Agreementof Subject/verb

Verbs must agree with their subjects in number (singular or plural) and person (I, you , he, they, …)

-The final –s or –es in the third person singular of the present tense.

He speaks English with a strange accent.She rushes to school in the morning

Non count nouns take a singular verb: money, air, happiness, vocabulary, homework,

Count Nouns take a plural verb form

Correct or incorrect?

People catches colds by breathing in infected droplets.

We spend a lot of time in front of the computer.

Irregular plurals:

child, deer, fish, cattle, ox, man, woman, goose, foot, tooth, sheep, mouse, louse, baby, potato, loaf, wife, crisis, criterion, medium, nucleus

Singular or plural

someanya lot ofallmostnone

Always singular

mucha littlelittleeveryeach

Always plural

bothfewmanyseveral

Always plural

Nouns that are Always Plural

binocularspajamastrousersscissors slacks pantsjeansglasses

-

The subject and verb agree even when words come between them.

Maria usually comes to class on time.

My best friend from my high school years fits the description.

-The verb in a relative clause agrees with the noun that the clause modifies.

The man who lives next door is my father.

Correct or incorrect?

The person whose orders resulted in layoffs run the company as its CEO.

The reporter who wrote the article I read think this is unfair.

Adjectives/nouns –

A four-year-old child, a three-month vacation,He must be sixty years old.

Three years is a long time.Sixty dollars is too much to pay for that shirt.

Thirty-two pounds is the average size of a three-year old girl.

Reading is fun

Here ThereWord order -verb agrees with subject that comes after

Here are the items.There is only one movie for children at this theater.

Collective Nouns Community Jury Band Committee Team audience

Faculty Family Police Orchestra Crowd class

Collective nouns – can take either a singular or a plural verb. When the singular is used, the focus is on the group as a whole.

When the plural is used, the focus is on the individual members of the group.

My family lives together in a big house.

My family take separate vacations.

Nouns ending in –s that are singular:

news, physics, measles, mathematics, economics, arthritis, diabetes, laryngitis, tuberculosis, tennis, athletics, linguistics politics, statistics, gymnastics –

Economics is very interesting

-The subject and verb agree when a gerund, infinitive, or noun clause is the subject of the verb.

-There is /there are, there was/were, there has been/have been

The quantifying expressions “One of the”, “all of the”, some (of the) none (of the), everyone (of the), the number of, a number of

One of the oldest buildings on campus is North Hall.Some of the milk has gone sour.The number of volunteers was surprising. A number of students were absent today.

Indefinite Pronouns – always take a singular verb.

Anyone anybody anythingeveryone everybody everythingsomeone somebody somethingno one nobody nothing

Anyone is welcome.Everything works out eventually.Each student writes a paper.Nothing satisfies her.

Compound Subjects:The verb agrees with the closer subject.Either…orNeither…norNot only…but also

the verb is always pluralboth…and

Either my brothers or my sister is going.Neither my hat nor my gloves are there.Not only the students, but also the teacher plans to be at the meeting.A hamburger and fries is my favorite snack.My friend and protector is the dog.

The End!