RULES OF SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT

SINGULAR VERBS PLURAL VERBS

Am
Is Are
Was Were
Has Have
Does Do
- S form - Base form

RULE 1: Intervening Expressions do not affect the number of the verb.

Example:

RULE 2: Compound subject joined by ‘and’ take the plural verb.

Example:

RULE 3: Compound subjects connected by ‘and’ but preceded by ‘each’, ‘every’, or ‘no’
require a singular verb.
Example:
 Each boy and girl was given a medal.
 Every HRDM and Marketing student is required to join the seminar.
 Each rose and bougainvillea has its thorn.
Each and Every are adjective (distributive)

RULE 4: When a compound subject is joined by ‘or’ or ‘nor’ the verb agrees with the
nearer subject.
Examples:
 Either Elisa or her friends are coming.
 Either his friends or Carlo is coming.
 Neither the president nor her assistant has replied to the accusation.
 Either you or your friend needs to tell me what happened.
Either-Or and Neither- nor are conjunctions
RULE 5: When the special pronoun “I” is one of the two subjects connected by either/or
or neither/nor, put it second and follow it with the singular verb “am”.
Examples:
 Neither she nor I am going to the festival.
 Either him or I am in charge of the program.
 Neither she nor I am going to the acquaintance party.

RULE 6: When “either” and “neither” are subjects, they always take singular verbs.
Examples:
 Neither of them is available to speak right now.
 Either of us is capable of doing the job.
 Neither of my best friends was around in my birthday.
 Neither of them were interested in going to university.

RULE 7: A collective noun takes a singular verb if the idea expressed by the subject is
thought of as a unit; it takes a plural verb when the idea refers to separate individuals.
Examples:
 The class has prepared a program. (Meaning to say that the whole class
prepared the program.)
 The class have given different suggestions. (Meaning that the “class” is not taken
as a whole but it refers to the members of the class, separately or individually.)
 The ministry has prepared a presentation.
 The committee have given different tasks to do.

RULE 8: The Indefinite Pronouns in Group A require singular verb while indefinite
pronouns in Group B use plural verb
A B
anyone; no one most
anybody; nobody all
everyone; everybody many
someone; somebody a few

Examples:
 Everybody is welcome.
 Most are here already.
  Most of them are beautiful.
 Everybody is very talented.
 Someone is staring at you.

RULE 9: Some nouns that are plural in form but singular in meaning take singular
verbs.

Example:
 The Philippines is a small country in the Pacific.
 United States is a rich country.
*Phlippines and United States are proper noun.

RULE 10: Some nouns are considered plural and require plural verbs.
Plural in Form but Singular in meaning Plural in Form and require Plural verbs
News, measles, appendicitis, aerobics, tongs, pants, trousers, suspenders,
mathematics, economics, mumps, civics, ashes, clothes, shorts, pliers, scissors
molasses
Examples:
 The interesting news was flashed on the television.
 Mathematics is a challenging subject.
 Her clothes are so nice.
 The scissors are very sharp.
RULE 11: Measurements of length, time, distance and weight take a singular verb
Examples:
 Five meters is all I need for the uniform.
 Two hours is required to finish the game.
 Five hours is all we need in the class.
 Ten meters is required for my dress.
RULE 12: When the subject indicates a fraction, percent, part, majority, some, none,
remainder, etc. the verb agrees with the noun in the ‘of the phrase’.
Examples:
 [One-third of the people] are unemployed.
 [Of all her books, none] have sold as well as the first one.
 [Sixty percent of the grades] is required for the midterm.

RULE 13: The verb that follows ‘there’ and ‘here’ is singular when the subject that
follows the verb is singular; it is plural when the subject is plural.
Examples:
 There is a change in the weather
 There are changes in the program.
 Here are the persons that can sing.
 There are changes in the facilities.

RULE 14: Sometimes the pronouns ”who”, “that”, and ”which’ are the subjects of the
verb in the middle of the sentence. They become singular or plural according to the
noun before them.
Examples:
 Faisal is the scientist who writes the reports.
 He is one of the men who do the work.

RULE 15: The pronoun ‘you’ always takes a plural verb.

Examples:
 You are so beautiful.
 You are not alone.