Subject – Verb Agreement Explained

A verb should agree with its subject in number. Earline attends College. They attend college.

The number of the subject is not changed by a phrase following the subject. The woman on the stairs is Senator Hatch. The women in the front row are Cabinet officers.

The following indefinite pronouns are singular: each, either, neither, one, everyone, everybody, no one, nobody, anyone, anybody, someone, somebody. No one leaves early. One of the guitar strings was broken. Someone who likes apple juice raids the refrigerator at night.

The following indefinite pronouns are plural: several, few, both, many. Several of the women are pilots. A few in the crowd were rowdy.

The indefinite pronouns some, all, any, most, and none may be either singular or plural, depending on the word they refer to. Most of the day was gone. Most of the cows were grazing.

Subjects joined by and usually take a plural verb. Helen and she like hiking.

Singular subjects joined by or or nor take a singular verb. Neither our phone nor our doorbell was working.

When a singular subject and a plural subject are joined by or or nor, the verb agrees with the subject nearer the verb. Either Tim or his aunts are planning the activities for the beach party. Neither the potatoes nor the roast is done.

Words stating amount are usually singular. Two years is a long time. Fifteen dollars was the price.

However, when the amount is thought of as individual pieces or parts, a plural verb is used. Two of the years were especially rainy. Fifteen of the dollars were torn. Ninety percent of the students are present today.

The title of a work of art, literature, or music, even when plural in form, takes a singular verb. Jodi Picoult’s Nineteen Minutes is an exciting novel.

Some nouns, although plural in form, take singular verbs. Linguistics is the science of language. New of the concert’s cancellation was disappointing to the band members.