Subject-Verb Agreement Rules

Subject-Verb Agreement
Explanations and Exercises
STEVENS ENGLISH EDUCATION

Subjects
Every sentence needs a subject, verb, and complete thought. A subject is a noun that does
an action in a sentence. In the statement “My cat complains too often,” my cat is the
subject because it is the one who complains. Cat is doing the action.
Linking Verbs
Some verbs, however, are not actions. These include verbs like am, appear, are, being,
been, become, and be, among others. These are called linking verbs because they connect
the subject to additional information: “My cat is a cantankerous creature.” Here, the verb
“is” connects “My cat” to the adjective “cantankerous,” which means that she is
argumentative and bad-tempered.

Complete and Simple Subjects
The single noun that “does a verb” is referred to as the simple subject. The
simple subject and all of its modifiers is called the complete subject. In the following
sentence, the complete subject is underlined and the simple subject is colored blue:
The hunched-over, cantankerous cat looked at me with wide-eyed disdain. We
know “cat” is the subject because it is doing the verb. Who looked? The cat looked.
“The,” “hunched-over,” and “cantankerous” are part of the complete subject, because
they are modifying “cat.”

Subjects and verbs need to agree in number. This means that if a plural subject
is used it needs to be matched to a plural verb form, and if a singular subject is used it
needs to be matched to a singular verb form. Not all verbs change their form. In fact,
of the twelve verb forms in table 1 below, only the six in red boxes change depending
on their subject.

Why it Matters
Subject-verb agreement is important because it signals competency to your
reader. Additionally, while readers may be able to understand sentences with
subject-verb agreement errors, they will distract from your message and undermine
your credibility.

Directions
The following sections will help you avoid subject-verb agreement errors. Begin
by:
1. Reading each rule carefully.
2. Underlining the complete subject, double underlining the simple subject, and
circling the main verb in each example sentence.
3. Creating your own examples to demonstrate each rule.

Rules for Singular Verbs
1. Each and Every
Typically, when two or more subjects are joined together by “and,” the main verb is plural;
however, when a subject is modified by “each” and/or “every” the subject is singular. Single
subjects modified by “each” and/or “every” are also followed by singular verbs.
Examples:
a. “Each and every one of us has the capacity to be an oppressor. I want to encourage each
and every one of us to interrogate how we might be an oppressor and how we might be
able to become liberators for ourselves and for each other” –Laverne Cox
b. “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” –Seneca

2. Collective Nouns
Words like swarm, family, and band refer to a group and are called collective nouns.
Singular collective nouns like “family” refer to one group and use a singular verb form.
Examples:
a. “Family is not an important thing. It’s everything.” –Michael J. Fox
b. “A swarm focuses a group together, in real time, and has them work together as a
system to answer a question…” –Louis B. Rosenberg

3. Singular Nouns that End in “S”
Some singular nouns end in S. Examples include: diseases like “mumps,” school subjects like
“linguistics,” and “economics,” and other words like “news.” These nouns require a singular
verb.
Examples:
a. “Linguistics is very much a science. It’s a human science, one of the human sciences. And
it’s one of the more interesting human sciences.” –Samuel R. Delany
b. “Good news is rare these days, and every glittering ounce of it should be cherished and
hoarded and worshipped and fondled like a priceless diamond.” –Hunter S. Thompson

4. Indefinite Pronouns
Everything and everyone are two examples of indefinite pronouns. There are many
indefinite pronouns in English and most of them are singular and require a singular
verb.
Examples:
a. “I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” –
Michael Jordan
b. “Every day I feel is a blessing from God, and I consider it a new beginning. Yeah,
everything is beautiful.” –Prince

5. Units of Measurement
Measurements (e.g. space, time, and money) are sometimes used as subjects. In these
cases, the unit is considered singular and takes a singular verb.
Examples:
a. “Some days, 24 hours is too much to stay put in, so I take the day hour by hour,
moment by moment. I break the task, the challenge, the fear into small, bite-size
pieces.” –Regina Brett
b. “Five million dollars is too much to spend on anything unless it will do some very
wonderful things for people.” –Peter Hall

Rules for Plural Verbs
6. Compound Subjects
As stated earlier, when two or more subjects are joined by “and,” they take a plural
verb. Two or more subjects joined together are called compound subjects.
Examples:
a. “Your successes and happiness are forgiven you only if you generously consent to
share them.” –Albert Camus
b. “Gratification and happiness are becoming important measures of our quality of
life.” –Charles Kennedy

Rules for Singular and Plural Verbs
7. Or / Nor / But
When two subjects are joined together with “or,” “nor,” or “but” the verb must agree
with the subject closest to it.
Example:
a. “Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for
the train of the future to run over him.” –Dwight D. Eisenhower
b. “Either the doctor or the patients are terribly confused.” –Emanuel Nilsson

8. Modifying Phrases
Don’t be confused by prepositional or verbal phrases that modify a subject. The verb
only needs to agree with the subject. Isolate a subject by asking, “what is ‘doing the
verb’?” For instance, in “He kicked the can”, who is kicking the can? “He” is kicking the
can; therefore, “he” is the subject.
a. “The sun with all its natural powers [removes] poop stains.” –Franklin Goose (a blog)
b. “The actor with all his poses [is hissed] off the stage.” –Desiderius Erasmus

9. Prepositional Phrases that Change a Subject’s Plurality
Sometimes, a prepositional phrase is needed to determine whether a subject is plural or
singular. This includes indefinite pronouns like all, none, and some.
Examples:
a. “Some of the greatest blues music is some of the darkest you’ve ever heard.” –Bruce
Springsteen
b. “None of the abstract concepts comes closer to fulfilled utopia than that of eternal
peace.” –Theodor Adorno

10. Questions and Here/There
In many questions and sentences with there and here, verbs come before a subject.
Examples:
a. “Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have
lost in information?” –T. S. Eliot
b. “Here is the test to find whether your mission on Earth is finished: if you’re alive, it
isn’t.” –Richard Bach

11. That, Which, and Who
When that, which, and who are used as subjects, their plurality depends on the noun
they are referring to.
Examples:
a. “Misfortune shows those who are not really friends.” –Aristotle
b. “It is the working man who is the happy man. It is the idle man who is the miserable
man.” –Benjamin Franklin

12. Gerunds
Gerunds are words that end in “ing” but are nouns. Don’t be confused. Gerunds follow
the same rules as other subjects.
Examples:
a. “Fighting is not something you can just turn off.” –Gerry Cooney
b. “Living is abnormal.” –Eugene Ionesco

Composition and Analysis
Composition and Analysis
It’s time to apply what you’ve learned to your own writing.
1. Summarize a news or magazine article of your choice in 250 words.
2. Underline all of the complete subjects, simple subjects, and verbs in your writing.
3. Correct any subject-verb agreement errors. Make it perfect!
4. Explain subject-verb agreement rules for at least five sentences.

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Subject-Verb Agreement Rules

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