Concord

(Subject - Verb
Agreement)

~Asya Fadzil
~Amir Fakhri
~Ira Hasan
~Thila
 A Singular Subject takes a Singular Verb. A
Plural subject takes a Plural Verb.

• E.g. He works very hard. (Singular Verb)

• They work very hard. (Plural Verb)

 When Two subjects are
joined by ‘and’ The Verb is
plural.

• E.g. Tom and his brother work hard.

• His Wife and children are in Madras.
 When two Singular Subjects are joined by ‘or’,
‘either…or’, ‘Neither…nor’ the subject is
Singular.
When two plural subjects are joined by ‘or’ ,
‘Neither…nor',' either…or’ the subject is plural.

• Singular Subjects • Plural Subjects

• E.g. John or his • Cows or Oxen are grazing in
brother goes home every the field.
week. • Either Oranges or apples
• Either he or his wife has are required.
to help me. • Neither the boys nor the
• Neither the boy nor his girls are reading now.
sister has passed.
 When a singular subject and a plural subject
are joined by ‘or’ , ‘Either…or’ , ‘neither…nor’
the verb agrees with the second subject or
subject nearer to the verb.

• E.g. John or his brothers go home every week.

• Either the boys or their father has come.

When two subjects are joined by ‘as well as’, ‘rather
than’ , ‘more than’, ‘as much as’ the verb agrees
with the first subject.

• E.g. The boys as well as their teacher have left.

• John rather than his brothers is involved in the

activity.
 When two subjects are joined by ‘with’ , ‘along
with’, ‘together with’, ‘in the company of’ , ‘in
addition to’, ‘accompanied by’, ‘besides’ etc the
verb agrees with the first subject.

• E.g. My friend with all his children has returned.

• The Student along with his guardian is waiting

outside the room.
 A Sentence starts with One of, Each of, Either
of, Everyone of, followed by a plural noun the
Verb is singular.

• One of the boys has lost his pen.

• Neither of them has passed.

• Each of them is known to me.

 Each, Every, Either, Neither followed by a
noun take a singular verb.

• E.g. Each boy works hard.

• Each girl has passed the Exam.

Expressions like Five pounds, Ten rupees, Two
weeks, Three miles etc are singular and take
singular verb.

• E.g. Two Rupees is not a big sum.

• Two weeks is not a long time.

If a sentence begins with a word “There” it may take
the singular or plural verb according to the number
of the subject.

• E.g. There is some coffee in the pot.

• There are some apples in the table.

 Certain nouns like deer, sheep,counsel,and
nationality names like Indians ,Africans etc are
both singular and plural.

• E.g. A deer is grazing in the field.

• A few Deer are grazing in the field.

• A Chinese boy is waiting near the tree.

• A few Chinese boys are waiting for the bus.

 Numerical expressions like dozen, thousand, lakh,
million,etc have plural form when they are preceded
by number words.

• E.g. Two dozen oranges are packed in this basket.

• Five hundred books have been ordered.

 Nouns like Furniture, Machinery, equipment,
luggage etc are called Class collectives. They are
followed by a singular verbs.

• E.g. The furniture was old and it has to be repaired.

• The luggage was carried by a boy.

Some nouns have plural endings but they are
singular and take singular verb.

• E.g. The News is too good to be.

• Measles is not a dangerous disease.

 Subject names ending in ‘-ics’ take singular
verb.

• E.g. Physics is easy to understand.

• Mathematics is hard to learn.

 Things made of two equal parts are always
plural.

• E.g. My Scissors are old.

• His Trousers are torn.

• My Spectacles are broken.

 Name of a book or is plural it takes singular
verb.

• E.g. The Arabian Nights is an interesting book.

• Gulliver’s Travels was written by Swift.

Thank You…