things, treat it as plural.
Singular: All of the paper was recycled. (All refers to one quantity or paper). Plural: All of the paper cups were crushed. (All refers to several paper cups.
Compound Subjects: Use a plural verb with most compound subjects joined “by” and use a verb that agrees with the subject nearer the verb when the words in a compound subject are joined by or nor. A compound subject is two or more subjects used with the same verb.
Most compound subjects that contain the word “and” are plural and take a plural verb. My sister and brother are twins. The windows and doors need locks.
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