GENERAL PAPER

Use of English: Subject – Verb Agreement

Some clues (or rules) when checking your subject-verb agreement

a. Subjects joined by and are usually plural.

b. If one subject is singular and one is plural, the verb agrees with the nearer subject.

c. Make the subject and verb agree when words intervene between them.

d. Singular subjects joined by or, either. . . or, neither. . . nor take a singular verb.

e. The grammatical number of the subject does not change with the addition of expressions
beginning with such words as the following: accompanied by, along with, as well as, in addition
to, including, no less than, not to mention, together with.

f. When used as subjects, such words as each, either, one, everybody, and anyone regularly
take singular verbs.

g. Do not let inverted word order cause you to make a mistake in agreement.

h. The verb also agrees with the nearer subject in person.

i. Collective nouns take a plural verb when they refer to individuals or parts of the group.

j. Collective nouns take a singular verb when they refer to the group as a unit.

k. Every or each preceding singular subjects joined by and calls for a singular verb.

This resource comes from Erlyn Baack at http://eslbee.com

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 Subject – Verb Agreement
Activity

Task #1: Circle the correct verb in the following sentences. If you have a doubt about the correct
verb, refer to the clues on the following page.

Task #2: Look at the clues / rules above and match them with the sentences from the previous
exercise by writing the appropriate letter next to the relevant sentence.

1. The rhythm of the pounding waves is / are calming.

2. All of the dogs in the neighborhood were / was barking.

3. My friends and my mother like / likes each other.

4. The team and the band was / were on the field.

5. Building a good marriage and building a good log fire is / are similar in many ways.

6. John or Doris write / writes to us regularly.

7. Neither Carol nor Ted is / are excluded from the meeting.

8. Either Patty or Tom was / were asked to lead the meeting.

9. Neither the basket nor the apples was / were expensive.

10. Neither the apples nor the basket was / were expensive.

11. Either Maria or you was / were late for class.

12. Either you or Maria was / were late for class.

13. Hardest hit by the high temperatures and the drought was / were the farmers.

14. Neither of them like / likes going to the show.

15. Each of them has / have a good seat.

16. Everybody in the class has / have tickets.

17. Every silver knife, fork, and spoon has / have to be counted.

18. Each cat and each dog has / have its own toy.

19. The committee is / are meeting today.

20. Ten million gallons of oil is / are a lot of oil.

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21. The jury vote / votes today.

22. The number is / are very small.

23. A number of students was / were absent.

24. Ten million gallons of oil was / were spilled.

25. The majority of us is / are in favour.

[25 x 2marks = ]