1. +
Chapter 23: Subject-Verb
Agreement

2. +
Define
 Subject
 Who/what the sentence is about
 Verb
 Action word/says what the subject did
 States of being (i.e. am, is, are, look, seem)

3. +
Subject-Verb Agreement
 Singular subjects take singular verbs
 The alien runs quickly.
 Stacy runs slowly.
 Plural subjects take plural verbs
 The aliens run quickly.
 Cats run quickly.
 Difference between singular verbs and plural verbs?
 Usually singular verbs end in ―s‖
 Usually plural verbs don’t end in ―s‖

4. +
Subject-Verb Agreement
 In most cases, an ―s‖ follows either the subject or the verb but
not both.
 The politician lies.
 The cat licks its paw.
 The politicians lie.
 The cats lick their paws.
 Exception
 The boss wants to hear from you. (singular subject/singular verb)
 The bosses want to hear from you. (plural subject/plural verb)

5. +
Compound Subjects
 Compound subject consists of 2 or more words
 When a compound subject is connected by and, the subject
takes a plural verb. In your head, replace the compound with
They.
 Stacy and Bob run slowly.
 Jim and Henry walk funny.
 When a compound subject is connected by or, the verb agrees
with the part of the subject that is closer to it
 Either the mayor or the council members meet with community
groups.
 Either the council members or the mayor meets with community
groups.

6. +
Collective Noun Subjects
 Collective noun – words that name a group of people/things
 Band
 Family
 Team
 Collective nouns can be singular (band) or plural (bands)
 The band plays well. (There is only one band.)
 The bands play well. (There is more than one band; perhaps we are
at a concert.)
 That team lost. (There is only one team, and it doesn’t play well.)
 Those teams lost. (There are a lot of teams that don’t play well.)

7. +
Numbers (>1) are Plural.
2 Both
3 Few
4
&
Several
Many
More Others
But Much is always singular.
Much effort goes into planning for a festival.

8. +
Every chicken wing and pork rib sits
untouched on Ruth’s plate.
When each or every precedes two
[or more] singular nouns joined by
and, you have a singular subject.
Because there is an
s at the end of sit,
you know it’s a
singular verb.

9. +In this situation, no matter how many
singular nouns you join with and, the
subject is still singular.
Every chicken wing, pork rib, slice of pepperoni pizza,
hotdog, hamburger, steak, and fried shrimp sits
untouched on Ruth’s plate.
X
X
X XX
X
I’m a
vegetarian!

10. +Use caution with these three
conjunctions: either … or, neither … nor,
and not only … but also.
Not only the employees but also their
boss wish the shift would end.
Not only the employees but also their
boss wishes the shift would end.
Not only the boss but also her
employees wish the shift would end.
You’ll have two subjects, but
only the closer one—in this
case boss—counts!
If you flip the two subjects,
so that employees is next to
the verb, then wish will work!

11. +These indefinite pronouns are
always singular [even when they
seem plural].
 Each, either, neither
 Anyone, anybody, anything
 Everyone, everybody, everything
 No one, nobody, nothing
 Someone, somebody, something

12. + Everyone on Earth =
more than one
person—billions of
people, in fact.
The word everyone,
however, is still
singular.

13. +
Words between Subject and Verb
 Many cars on the highway go fast.
 Subject = cars
 Verb = go
 Dogs at the park play happily.
 Subject = dogs
 Verb = play
 That calculator on the table looks funny.
 Subject = calculator
 Verb = looks

14. +
The squirrel as well as the pigeons keep an
eye on Sammy, the sneaky cat.
Beware interrupting phrases.
 As well as
 Along with
 Together with
 Including
 In addition to
 Especially
Bad
kitty!
The squirrel as well as the pigeons keep an
eye on Sammy, the sneaky cat.
The squirrel as well as the pigeons keeps
an eye on Sammy, the sneaky cat.
This sentence might
sound right, but it is
completely wrong!

15. +Beware inverted word order.
Here is the onions you need for the chili. In the
refrigerator is the jalapeño peppers you might
want to add.
Cross through
prepositional
phrases to find
the real subject!
Here and
there are
never the
subjects.
Here are the onions you need for the chili. In
the refrigerator is the jalapeño peppers you
might want to add.
Here are the onions you need for the chili. In
the refrigerator are the jalapeño peppers you
might want to add.