Subject-Verb Agreement Language Arts

Subject-Verb Agreement The basic idea behind subject and verb agreement is that a singular subject takes a singular verb, and a plural subject takes a plural verb. Singular-one Plural-more than one

Singular and Plural When attempting to make a noun plural, you would normally add an “s” to the end of the noun. dog-singular plural- dogs This rule does NOT apply to regular verbs. The singular verb ends in an “s” while the plural verb does not. The girl likes to eat pizza. (singular form) The girls like to eat pizza. (plural form) “s” stands for singular!!

Rule #1 Don’t get confused by words or phrases that come between the subject and verb; they do not affect agreement. -The dog, peppy and perky, likes to bark a lot. -The colors of the rainbow are beautiful. -One of the boxes is open. -The team captain, along with his players, is anxious.

Rule #2 When two subjects are connected by “or” or “nor” the verb should agree with the part of the subject that is closest to the verb. Examples: 1.) My aunt or my cousins are arriving by train. 2.) Neither the boy nor his friends run every day.

Rule #3 Use a plural verb with two or more subjects that are connected by “and”. Examples: 1.) A car and a bike are my two means of transportation. 2.) Lions and tigers are my two favorite animals.

Rule #4 Indefinite Pronouns- These pronouns are “indefinite” which makes it difficult to determine whether they should be treated as singular or plural. There are two different categories of indefinite pronouns.

Rule #4 (2) The “any-,” some-,” “every-,” and “no-” pronouns: anyonesomeoneeveryoneno one anybodysomebodyeverybodynobody anythingsomethingeverything nothing All of these indefinite pronouns are treated as SINGULAR.

Examples No one wants to play with me. Someone is going to call today. Everybody likes to eat pizza.

Rule #4 (3) Words that specify a number or amount: each, many enough, both, none, some, much and numbers (one, two, three…) In order to determine if the pronoun is singular or plural, you must find the object of the preposition and determine if it is singular or plural.

Examples Some of the cookies are left. Some of the coffee is left. None of the newspaper accounts were accurate.

Rule # 5 Collective Nouns-A noun that collects together a few or many members of a group to signify that all the members comprise a single unit. Collective nouns are always considered SINGULAR when they are functioning as a whole.

Rule #5 (2) Examples of collective nouns: army audience board cabinet class committee company department faculty family firm group jury majority/minority navy public school senate society team