Subject-Verb Agreement Requires Balance Created by Georgia Clarkson Smith UWF Writing Lab Assistant 2009 Revised June 14, 2010, by Mamie Hixon, Writing.

Subject-Verb Agreement

Requires BalanceCreated by Georgia Clarkson Smith

UWF Writing Lab Assistant 2009

Revised June 14, 2010, by

Mamie Hixon, Writing Lab Director

Making Subjects and Verbs Agree

• Singular Subject = Singular Verb

• Plural Subject = Plural Verb

Tip:

Plural Verbs look singular (they have NO “s”).

Singular Verbs look plural (they DO have an “s”).

Balance Your Singulars and Plurals

The film about the forties is . . .The films of the forties are . . .

Singular Subject> verb with an s.

Plural Subject> verb with No s.

Balanced Sentences• “This presentation is boring”…

Singular subject = Singular Verb

• “Perhaps, not all of the presentations are boring”…Plural Subject = Plural Verb

• Sounds Easy…

Right?

Well, it gets a little complicated…

Key Rules to Subject-Verb Agreement

Look Out For…1. “And”

2. “Or” and “Nor”

3. “Doesn’t” and “Don’t”

4. Prepositional Phrases and “Disruptive” Word Groups

5. Indefinite Pronouns

6. Singular Nouns That “Look” Plural

7. Time, weight, distance, and Money

8. Pairs

9. “Here” and “There”

10. “It”

11. Collective Nouns

“AND”• When several

subjects are connected by AND, use a PLURAL verb.

• The complaints and questions are frustrating.

“Or” & “Nor”• When singular nouns or

pronouns are connected by OR or NOR, use a SINGULAR verb.

• Morgan or Jeni is scheduled to tutor today.

“Either . . . Or” and

“Neither . . . Nor”

• When singular nouns or pronouns are connected by EITHER…OR or NEITHER…NOR, use a SINGULAR verb.

• Neither the airline nor the flight attendant is happy.

The rules get weirder…• When a compound

subject contains both a singular AND a plural noun or pronoun joined by OR or NOR, the verb should agree with the subject that is CLOSER to the verb.

“Doesn’t” & “Don’t”

• Doesn’t = Does not….this is a singular verb form.

• Don’t = Do not…this is a plural verb form.

• The employee does not (doesn’t) agree with the decision.

• The employees do not (don’t) agree with the decision.

• Tip: Remember that though your verb phrase is “do like” OR “does like,” make your subject agree with the first verb in the phrase: “do” OR “does.” This helping verb is where we add or remove the “s” for balance.

• Exceptions to this rule occur with “I” and “you.” With these pronouns, “do,” “do not,” OR “don’t” should be used.

So why all the Confusion?...• Words between the subject

and the verb are what trip up many people.

• Physics, along with calculus and chemistry, make up the “Monster Trio” of the sciences.

• “Along with calculus and chemistry” is a prepositional phrase between the subject “Physics” and the verb “make.”

• Ignore the prepositional phrase… “Physics makes up the ‘Monster Trio.’”

Disruptive Word Groups

• Do not be misled by “disruptive” word groups that come between the subject and the verb.

• Neither of them were wearing a seatbelt.

• Simply ignore the “disruptive” phrase, or reduce the sentence to simplest form.

• Neither of them was wearing a seatbelt.

Indefinite Pronouns…Oh MY!

• each, one, each one, either, neither, everyone, everybody, anybody, anyone, nobody, somebody, someone, and no one are SINGULAR.

• Use a singular verb.

• Each of these students is receiving a trophy.

• Everybody loves a winner.

• Neither of the teams has ever won a championship game.

• Either answer is correct.

• Someone appreciates your efforts.

• Tip: All of these indefinite pronouns are in fact referring to a SINGLE (or potentially single) body or item. This is why they require a singular verb.

• Nouns like civics, economics, AIDS, and news require singular verbs though the nouns themselves end in “s” and look plural.

• The news is on at six.• Home economics involves more than

sewing and cooking.• AIDS is an epidemic.

Tip: These words imply a unified group, body or collection of information or study…this is why they are singular

.

DOLLARS $$$

• When referring to an amount of money, use a singular verb.

• When referring to physical dollars themselves, use a plural verb.

• One hundred dollars is, unfortunately, not a lot of money.• Dollars are the national currency.

Time, Distance & Weight.

-Twenty miles is quite a distance to run daily.

-Kilometers are a part of the metric system.

-Five hundred pounds is heavy.

-Pounds are an accurate measurement of weight.

Things With 2 Parts• Like scissors, pants, eye glasses,

tweezers…

• Plural Verbs.

• The safety scissors are ironically razor sharp.

• Her pants are outrageously tight.

“Here” & “There”• There’s several brush fires

in California.

• There are several brush fires in California.

• Here’s my reasons for quitting.

• Here are my reasons for quitting.

• Neither “there” nor “here” can serve as the subject of a sentence. When these words open a sentence, look for the subject to follow the verb.

Collective Nouns

• Nouns that include or imply more than one person but act as a unified group.

• group, team, class, family, committee, herd, jury, faculty

• If the persons in this collective noun are working together, or are being referred to as a whole, they take a singular verb.

• The team runs during practice.• My family goes to church.

• Collective nouns call for plural verbs when the group members are not acting together, or when you are referring to individual effort within the group.

• The jury has reached a verdict.• The jury have left the courthouse in separate cars.

• The crew is making its plans.• The crew are preparing the ship. (This sentence refers to the individual efforts of each member)

ReferencesThe OWL at Purdue

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/599/01/

The Capital Community College Foundation

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/sv_agr.htm

Red River College of Arts and Sciences

http://languagearts.pppst.com/subject-verb-agreement.html

Gerunds as Subjects

Inclusion/Exclusion Rule

• EXCLUSION – use a singular verb:

He is the only one of his classmates who drinks or smokes.

• INCLUSION – use a plural verb:

He is one of the millions of Americans who drink.

Consult a dictionary and/or follow your professor’s preference for Foreign Nouns as

Subjects

• SINGULAR PLURAL

criterion criteria

medium media

datum data

• The media are not invited.

• No new data are available.