Subject-Verb Agreement Special Rules

Compound Subjects Joined with And If subjects are joined by the conjunction and, the subjects are considered to be plural. Therefore, you must choose the plural verb. The lion and the tiger (is/are) resting quietly in their cages.

Compound Subjects Joined by Or/Nor If the compound subject is joined by or/nor the subject which is closest to the verb determines the agreement. The lions or the tiger (is/are) making all of that noise. Neither she nor the girls (know/knows) where the towel was left.

Subjects preceded by Many a, Every, and Each Subjects preceded by these words are considered to be singular in their usage. Many a game (have/has) been ruined by rain. Every man, woman, and child (has/have) been counted. Each person (is/are) finishing his or her assignment.

With fractional expressions (fractions or decimal equivalents), the verb will be determined by what is being measured: is it COUNTABLE or not. Countable nouns are plural. Non- countable nouns are singular. Two-fifths of the grain is ruined. One-half of the students were convinced that there would be no final exams this year. Of all the returns we have counted so far, fifty percent are in favor of the referendum. A majority of the student body is in favor of asking the Dean to stay another year.

Subjects That End in S Be careful of words that always end in –s. These words are most often singular in their usage in the sentence. Statistics (is/are) a type of math class. Gymnastics (has/have) been her hobby for years.

Subjects that occur in pairs Subjects that occur in pairs are considered to be plural. (pants, shoes, glasses, binoculars) Those binoculars (is/are) very heavy. My pants (is/are) too dirty to wear to this event.

Collective Nouns When determining the agreement of collective nouns, a person must determine if all the members of the group are functioning together or if all the members of the group are functioning individually.

Collective noun (group as a whole) If every member of the group is doing the exact same thing at the exact same time the collective noun is considered to be singular. The class (is/are) sitting quietly while copying notes.

Collective noun (individual members of the group) If the individual members of the group are not doing the exact same thing at the exact same time the collective noun is considered to be plural. The audience (leave/leaves) through separate exits throughout the theatre.

Nouns of Amount If the noun of amount is referring to the purchase of one item, the noun is singular. If the noun of amount is being referred to as each of its individual units it is plural. Seventeen dollars (is/are) the cost of the hat. Three dollars (is/are) lying on the floor.

Indefinite pronouns such as everyone and everybody feel plural to some writers, but they are always singular — and take a singular verb. Everyone associated with the project is proud to be part of the effort. Someone has to be responsible. Don’t be confused by phrases that come between the subject pronoun and its verb — phrases that may contain plural words. Each of the project partners is responsible for writing a chapter summary.

The verb that accompanies pronouns such as all and some will be determined by whether the pronoun is referring to something that is COUNTABLE or not. Some of the students in the cafeteria have voted already. Some of the grain was ruined by the flood. “Students” is countable, but we cannot count “the grain”; it is one lump, one quantity.

In formal writing, when either and neither appear as a subject alone (without their sidekicks or and nor), they are singular. This is true even though the subject seems to be two things. Neither of these choices appears to be satisfactory. The purchasing office will lend me a company car or compensate me for travel expenses. Either is fine with me. When either and neither act as correlative conjunctions, however, life becomes a bit more complicated!correlative conjunctions