SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT

By: Teacher JAM

Plurals in English Grammar

To make a noun plural, we add s

Singular: girl
Plural: girls
To make a verb plural, we take away
the s.
Singular: he talks
Plural: they talk
Watch the Verb Endings!

Singular Plural
I walk We walk
You walk You walk
He/She/It walk s They walk
Joe walk s Joe and Maria walk
The girl walk s The girls walk
Remember there are irregular verbs:

DO
Singular Plural
He does They do

HAVE
She has They have

BE
He is They are
She was They were
Tip for Subject/verb Agreement

Generally, if the subject doesnt

end in S, the verb will.

If the subject does end in S,

the verb wont.
 No S on
subject

-S on
verb
The girl dances.
 -S on
subject

The girls dance.

No S
on verb
Multiple subjects joined by and

If there are two or more subjects joined

by and, the subject must be plural, so
the verb will not get an s.
No S on
Example verb
The boy and the girl dance.
(= They dance.)
Multiple subjects joined by or

If there are two or more subjects joined by

or, the verb agrees with the part of the
subject closest to it.

Examples:
The professor or the students walk the
halls.
The students or the professor walks the
halls.
Indefinite Pronouns
Some indefinite pronouns are always singular. Here
are some examples: anyone, everyone, someone, no
one, nobody
Others can be either singular or plural (all, some)
Everybody loves grammar!
Some people love grammar.
 Relative Pronouns
Relative Pronouns (who/which/that) can be
either singular or plural, depending on the
word they refer to.

The student who works hard will succeed.

The students who work hard will succeed.

 Helpful hints
Sometimes, several words come between the subject and the
verb. Just take out the phrase in the middle to see whether
or not the subject and verb agree.

The student, though she had lots of problems in

other schools, finds/find (?) her new class easy.
The student, though she had lots of problems
in other schools, finds her new class easy.
The student finds her new class easy.
 Prepositional phrases

The subject can never be part of a

prepositional phrase.

Example
X
The students in my class study / studies
hard.
In the sentences below, do the
subjects & verbs agree?
They goes to the gym after class to work out.
Harry and his friends wants to see the new movie
coming out this weekend.
The cat who is meowing at my door wants in.
Neither the cat nor the dogs likes the new food.
The mayor as well as his brothers are going to jail.
Nobody wants to dance.
The paper or the ruler are in the desk.