Subject Verb Agreements

Outlines

 What is subject and verb in the sentence?

 How to identify subject and verb in the sentence.
 What exactly is subject verb agreement?
 Basic rules surrounding it.

What is subject?

 Subject is Person, place, thing or idea that is doing or being something.

What is Verb?

 Verb is an action performed by the subject or state of being.

How to identify subject (To find it ask the sentence who is performing the action?)

Examples

 Ali plays football regularly. (it is Ali)

 He laughed.
 Nuur will return soon.
 The children are playing hide-and-seek in the house.

Exercise: Underline the subjects in the following sentences

1. Time flies.
2. We will try.
3. The Asha’s sons have returned.
4. Dead men tell no tales.
5. Our school cafeteria always smelled like stale cheese and dirty socks.
6. The children in the first row received badges.
7. The birds and the bees are flying in the trees.
8. My little dog and my old cat play hide-and-seek in the garage.
9. Could you carry some of these books?
10. [You] Go home now.

How to find the verb (What subject is performing?)

Examples

 Ali plays football regularly.

 She will run.
 The thief tried to run away.
Underline the verbs in the following sentences.

1. My mother makes delicious cakes.

2. Alice wants to go abroad.
3. Gautama works for an insurance company.
4. The boy solved the puzzle in a few minutes.
5. The wind blew fiercely.
6. The terrorists tried to blow up the bridge.
7. The girl cried for help.

What is the Subject-Verb Agreement?

For making a sentence grammatically correct, a Verb must agree with its Subject in Number.

Singular Subject Singular Verb

The general Rule
Plural Subject Plural Verb

Examples

 That monkey eats banana.

 This car goes fast.
 Those monkeys eat banana.
 These cars go fast.
 I read newspaper regularly.
 We read newspaper regularly.

There are some important Rules related to subject verb agreement.

Rule 1: Two singular subjects connected by ‘and’ require a plural verb.

Other examples

 He and I were playing.

 Liiban and Nuur are good teachers.

Exceptional Case

 Bread and butter is his only food.

  Time and tide waits for no man.

Rule 2: Two or more singular subjects joined by ‘or’ or ‘nor’ require singular verb.

 Neither food nor water was found there.

 Either the cat or mouse has been there.

 Neither the chairman nor the directors are present.

Rule 3: Subjects joined by ‘or’ or ‘nor’ are of different persons, the verb agrees with the nearer.

 Neither you nor he is to be blamed.

 Either you or I am mistaken.

Rule 4: Either, Neither Each, everyone, many take singular verb.

 Every one of the boys loves to ride the car.

 Many a man has done so.

Rule 5: nouns in plural form but singular in meaning takes singular verb.

 Mathematics is the branch of study in every school.

 The news is true.

Rule 6: Nouns in singular in form but plural in meaning take a plural verb.
  One dozen cost one thousand rupees.
 The couple are going out this week.

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