2. Definition
• Subject-Verb Agreement
refers to the relationship
between the verb and its
subject.
• Every clause or sentence
must agree in number and
person with its subject.
3. Basic rule•Verb must be singular
if its subject is
singular; verb must be
plural if its subject is
plural.
7. Our school
team has
won all its
game.
(the team(the team asas aa
whole)whole)
CLUE
(the individual team(the individual team
members)members)
(the individual team(the individual team
members)members)
Our school
team have
won all their
games.
clue
12. NoNo newsnews isis good news.good news.
MeaslesMeasles isis a contagiousa contagious
disease.disease.
PhysicsPhysics isis a difficulta difficult
subject.subject.
example:
13. * TITLES OF* TITLES OF
BOOKS,BOOKS,
PLAYS,PLAYS,
OPERAS,OPERAS,
FILMS,FILMS,
AND SUCHAND SUCH
WORKS – EVENWORKS – EVEN
WHEN PLURALWHEN PLURAL
IN FORMIN FORM
singular verb
17. TheThe numbernumber ofof
students in this schoolstudents in this school
2,000.2,000.
AA numbernumber of studentsof students
droppeddropped thatthat
course.course.
Plural
form
havehave
is
22. Fifty percent of theFifty percent of the
liquefied gasliquefied gas hashas escapedescaped..
One half of theOne half of the toxic wastetoxic waste hashas
escapedescaped..
Mass noun
Singular verbSingular verb
Mass noun
23. Sixty-six percent of theSixty-six percent of the
studentsstudents areare satisfiedsatisfied
with the class.with the class.
Two thirds of theTwo thirds of the
studentsstudents areare satisfiedsatisfied
with the class.with the class.
24. One tenth of theOne tenth of the
population of Egyptpopulation of Egypt isis
Christian.Christian.
One tenth of theOne tenth of the
population of Egyptpopulation of Egypt areare
Christians.Christians.
27. One plus one is two.
One plus one equals two.
Ten divided by two is five.
Ten divided by two
equals five.
28. 18.18. Quantifiers all (of), a lot of,
lots of, and plenty of.
(determiners of content)
singular verbsingular verb
If the
subject
head
nounis a
mass
If the
subject
head
nounis a
mass
If the
subject
head
nounis
plural
plural
verb
plural
verb
29. A lot ofA lot of nonsense waswas
published about thatpublished about that
incident.incident.
A lot ofA lot of people werewere
present when itpresent when it
happened.happened.
30. 19.19. Ignore a predicate
nominative when
determining the number of
the verb to use with the
subject of a linking verb.
35. • Make linking verbs agree in number with their subjects not
their complements.
• A subject complement renames or describes the subject
and is, therefore sometimes confused with it.
Example:
His main interest is/are stamps.
Subject
complement
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