Subject-Verb Agreement Tricky Subjects Part Two

Collective Nouns The kind of noun that represents a group. (family, team, crowd, jury) Depend on rest of sentence If all members create one action = singular In 1911, a robbery team steals the Mona Lisa. If members do different actions = plural The team separate after the theft.

Inverted Sentences Be careful! You have to choose the right subject. Inversion occurs mostly in questions, sentences that begin with “here” or “there” and sentences that begin with phrases (Does/Do) the bank want the robbers punished? Here (is/are) a book about dumb criminals Right by the police (speed/speeds) the truck.

Numbers/Titles Titles of works of art, music, or literature are usually singular. The Twelve Chairs (is/are) a comic mystery. Words that refer to amounts are usually singular Twelve years (is/are) a long time for an investigation. Two-thirds of the money (come/comes) from private donations.

Any Questions? Turn to page 168