SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT

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SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT
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LESSON 1

• SINGULAR/PLURAL

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THE BASIC RULE OF THUMB(This is the easy part!)

• Singular subjects take singular verbs
• Plural subjects take plural verbs
• Heres a hint to help find the subject
• The subject will never be found in the
  prepositional phrase.

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NEXT ISSUE
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Remember your math

• One one two
• Singular singular plural
• AND
• The ugly lawn gnome AND the lovely plastic elf
  belong together.
• Gnome (singular) AND elf (singular) belong
  (plural)

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LETS PRACTICE!!
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Singular or plural?

• The ugly lawn gnome loves the lovely plastic elf.
• The lovely plastic elf is pining after the ugly
  lawn gnome.
• The weeds are a problem to this unhappy couple.
• The hedge clippers are their only hope!

Gnome loves singular
Elf is pining singular
Weeds are plural
Clippers are plural
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OR, EITHEROR, NEITHERNOR

• Now what???

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Grab your ruler

• The verb choice depends on the closest subject

If the subject closest to the verb is singular,
use a singular verb.
(Either the students or the teacher has the right
answer.)
If the subject closest to the verb is plural, use
a plural verb.
(Either the teacher or the students have the
right answer.
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Either, Neither without their partners Or and Nor
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The subjects EITHER and NEITHER with no partner
are ALWAYS SINGULAR.
Either of the two teams is good enough to win the
championship.
Neither of the dogs has a collar.
Youll be tempted to use teams and dogs and
choose plural verbs. Resist the temptation!!
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A couple of other points to remember..
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• The number of requires a singular verb.
• A number of requires a plural verb.

The number of cases of West Nile Virus is growing
every year.
A number of students are protesting on Friday
night.
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Lets Practice!!!

• The sheriff along with two of her deputies (were,
  was) checking licenses at the North Road exit.
• WAS
• Some of the lots in our subdivision (was, were)
  not for sale.
• WERE
• Here (is, are) the transistors and diodes that
  you purchased for your repair shop.
• ARE
• Genetics (is, are) very difficult for beginning
  students to understand.
• IS

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More Practice!!!

• The number of girls in my football club (was,
  were) surprising.
• WAS
• A number of the swimmers (is, are) going to the
  state competition.
• ARE
• There (is, are) some error messages showing up in
  my program.
• ARE
• Neither Betty nor Jane (type, types) more than
  fifty words per minute.
• TYPES

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LESSON 2

• WORDS BETWEEN THE SUBJECT AND VERB

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Dont let words between the subject and verb trip
you up! These interrupters may include

• Prepositional phrases
• Appositive phrases

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Prepositional phrases

• Prepositional phrase prepositionobject of the
  preposition
• The files of any computer are vulnerable to
  electronic-age thieves.
• Ignore the prepositional phrase
• The subject files (pl)
• The verb are (pl)

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Appositive phrases

• Appositive phrases contain extra information and
  are set off from the sentence with commas.
• Computer thieves, people like the hacker Kevin
  Mitnick, steal government and industry secrets.
• Ignore the appositive phrase
• The subject thieves
• The verb steal

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Interrupters may also be clauses and participles

• But those are for another day!!!!

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REMEMBER

• IGNORE THE INTERRUPTERS.
• CROSS OUT (at least mentally) PREPOSITIONAL
  PHRASES AND APPOSITIVE PHRASES.
• FIND THE SUBJECT AND VERB IN THE BASIC SENTENCE.

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PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
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Which sentence is correct? Why?
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• The boy in the first row, along with all the
  other students in the class, are beleaguered by
  the worksheets.
• The boy in the first row, along with all the
  other students in the class, is beleaguered by
  the worksheets.

boy is
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• The girl with the blue ribbons in her hair, but
  not the other girls in the class, throws
  spitballs at the teacher.
• The girl with the blue ribbons in her hair, but
  not the other girls in the class, throw spitballs
  at the teacher.

Girl throws
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• The ugly lawn gnome with 10,000 eyes and only
  five toes love the lovely plastic elf.
• The ugly lawn gnome with 10,000 eyes and only
  five toes loves the lovely plastic elf.

gnome loves
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• The lovely plastic elf, fascinated with
  folktales, imagines herself as a beautiful
  princess in love with the ugly lawn gnome.
• The lovely plastic elf, fascinated with
  folktales, imagine herself as a beautiful
  princess in love with the ugly lawn gnome.

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LESSON 3

• INDEFINITE-PRONOUN SUBJECTS

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An indefinite pronoun refers to an unspecified
person or thing.

• Some indefinite pronouns are always singular.
• Some indefinite pronouns are always plural.
• Some indefinite pronouns can be singular or
  plural depending on how they are used.

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• Singular indefinite pronouns take singular verbs.
  
• Plural indefinite pronouns take plural verbs.

Everyone has heard of Sherlock Holmes and Dr.
Watson
Few realize that Arthur Conan Doyle solved
real-life cases.
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Indefinite Pronouns
SINGULAR (The ones, things, bodies) So everybody is happy because no one has caused any trouble, and anything goes. anyone, everyone, no one, someone, one, anything, everything, nothing, something anybody, everybody nobody, somebody another, either, neither, each
PLURALBoth authors horses are show jumpers. Both, few, many, several
SINGULAR OR PLURAL All, any, more, most, none, some
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Six indefinite pronouns take singular verbs when
they refer to one thing. They take plural verbs
when they refer to two or more people or things.

• To decide whether the pronoun takes a singular or
  plural verb, find the noun in the prepositional
  phrase that follows the indefinite pronoun.
• Most of the story takes place in England.
• Most of the stories take place in England.

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More examples of the 6 indefinite pronouns than
can be singular or plural

• Any of the book is interesting.
• Any of the magazines are interesting.
• All of the pie is gone.
• All of the shoes are on sale.
• None of the pollution is blamed on the factory.
• None of the factories are to blame for the
  pollution.
• Some of the speech is appropriate.
• Some of the politicians are giving speeches
  tonight.

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BY THE WAY.
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EACH and EVERY change whatever follows into a
singular idea.

• EACH shoe and sock is in need of mending.
• EVERY dress and skirt in that store is on sale.
• EACH of those Halloween pumpkins was rotten by
  December.
• EVERY one of the atomic secrets has been stolen.

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REMEMBER

• EACH mistaken subject and verb is
• a problem, and EVERY grammar rule and example is
  important.

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Indefinite Pronouns
SINGULAR (The ones, things, bodies) So everybody is happy because no one has caused any trouble, and anything goes. anyone, everyone, no one, someone, one, anything, everything, nothing, something anybody, everybody nobody, somebody another, either, neither, each
PLURAL Both, few, many, several
SINGULAR OR PLURAL All, any, more, most, none, some
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GIVE IT A TRY!! (Grammar for Writing 2008)
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1. Many of Arthur Conan Doyles fans enjoy reading
   about the real-life cases Doyle solved.
2. One of these cases involve George Edalji, a young
   man from a small English village.
3. Someone among the villagers are viciously killing
   animals.
4. Nearly all of the animals are killed at night in
   open fields.
5. According to police, most of the evidence point
   to Edalji.

Correct
involves
is
Correct
points
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• 6) Everyone on the jury find him guilty.
• 7) Someone writes Doyle, asking him to help
  Edalji.
• 8) One of Doyles tests reveal Edaljis night
  blindness.
• 9) No one with night blindness are able to chase
  and kill animals in the dark.
• 10) After hearing Doles evidence, all of the
  commissioners pardons Edalji.

finds
Correct
reveals
is
pardon
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• Subject-Verb Agreement With Inverted Sentences

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IN AN INVERTED SENTENCE

• The verb (or part of the verb) comes before the
  subject.
• Inverted sentences
• may be questions DOES the bank WANT the
  robber punished?
• or
• may begin with there, here, where Here IS a
  book about dumb criminals
• or
• may begin with a phrase Right by the police
  SPEEDS the truck.

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To decide whether to use a singular verb or a
plural verb

• FIRST, find the subject
• THEN, make sure the verb agrees with the subject.

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THERE IS AN EASY WAY TO FIND THE TRUE SUBJECT

• Out of the bank (come, comes) the two robbers.
• Turn the sentence around so that the subject
  comes before the verb. The two robbers (come,
  comes) out of the bank.
• Determine whether the subject is singular or
  plural. Robbers (plural)
• Make sure the subject and verb agree. The two
  robbers come out of the bank.

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REWRITE THESE SENTENCES SO THEY ARE IN NATURAL
WORD ORDER.

• There are nine players on a baseball team.
• Is your coat in the closet?
• Were we surprised!
• There are still season tickets available.

Nine players are on a baseball team.
Your coat is in the closet.
We were surprised!
Season tickets are still available.
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NOW, WRITE THE SUBJECT AND VERB FOR EACH SENTENCE

• There are nine players on a baseball team.
• Is your coat in the closet?
• Were we surprised!
• There are still season tickets available.

players are
coat is
we were
tickets are
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LESSON 5

• Subject/Verb Agreement with collective nouns,
  nouns ending in s, titles, amounts, time

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AGREEMENT WITH COLLECTIVE NOUNS

• Collective nouns are singular when they refer to
  the group as a unit.
• Collective nouns are plural when they refer to
  the individual members of the group.

The flock of birds is covering the sky. (The
flock is one unit.) The jury is still
deliberating. (The jury is one unit)
The flock of birds were grooming themselves.
(The flock are thought of as individual
birds.) The jury argue about the case. (The
individuals argue.)
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SOME COMMON COLLECTIVE NOUNS
Flock Committee Class Club Team Family Pride Staff Jury Herd Police Majority Crowd Public
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AGREEMENT WITH NOUNS ENDING IN S

• Certain words end in s and look plural but have
  a singular meaning.
• Use a singular verb with these words.

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SOME COMMON SINGULAR NOUNS THAT END IN S
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• The news is on at 600
• Molasses is a very sweet syrup.
• Mumps is very dangerous so a vaccine was
  developed.
• Politics has a big effect on rural communities.
• Physics is my favorite class.
• Genetics determines hair color.
• Forensics is a popular science because of popular
  T.V. shows like CSI.

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AGREEMENT WITH TITLES AND EXPRESSIONS OF AMOUNT
AND TIME
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TITLES OF WORKS OF ART, LITERATURE AND MUSIC ARE
SINGULAR Language Network

• Another genuine Mona Lisa has been discovered.
• The Twelve Chairs is a comic mystery story.
• Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes, 100 Great
  Detectives is a very interesting book.

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WORDS RELATING TO WEIGHTS, MEASURES, NUMBERS ARE
USUALLY SINGULAR SUBJECTS SO REQUIRE SINGULAR
VERBS.

• Fifty thousand dollars has been raised to ransom
  the missing painting.
• Over two-thirds of the money comes from private
  donations.
• Eighty pounds of food has been donated to the
  food pantry.
• (Dont confuse these numbers with numbers used as
  adjectives before a noun. - ex. Nine players are
  on a team.)

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KEEP THIS IN MIND, THOUGH

• Measurements are considered plural when meant as
  individual components. (Six more miles are ahead
  of us.)
• When an amount tells how much, use a singular
  verb. (Half of the money comes from donations.)
• When an amount tells how many, use a plural verb.
  (Half of the guards are on duty.)
• BTW When a sentence begins with a number, the
  number is ALWAYS SPELLED OUT.

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LENGTHS OF TIME ARE USUALLY TREATED AS SINGULAR

• Twelve years is a long time for an investigation
  to continue.
• Fifty years was the maximum sentence for the
  crime.
• Thirty minutes is a long time to wait for a table
  in a restaurant.

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Lets practice
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Choose the correct verb and state the rule that
determines your choice.

• War and Peace (is, are)a novel by the Russian
  writer Tolstoy.
• Physics (is, are) an exciting college major.
• Susanna (dont, doesnt) believe in astrology.
• The jury (has, have) finally returned to the
  courtroom.
• There (are, is) usually two players on each side.
• Hard Times (are, is) my favorite novel by
  Dickens.

is
is
Doesnt
has
are
is
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• 7. The pride of lions (were, was) resting near
  a stream.
• 8. (Do, Does) your soccer team play during the
  fall and spring of the season?
• 9. Ten dollars (is, are) too high a price for
  that.
• 10. The majority of the students (prefers,
  prefer) take-home exams.

was
Does
is
prefers