When two or more singular subjects are connected by

and, the verb is plural

T Singular An Singula
Plural Verb
w Noun d r Noun
o Gold silver are precious
/ metals.
M Fire and water do not agree
or Knowledge wisdom have oft-times
e no connection.

He I were playing
 O Singul Singul
n ar And ar Singular Verb
e Noun Noun
Id Time tide waits for no man.
e The carriage is at the door.
a horse
/ Bread butter is his only food.
S Honour glory is his reward.
a
m The rise fall is, due to lunar
e influence.
P My friend benefact has come.
er or
Ifstwo singular
The nouns referpoet is dead.
to the same person, the
o novelist
verb must be singular in number
When two singular subjects preceded by each or
every are connected by and, the verb should be
singular.

Every boy and every girl was ready.

Each man and each woman has a vote
T Either or
w Singular
/ Noun / Noun
o Verb
Neither nor
/
Our or our islargelydueto
M happiness sorrow ourownactions.
o
Either thecat thedog hasbeenhere.
r
e Neither food water wastobefound
there.

n
Neither praise blame seemstoaffect
o
him.
r
Two or more singular subjects connected by or, nor,
eitheror or neithernor take a singular verb.
When subjects joined by or or nor are of different
numbers, the verb must be plural and the plural
subject should be placed close to the verb.

Either or Different Depends

/ Noun / Number
/person nearer
Neither nor
Neither the o the arepresent.
Chairman r directors
Either he
n I am
mistaken.
o
Neither you he is to blame.
r
Neither my I am to
friend blame.
 Noun Verb
has
Silver, cotton fallen in
price.
as well as, / with, its
The ship, was lost.
along with, / crew,
together with, / his
was
The criminal and not, / but, followe
arrested
besides, /except, rs
rather than, /
accompanied by,
like, / unlike,
no less than, /
When a singular nounnothing but / is connected with another noun
or pronoun his
or pronoun by using words like with,
In addition is together
to, as well as, besides, found
He brother
with, no less than and other similar expressions, the verbguilty
is
singular. s
 are two reasons for this
is no reason for this.
There
are two apples
/
Here are fourhurdlesto jump.
is a highhurdleto
jump.
are thekeys.
Some nouns which are plural in form, but
singular in meaning, take a singular verb ; as,

Thenewsistrue.
Politicswaswithhimthebusinessofhislife.
Thewagesofsinisdeath.
Mathematicsisabranchofstudyineveryschool.

:Measles, Mumps, Rickets, Shingles etc.

:Billiards, Darts, Draughts, etc.
:The United States, The West Indies etc.
:The Arabian Nights, Three Muskeeters, etc.
:Physics, Economics, Civics, Statistics, Politics,
Linguistics.
When we talk about amounts and quantities
we usually use singular determiners, verbs
and pronouns, even if the noun is plural.
Fifty dollars is too much to lose.
Twenty miles is a long way to walk.
Where is that ten pounds you borrowed from
me?

one of are usually followed by a plural noun

and a singular verb

One of my friends is going to Zambia

 A collective noun takes a singular verb
when the noun is considered as a single unit.
The class is ready.

A collective noun takes a plural verb when the

components of the noun are considered individually.

The committee have been

arguing over this issue
Collective nouns, such as family, majority, audience,
and committee, are singular when they act in a collective
fashion or represent one group

army clergy government

audience council jury
band (musical) crowd majority
board department minority
(political)
cabinet enemy public
(political)
choir group school
class herd senate
committee faculty society
company family
corporation team
A. The following pronouns are always singular:

anyone everything something

anybody whatever no one
anything whoever/whom nobody
ever
everyone someone nothing
everybody somebody
B. The following pronouns are always plural:
both many several
few others

C. The following indefinite pronouns could be either

singular or plural depending on context:
some none most
any all
Some of the bananas are brown.
Some of the banana is brown.
The phrase the number of requires a singular verb. The
number refers to a specific but unspecified number, and
takes a singular verb.
The number of frogs in the pond is twice the
number of fish.

The phrase a number of requires a plural verb.

A number of is an idiom that simply means several and
takes a plural verb
.

A number of protestors are gathering outside the

capitol building today.
Pronouns stand in for nouns in a
sentence.When replacing any noun the
pronoun must match the noun it is replacing,
or theantecedent
Subject / Object Pronouns Possessives
Subject Object Adjective Pronoun
I me my mine
you you your yours
he him his his
she her her hers
it it its its
we us our ours
they them their theirs
everyone everyone's everyone's
everyone