Subject-verb Agreement
Lesson 1
Subject-verb agreement
If a verb does not agree with its subject in number, you have the grammatical error
called subject-verb disagreement. You want to correct the
error so that you will have subject-verb agreement!
A verb must agree with its subject in number.
-
If the subject is singular, the verb must be singular.
- If the subject is plural, the verb must be plural.
Singular subject
When there is a singular subject, you must use a singular verb.
Quite often, the difficulty is deciding which word is the subject, so that you can
make the verb agree with it.

Mary
does her homework regularly.
This is a simple sentence. Ask the question Who does her homework
regularly? and you get the answer Mary. Therefore,
Mary is the subject of the sentence, and
does is the verb. Because Mary is singular,
the verb does must be singular, which it is.
Note: We add an s to a verb to make it singular,
but we add an s to a noun to make it plural!
Singular verb
|
Plural verb
|
(She) makes
|
(They) make
|
(It) does
|
(They) do
|
(He) drives
|
(They) drive
|
Occasionally, a singular subject will end with an s, but it is still singular. For example, SickKids is the partial name of a charitable foundation, SickKids Foundation. However, the foundation is more often referred to as SickKids. Therefore, it is singular, even though it looks plural.
Plural subject
When there is a plural subject, you must use a plural verb.

The
girls do their homework regularly.
Since there is more than one person doing homework regularly, the subject is plural,
so the verb must be plural, which do is.
The pronoun "you"
The pronoun you always takes a plural verb, even though
it may be referring to only one person.

You
are responsible for your actions.
Modifiers between subject and verb
Often there will be modifiers between the subject and the verb, so it is more difficult
to determine the subject.

The
father of the children does not help them with their homework.
In the sentence above, is father or children
the subject?
To determine the subject, you find the verb and ask who
or what is doing the action. When you ask the question
Who does not help them with their homework?, you get the
answer father. Therefore, father
is subject of the verb. Since the noun father is singular,
a singular verb does is required.
You need to know that children cannot be the subject of
the sentence because it is the object of the preposition of.
The phrase of the children is a prepositional phrase, so
any word in that phrase can never be the subject of the sentence.

The
current provisions of this law support domestic violence.
When you ask the question What supports domestic violence?,
you could respond with provisions or law.
One word is singular and the other is plural. However, only one of these is the
actual subject of the sentence.
You recall that law cannot be the subject of the sentence
because it is the object of the preposition of. The phrase
of this law is a prepositional phrase, so any word in that
phrase can never be the subject of the sentence.
Therefore, provisions is the subject of the sentence. Since provisions is plural, the verb must be plural, which support is.
Compound subject: singular
Sometimes, even though the subject appears compound, it is dealing with one person, thing,
or idea. Therefore, the subject is singular.

The
secretary and treasurer was at the meeting.
In this case, one person is both secretary and treasurer, so the subject
is singular and requires a singular verb.
Note the absence of the before treasurer in the sentence,
an indication that there is only one person.
Compound subject: plural
A compound subject is two nouns or pronouns joined by the conjunction
and. It is the and which makes the subject plural
in most cases.

The
secretary and
the treasurer were at the meeting.
Note the presence of the before treasurer in the sentence,
an indication that there is more than one person.
There were two people at the meeting, so the subject is plural. Therefore, a plural verb were is required.

It will be unfortunate if
fate and health force him to retire.
This is a compound sentence because it has two nouns as the subject of the subordinate clause. Therefore, the verb must be plural.