Presentation about Subject-verb agreement

1. SUBJECT-VERB
AGREEMENT
Presented by: Ms. Eos B. Bilbao

2. Definition

3. RULES OF SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT

4. 1. Subject and verb must agree in number.
 Singular subject = singular verb
Example:
The student writes everyday.
Subject (Noun) in singular form Verb in singular form
To make a noun plural, we add –s To make a verb plural, we remove -s
student students writes write

5. Plural subject = Plural verb
To make a noun plural, we add –s
Example: The students write everyday.
To make a verb plural, we remove -s

6. Watch the Verb Endings!
Singular
• I walk
• You walk
• He/She/It walks
• Joe walks
• The girl walks
Plural
• We walk
• You walk
• They walk
• Joe and Maria walk
• The girls walk

7. A phrase or clause between subject and
verb does not change the number of the
subject.
Examples:

8. Indefinite pronouns as subjects
Singular indefinite pronoun subjects take
singular verbs.

9. Plural indefinite pronoun subjects take
plural verbs.
PLURAL: several, few, both, many

10. Some indefinite pronouns may be either singular or plural:
with uncountable, use singular; with countable, use plural.
EITHER SINGULAR OR PLURAL: some, any, none, all, most
• Sugar is uncountable; therefore, the sentence has a singular
verb.
Marbles are countable; therefore, the sentence has a plural
verb.

11. Compound subjects joined by and are
always plural.

12. With compound subjects joined by or/nor,
the verb agrees with the subject nearer to
it.
In the above example, the plural verb are agrees with the
nearer subject actors.
In this example, the singular verb is agrees with the nearer
subject director.