Subject-Verb Agreement TTP Flashcards
Should we pair up subject and verb in every clause present in the sentence?
Yes, subject and verb must match in number in every clause they are present in e.g.
- *Molly and Blaze were** swimming at the beach, and
- *Estella and Frisky were** sleeping on their beds
In the above sentence in both the independent clauses the subject-verb matches in numbers
To find the subject in the sentence
- Ignore prepositional phrases (they never contains the subject except in few cases)
- Ignore the relative clauses
- Ignore the appositive
How do you identify a subject and verb in the sentence?
The subject is doing or being what the main verb expresses, to find subject sometimes it becomes easier to find the verb first, and then check who or what is doing the action performed by the noun
If the boys wearing the green shirts win the spelling bee, their parents will be excited
Who can win the spelling bee? - The boys hence the plural boys is the subject
What is an appositive?
An appositive is an element of a sentence that modifies or further describes another element of a sentence by naming it. Please note they are not the
adjectives
My brother John loves hiking in the Ozark mountains
In the above example, the noun ‘brother’ is a general noun, In other words, there could very well be more than one brother. What follows “brother” is an appositive. The appositive “John” further describes a brother and clarifies which brother the sentence refers to. Notice that ‘John’ is simply a renaming of ‘my brother”. Both ‘brother’ and ‘John’ name the same person.
Find the appositives in the below sentence
Cyrus the Great, founder of Achaemenid empire and creator of the first bill of rights, was married to Lana Del Ray
Inflation, the increase over time in the cost of an economy’s good and services, is the most damaging of all taxes, intended or unintended, that a government can burden the people of a nation with
“founder of Achaemenid empire and creator of the first bill of rights” is the appositive as it refers to “Cyrus the Great”
“The increase over time in the cost of an economy’s good and services” is the appositive as it refers to “Inflation”
What are compound subjects
A compound subject is composed of multiple nouns joined by a coordinating conjunction such as “and”, “or”, or “not”
The rule is if two nouns are being joined by “and” then they form a plural subject; Essentially you have to evaluate if nouns joined by ‘and’ form one entity or two different entity, if they form one entity e.g. ‘bread and butter’ or ‘peanut butter and jelly’ then they are singular but if they form two entities we consider them plural.
With other conjunctions, the subject closer to the verb decides whether the subject is plural or singular
What are additive phrases?
Additive phrases are phrases that begin with structures such as “along with”, “in addition to”, “as well as”, “accompanied by”, and “together with”
When clubbed with the subject they don’t make the subject plural e.g.
- Estella, in addition to Frisky and Molly, was sleeping o the soft couch - notice how we have used was
- Sally along with Joe, Bobby, and Sue, is going to the fair tonight - ‘is’ is the verb which we have used
- Together with her coworkers, Lily has been planning a surprise birthday party for her boss all week
Regardless of the placement of additive phrase and it containing a plural noun the subject of the sentence is Lily so we use a singular verb
What are the rules related to the S-V agreement when we have conjunctions of the below type?
‘or’, ‘either-or’,’neither-nor’,’nor’
The subject which is closest to the verb takes precedence if we have a plural subject closer to the verb, the verb must agree with it of if we have a singular subject closer to the verb, the verb must agree with it
- Neither the bread nor the potatoes look very appealing
- Neither the potatoes nor the bread looks very appealing
- It is unknown whether stagnant wages or the recent cut to medical benefits was the cause of the strike
Subjects in the above sentences are ‘stagnant wages’ and ‘recent cut’ notice medical benefits is part of prepositional phrase so it cannot be the subject
What is strange with the below sentences?
- Found in many suburban areas are coyotes, medium-sized, dog-like animal
- In homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, on a mysterious island in the middle of the sea sings enchanting creatures whose call send ships crashing and lure passing sailors to their deaths
- Notice how the verb precedes the subject ‘coyotes’ but the role to match S-V remains the same
- In the sentence the main clause is inverted and it main verb is (sing/sings). To determine what the main verb should be plural or singular, we have to determine who or what sings. We see that it is the creature who sings. So verb should be ‘sings’.
What are collective nouns?
Collective nouns are nouns that name groups of people or things. Some examples of collective nouns are “team”, “crowd”,”litter”,”crew”,”band” etc. They are usually singular in the sentence
The only time collective nouns are treated as plural is when in the sentence it is mentioned or it can be gauged that the focus is on each individual item of the collective noun then we use a plural subject
e.g.
After the conflict resolution workshop had ended, the team were practicing speaking articulately to each other and using emotional intelligence to diffuse problems among members of the team
Collective noun majority and minority
These can be considered singular or plural depending on the contexts in which they appear e.g.
- A majority of the students are already applying for jobs
- In today’s world, in which most people have some knowledge of geography, only a small minority believe Earth to be flat
In the first sentence, it is the individual students who are applying for jobs, not the majority itself so we use a plural verb
In the second sentence small minority refers to a group of people hence we use the plural verb believe
- A two-thirds majority of the ministers was required for the passage of a new amendment
- A large enough minority is sufficient for blocking the passage of the new amendment
In 3rd and 4th, the sentences are not based on ministers but rather on 2/3 hence we have used a singular verb
What should be the verb used with the below sentence?
- The majority of the board members has/have gone home for the evening
- The majority of the team is/are putting on their equipment
- Given the sentence is about different board members, we have used the plural verb have
- The sentence is about the individual of the team hence we need to use plural verb are
What is the difference b/w the below two sentences?
- The guys at the prom look amazing
- Every guy at the prom looks amazing
The first sentence uses a plural verb form look because of a plural subject while the second sentence uses singular looks because of the singular subject ‘every’
The point which I want to make here, some preceding elements in a subject can require that subject take a singular verb even if the subject seems to be plural. When a subject begins with the word(s) “every”, “each”, “many a”, or “many an”, the subject is always singular even if it appears plural
Claire’s inbox is filled with more than a thousand emails, and many an email has gone unanswered
Notice how after using ‘many an’ we have still used the singular verb ‘has’, even if the sentence is preceded by a dependent clause. The words described above do not have to be at the beg. of the sentences for the rule to hold true
What are the rules for S-V agreement for relative pronouns such as “which”, “that”, “who”?
They can be singular or plural depending on their referents. That is, when a relative pronoun refers to a singular noun, the relative pronoun is singular and takes a singular verb e.g.
- The dresser that is on sale is still expensive (that refers to dresser hence singular verb is used)
- The curtains that are on sale are beautiful (that refers to curtains hence plural verb is used)
What are the rules for S-V agreement for indefinite pronouns?
Some indefinite pronouns are singular and always require singular verbs e.g. of indefinite pronouns which are always singular are all those which end in -one/-body/-thing i.e. anyone, anybody, anything, everyone, everybody, everything, etc.
The only exception to the above rule is with either/neither/whoever
With either/neither when clubbed with or follow the rule of the subject which is closest to the verb,
Above pronouns are usually followed by a prepositional phrase be sure to ignore those as they will most of the times contain plural subject which might lead you to select the wrong answer choice
What are e.g. of plural indefinite pronouns?
“Both”, “few”,”Several”, and “Many” these indefinite pronouns are always plural
- Both of my sisters like to watch cartoons on the weekends
- Several of the students prefer to read silently as opposed to aloud
