1. Subject Verb Agreement

2. What does a sentence need?
 A subject – the person, place, thing or idea of
a sentence that is doing or being something
 A verb- word that carries the idea of being or
action in the sentence
 Punctuation
 An initial capital letter

3. Subjects and Verbs must
agree!
 A singular subject needs a singular verb
 A plural subject needs a plural verb
 An easy way to remember the rules of
subject/verb agreement is this:
 A singular subject usually has an “s” added to
the verb.
 The doctor operates on the patient.
 A plural subject does not add an “s” to the
verb.
 The doctors operate on the patient.

4. Special Agreement rules
 When a subject is made up of two or more nouns
connected by and, use a plural verb.
 Lil Wayne and Eminem are great male rappers.
 When the subject is made up of two or more
singular nouns connected by or use a singular
verb.
 Lil Wayne or Eminem is…
 When the subject is made up of singular and
plural nouns use the part of the subject closest to
it.
 Lil Wayne and fellow rappers are…

5. Always singular
 Each, each one
 Either, neither
 Everyone, anyone, someone, no one
 Everybody, anybody, nobody

6. Almost always singular
 Collective nouns that refer to more than one
person are usually treated as a single unit:
 Group
 Team
 Committee
 Class
 family

7. Always plural
 Nouns like the following are always plural
(because they are made of two parts)
 Scissors
 Tweezers
 Trousers
 Pants
 shears

8. There or here rule
 There or Here is never the subject!
 In sentences starting with there the subject
usually follows the verb.

9. Find the subject and verb of
the sentence
 1. Denfeld students (is/are) intelligent.)
 2. Mrs. Alfonsi and Miss Petersen (gives/give)
exciting homework.
 3. Meredith Gray, along with the other doctors,
(performs/perform) surgeries on the TV show.
 4. The short story presentations about one story
you read (starts/start) next week.
 5. The quarterback on the Minnesota Vikings
(passes/pass) the football to the wide receivers.

10. Do these together!
 1. The soup (taste, tastes) good.
2. Carlos (kick, kicks) the football very well.
3. The cars on the freeway (travel, travels) at a high rate of
speed.
4. The editors (isn't, aren't) meeting today.
5. That dog(don't, doesn't) look like a German Shepard.
6. Our new neighbors (hasn't, haven't) moved in yet.
7. Those two little girls (do, does) look like twins.
8. The water at this beach (is, are) very warm for this time of
year.
9. Jose (study, studies) for his math test every Thursday
evening.
10. I (hope, hopes) to get a job working at McDonalds after
school.