This document provides information on conjunctions, collective nouns, uncountable nouns, indefinite pronouns, verbs agreeing with subjects, and intervening words or phrases that can affect subject-verb agreement. It discusses how conjunctions like and, or, and correlative conjunctions affect verb number. It also covers how collective nouns, uncountable nouns, and indefinite pronouns can take singular or plural verbs depending on their meaning in context. The document gives examples and rules for determining subject-verb agreement when there are intervening words or phrases between the subject and verb.

2. Conjunctions
 A conjunction connects words, phrases or clauses
 And connecting two or more items in a subject usually makes the
verb plural:
 Josh and John oppose the bill
 The exception is when words connected by and are part of a single
thing:
 Pork and beans is not exactly my favorite dish.
 Or used along to connect two or more items in a subject makes the
verb singular unless one of the items is plural. Then, the verb
agrees with the nearest noun or pronoun:
 Mary or Phil is answering calls today.
 Mary or they are answering calls today.

3. Conjunctions
 The number of the subject is not affected by phrases
beginning with parenthetical words, phrases or causes that
are set off by commas –such as those starting with along
with, as well as, in addition to, including, such as or
together with:
 Brian, as well as they, is voting in favor of annexation.
 When the correlative conjunctions not only…but also are
used, there should not be a comma before the but also unless
the not only…but also connect a dependent and an
independent clause.
 Not only Mark but also his sister have won scholarships.
 Not only has Mark won a scholarship, but also so has his sister.

4. Collective and uncountable
nouns
 Collective nouns are singular in form but plural in meaning.
 Including: army, assembly, audience, board, breed, cast,
choir, club, commission, community, company, corporation,
jury, mob, orchestra, panel, press, public, union and United
States.
 Use a singular verb when the collective noun is being used in
the sense of a single group operating together in agreement.
 Use a plural verb if the noun is used to name a group
operating as individuals or in disagreement:
 The jury was seated.
 The jury were split.

5. Collective nouns
 Unlike other collective nouns, the word couple is usually
plural rather than singular.
 A married couple pays more under U.S. tax law than two
people living together but filing separately.

6. Uncountable nouns
 Nouns that have no plural, although many of them look plural already.
 They are not so consistent as collective nouns in that some take a singular
verb, some a plural.
 These uncountables take a singular verb:
 Advice, apparatus, athletics, civics, courage, economics, fun, health,
information, jazz, kudos, linguistics, mathematics, news, remainder,
shambles, summons and whereabouts.
 These uncountables take a plural verb:
 Assets, barracks, earnings, goods, odds, pants, pliers, proceeds, remains,
riches, scissors, shears, tactics, thanks and wages.
 These uncountables may take a singular or plural verb depending on the
context:
 Ethics, gross, headquarters, mechanics, politics, savings, series, species and
statistics.
 Politics is her favorite subject.
 Her politics are socialistic.

7. Other confusing nouns
 Don’t mistake plural nouns ending in a with their singular forms
ending in on or um: criteria, data and media are plural, not
singular.
 Units of measurement, such as distances, money, time and weight,
sometimes take a singular verb even though they are plural in
form. This happens when the amount can be seen as a single
amount:
 Five dollars is not too much to borrow.
 In American usage, majority, number and total are singular if
preceded by the, plural if preceded by a:
 The number of people expected is small.
 A total of 50 people are expected to attend.

8. Other confusing nouns
 Fractions and percentages are singular or plural, depending
on the noun or pronoun following them:
 One-third of the book is a flashback
 One third of the customers are regulars.
 Fifty percent of the budget is for debt retirement.
 Fifty percent of the cases are cured.

9. Indefinite pronouns
 Both, few, many, others and several are plural:
 Many were tragically lost in the terrorists attacks on the World Trade
Center.
 Another, anybody, anyone, anything, each one, either, everybody,
everyone, everything, little, many a, more than one, much, neither,
nobody, no one, nothing, other, somebody, someone and something
are singular.
 More than one has deplored the situation.
 All, any, each, more, most, none, plenty, some and such can be either
singular or plural depending on the context:
 All are here.
 All is lost.
 Some are coming.
 Some is left.

10. Indefinite pronouns
 Make none singular if it means “no one” or “not one” which
is means most of the time, plural if the sense is “no two” or
“no amount”:
 None of the people invited has arrived. (not one)
 None of the experts agree. (no two)
 None can be plural but make it singular in most instances.
 None are so blind as those who will not see.
 None is so blind as he who will not see.
 Both are correct.

11. Each, either and neither
 Each is singular if it comes before the verb, plural if it comes after:
 Each is going by car.
 They are each going by car. (Don’t write: they each are going by car.)
 Either and neither used by themselves are singular pronouns:
 Neither of them has been found. (Not: neither of them have been found.)
 Either of the two offers law-enforcement experience.
 In the constructions either…or and neither…nor, the words are used as
conjunctions, not pronouns. So the verb following them is singular or
plural depending on if the noun or pronoun following the or or nor is
singular or plural:
 Neither his parents nor John is sure what happened next.
 Neither John nor his parents are sure what happened next.

12. Intervening nouns and
pronouns
 If a noun or pronoun comes between the subject and the verb, the
verb still agrees with the subject, not with the intervening noun or
pronoun:
 Wednesday’s newspaper, along with its supplements, is our biggest
edition ever.
 No one but them knows the location.
 Prepositional phrases: if a subject contains a prepositional phrase,
remember that the noun or pronoun following the preposition is
almost never the actual subject, so the verb instead agrees with the
noun or pronoun BEFORE the preposition:
 Three trees in the garden were blown over.
 But after a phrase beginning with one of the, one of these or one of
those and ending with who, which or that, the real subject of the
dependent clause is the noun or pronoun following of:
 She is one of those people who are always on time.
 One of those solutions that are cheap looks good.

13. Intervening nouns and
pronouns
 If the one in such a construction is preceded by only, one is
usually the antecedent, and the construction becomes
singular again:
 She is the only one of those people who is always on time.
(She’s the only one who is on time.)
 But there is an exception to this rule:
 Only one of those solutions that are cheap looks good.
 (Here, solutions remains the antecedent: this is still one solution
of several that are cheap. But it is the only one of those that looks
good.)

14. Subject and predicate
nominative in disagreement
 When the subject is plural and the predicate nominative is
singular, or vice versa, the number of the verb should
always agree with the number of the subject:
 The committee is John, Josh, Jake and Bill.
 John, Josh, Jake and Bill are the committee.
 Inverted order: although the subject precedes the verb in
most sentences, the subject in some sentences follows the
verb. This occurs most often in questions.
 In a sentence beginning with here or there, the verb agrees
with the number of the subject, which follows the verb:
 Here are the answers to Friday’s crossword. (Not: here is the
answers)
 There are no two ways about it. (Not: There is no two ways
about it.)

15. Subject and predicate
nominative in disagreement
 Don’t write stilted sentences with inverted sentence order.
 Wrong: From the mouths of fools sometimes come wisdom.
 Stilted: from the mouths of fools sometimes comes wisdom.
 Right: Wisdom sometimes comes from the mouths of fools.

16. Review
 He said he (is, was) smarter than that now.
 Professor Sheppard said the moon (is, was) a satellite.
 “I think he’s (prejudice, prejudiced,)” she said.
 These parts aren’t fitting together as they’re (suppose,
supposed,) to do.
 I wouldn't’t if I (was, were) you.
 She moved that the resolution (be, is) approved.
 He demanded that the committee (decide, decides) now.

17. Review
 If he (sing, sings), will you attend?
 If she (was, were) coming, she’d be here by now.
 He plays piano as though he (was, were) a professional.
 “When someone sneezes, we say “God (bless, blesses) you.”
 If she (be, is) guilty, she should go to prison.
 I wish I (was, were) through with this assignment.
 If I hurt your feelings, I (am, be) sorry.
 He said he could do better if he (had, has, have) better tools.

18. Homework
 List four principal parts of the verbs and complete the
worksheet.
 Remember: principal parts are the most common verb
forms, the present, past, past-participle and present-
participle.