Subject Verb Agreement

Grammatical, Notional & Proximity

rules
 Subject–Verb Agreement
• singular subject singular verb

• Plural subject plural verb

Note: we cannot have TWO S-s together.

.
Bird flies.

Birds fly.
 3 types of nouns of number

Singular Variable
Invariable nouns

Plural Invariable
 3 types of nouns of number

Singular Invariable:
1. Proper nouns
2. Abstract nouns:
Information; Honesty
3. Material nouns: Gold
4. Collective nouns: A
pack
Singular invariable nouns examples
Proper Noun: India has a diverse culture.
Abstract Noun: Music pleases the soul.
Information makes one powerful

Material Noun: Honey is a natural medicine

Gold makes one rich.

Collective Noun: A pack of dogs is barking.

 3 types of nouns of number

Plural Invariable:
1. Mass words like police, People,
Cattle
2. Proper nouns that are plural
3. Things that occur in pairs
 Plural Invariable
Mass Noun: Cattle live near grasslands.
Police give security to the people.
People, Poultry
Proper nouns in Plural: The Himalayas have
the highest peaks in the world.

Pair-nouns: A pair of jeans cost 2000 rupees

nowadays.
3 types of nouns of number

Variable nouns:
Nouns that have both
singular and plural
forms
 Variable Nouns

Variable nouns are easy to recognize. They have

singular forms [taking singular], and plural
forms (taking plural verbs)

• A village gives you a closer life to nature.

• Villages are the worst victims of epidemic.
 Solve
1. Homework ___ [is/are] boring.
2. The police ___ completed the investigation.
3. The Alps ___ in Italy.
4. A pair of Rayban sunglasses ___ around 8K.
5. Someone ___ left a bunch of flowers.
6. None of you __ going to the party.
7. Is there anyone who ___ not written
the notes?
Now, Subject-Verb Agreement follows
3 rules

Grammatical
Proximity
Rules Rules

Notional
Rules
Grammatical Rules: All you have
learnt so far
 Grammatical Rules: Special cases
All = Plural All are invited to the party.
Both = plural Both Deepika and Ranbir are
talented.
None = Singular None is like Modi in style.
Each / Every = singular Everyone is present today.
Any = singular Has any of you eaten?
 Grammatical Rules: Special Cases
Some = Can be Singular or plural, depending on the context

Eg.:
1. Someone is standing over there.
[Some = Someone; Used for particular individuals]

2. Some never learn to behave.

[Some = some people; used in general statements]
 Grammatical Rules: Empty Subjects
When sentence starts with ‘It’ or ‘There’, we call
those starters as “Empty Subjects”.

Eg.: It is nice to spend time with family.

It is hot outside.
There is a rumor that Pakistan will attack.
There are people who never grow up in life.
 Rules for “It”
‘It’ takes singular verb.
Reason: It = a single object; environmental
phenomenon; human feelings & concepts.
Examples:
1. It is a new virus that has affected the Single Noun
computer.
Environmental
2. It is raining out there. Phenomena

3. It is horrible to hear an accident-news.

Feelings
 Rules for ‘There’
‘There’ will take verb depending on the word after
the verb.
Eg.:
There ___ a huge demand for Cyber lawyers.

There ___ corruption in the system.

There ___ people who never give up.

There ___ times when you need to lie low.

 Rules for ‘There’
‘There’ will take verb depending on the word after
the verb.
Eg.:
There _is_ a huge demand for Cyber lawyers.

There is corruption in the system. Concept = Singular

There are people who never give up. People = Plural

There are times when you need to lie low.

 Select the correct option.

1. The police ___ [has / have] arrived.

2. The luggage ___ [is / are] too heavy for plane.

3. A violent mob ___ [has / have ] broken loose.

4. Chocolate __ [ cure / cures] depression.

5. All ___ [ is / are] invited to the party.

 Select the correct option.

6. A pair of sneakers ___ [ look/ looks] good on you.

7. Some ___ [ come/ comes] to you only when they

are in trouble.

8. There ___ [is / are ] secrets in government documents.

9. There ___ [is / are ] no point in trusting the Talibans.

10. It ___ [is /are] exciting to ride a giant wheel.

Notional Rules
 Notional Rules
Notion means idea, intellect.
Sometimes we have to use our brains to
understand whether the Noun is singular or
plural.

There are 5 situations where we use Notional

Rules:
 Notional Rules

The case of
“As well as”
Team not in Unity

Diseases and
Subjects

Name of country
in Sports
Things that we say
together
Concept of money,
time, distance
 I. Collective Nouns, where members
are not in unity
1. The jury has announced its decision.
But,
The jury ARE divided on the verdict.

2. A group of boys is maintaining the website.

But,
A group of boys ARE playing football.
II. When we refer to country names in
sports.
India is a great country.
But,

India ARE playing well in the test series.

 III. When we refer to the Concept of Amount in
time / money / distance

a. Two crore is a lot of money.

b. Two years is a very little time to know someone.
c. Ten kilometres is a long distance for daily travel.

REMEMBER, these sentences will always have a

sense of ‘=’
Two Kilometres = long distance
 IV.
Some things come together to form a concept. Take
for example: a dish.

Eg.:
Cornflakes and milk is his favourite breakfast.
[Here, cornflakes + milk = a dish]

Peace and harmony is important for all.

[peace and harmony = same thing]
 V. Some names of Subjects & Diseases come in plural
form, but actually, these nouns are singular

Eg.:

Measles affects children

Economics is an interesting subject.

News is that terrorists have entered South Indian

 Notional Rule:
The Case of ‘As well as’
 The case of “As well as….”
• As well as = extra information.
• Not counted with the main subject.

Eg.:
Sachin, as well as Sehwag, HAS / HAVE
performed well.
 The case of “As well as….”
• As well as = extra information.
• Not counted with the main subject.

Eg.:
Sachin, as well as Sehwag, HAS / HAVE
performed well.
 The case of “As well as….”
• As well as = extra information. Not counted
with the main subject.

Sony and Samsung, as well as Redmi, IS /ARE in

good demand.
Ans.: _________________________________
 The case of “As well as….”
• As well as = extra information. Not counted
with the main subject.

Sony and Samsung, as well as Redmi, IS /ARE in

good demand.
 Solve
1. A band of robbers ___ [is/are] terrorizing the
place.
2. The team of doctors ___ [is/ are] divided on the
question, whether 4 weeks ___ [is / are]
sufficient to heal pox.
3. Thousand crore notes ___ [has /have] been
printed after demonetization.
4. Some say Physics ___ [is /are] interesting.
 Solve
5. 4 years ___ [is /are] a long time to wait for someone.
6. Pizza and chowmein ___ [is / are] ordered from
Zomato.
7. Pizza and coke ___ [is / are] my all-time favorite
menu.
8. The Police, as well as the Media, ___ [is /are]
running after Nirav Modi.
 Rules of Proximity
The noun that is near the verb, controls the
verb.
Used in:
Either..or
Neither..nor
Or
Not only..but also
 Examples
• Either He or his friends are responsible for this.
[Friends> plural >near verb > Are]

• Either his friends or he is responsible.

Not only a criminal, but also the police get

beaten by mob.
The Special Case of “OF”
 Look at the word before ‘OF’

Numbers Words

1. Fraction Whole
2. Percentage Number
 Fractions
• Fractions, like ¼, ¾, ½, etc. cannot control verb.
• In such cases, Noun after ‘OF’ controls the verb.
Eg.:
2/3 of the building is gone.
Half of the people are mad here.
 Percentage
• Percentage is written as 80%, 25 %, etc.
• Also, percentage is indicated by the words
‘MOST’, SOME’, ‘ALL’
Most = 80%
Some = maybe 25 %
All = 100 %
 Percentage
• Percentage is like fraction. 25% = 1/4th

• So, it can’t remote-control verb.

 Examples
1. Most of the juices have sugar in them.
2. Most of the information is collected from
database.
3. Some of the pie is still left.
4. All of the cake is gone.
5. Some of the students are still writing.
 Examples
1. Most of the juices have sugar in them.
2. Most of the information is collected from
database.
3. Some of the pie is still left.
4. All of the cake is gone.
5. Some of the students are still writing.
 Whole Numbers

• Whole Numbers can remote-control verbs

One of the students has won the scholarship.

Two of our students have won the scholarship.
 Whole Numbers

• Whole Numbers can remote-control verbs

One of the students has won the scholarship.

Two of our students have won the scholarship.
 Words
Case 4: Words, not numbers, before OF

• When we have normal words before ‘OF’, we

treat them as Independent Voters, who can
control their verbs!
 Words before “OF”

1. Colours of the rainbow ARE beautiful.

2. The view of the rainbow IS beautiful.

3. Knowledge of constitution MAKES one powerful.

 Words before “OF”

1. Colours of the rainbow ARE beautiful.

2. The view of the rainbow IS beautiful.

3. Knowledge of constitution MAKES one powerful.

 Solve
1. All of you ___ [is/are] bored by now.
2. Some of the last night’s pizza ___ [ is /are] still left
in fridge.
3. Half of the students ___ [ go /goes ] mad during
grammar class.
4. Either dahi-jalebi or kachoris ___ [is/are] served in
Sunday breakfast.
5. Students of law ___ [ make / makes] great
politicians.