Subjects and Complements Writing Lab Subjects and Complements

Subjects and Complements A verb must agree with its subject, not its subject complement (a word or words that rename the subject). In other words, if a sentence is in its natural word order, a verb should agree with what precedes it, not what follows it.

Examples Incorrect: Homemade pies is the bakery’s specialty. Correct: Homemade pies are the bakery’s specialty. (Correct—the verb should agree with the subject pies, not the subject complement specialty.) Correct: His parents are his sole support. Correct: His sole support is his parents.

That’s all, folks! This lesson is part of the UWF Writing Lab Grammar Mini-Lesson Series Lessons adapted from Real Good Grammar, Too by Mamie Webb Hixon To find out more, visit the Writing Lab’s website where you can take a self-scoring quiz corresponding to this lesson