Subject-verb Agreement
Lesson 5
Subject-verb agreement
If a verb does not agree with its subject in number, you have the error called subject-verb disagreement. You want to correct the error
so that you will have subject-verb agreement!
Collective nouns
A collective noun is a word that refers to a group of people, animals, or things.
Collective nouns include army, class,
crowd, fleet, flock,
gang, group, herd,
pack, staff, and
team.
Collective nouns can be singular or plural depending on the context of the sentence.
Collective nouns: individuals
If members of the collective noun are acting individually, the collective noun is
plural and a plural verb is required.

After
the practice the team
shower before heading home.
Each team member is doing his own thing, so a plural verb shower
is required.
Collective nouns: groups
If members of the collective noun are acting in unison, the collective noun is singular
and a singular verb is required.

The
team
was playing late into the evening.
The team members are working in unison, so a singular verb was
playing is required.
Note: In your writing, if you are not certain whether a collective noun is singular
or plural, you have the option of placing another word before the collective noun, such as, the players on the team. Now the subject is players,
which is plural, so you know you have to use a plural verb.
Fractions
Fractions can require a singular or a plural verb, depending on the context of the
sentence.
If the fraction tells us how much, it requires a singular
verb.

Three-fourths
of the pie
was eaten.
If the fraction tells us how many, it requires a plural
verb.

Three-fourths
of the pies
were eaten.
Percentages
Percentages can require a singular or a plural verb, depending on the context of the
sentence.
If the percent tells us how much, it requires a singular
verb.

Fifty percent of the pie
was eaten.
If the percent tells us how many, it requires a plural
verb.

Fifty percent of the pies
were eaten.
Foreign nouns
There are some plural nouns that we seldom see in the singular form. Therefore,
it seems as if there is no other form of the word.
Singular
|
Plural
|
crisis
|
crises
|
criterion
|
criteria
|
datum
|
data
|
die
|
dice
|
medium
|
media
|
memorandum
|
memoranda
|
nucleus
|
nuclei
|
phenomenon
|
phenomena
|
stimulus
|
stimuli
|
stratum
|
strata
|
Media is plural so it requires a plural verb

The
media
presents the news without bias.

The
media
present the news without bias.
Data is plural so it requires a plural verb.

The
data
does not confirm his thesis.

The
data
do not confirm his thesis.
Test your skill
Now that you have studied the rules of subject and verb agreement, it is time to test your knowledge of these rules. Click on the button to the right to take a test of 20 sentences in which you apply these rules.