Subject verb agreement – ever heard of the term? Well, here is a chance to learn what subject verb agreement means, what the term ‘concord’ refers to and the rules to help you understand how it works. Also check out the subject verb agreement examples given and try out the exercises on subject verb agreement to have a clear idea of what it is and how it has to be used to frame perfect sentences.
The term ‘subject-verb agreement’, just like the name suggests, refers to the agreement between the subject and the verb. This is mainly with reference to singular and plural nouns/pronouns that act as subjects. According to the Collins Dictionary, “concord refers to the way that a word has a form appropriate to the number or gender of the noun or pronoun it relates to. For example, in ‘She hates it’, there is concord between the singular form of the verb and the singular pronoun ‘she’.”
The general rule of subject-verb agreement according to Garner’s Modern English Usage is “to use a plural verb with a plural subject, a singular verb with a singular subject. This rule holds true for most cases. However, there are exceptions to this rule. Check out the next section to learn how verbs have to be conjugated in order to agree with the subject.
The concept of subject-verb concord matters the most when using the present tenses. The simple past and simple future tenses have the same verbs used irrespective of the subject in the sentence. Knowing and following the rules of subject-verb agreement will help you write error-free sentences. Go through the following rules and also go through the examples to understand how each rule is applied.
The first rule is what we have already discussed – the use of a singular verb with a singular subject and a plural verb with a plural subject. The subject can be a noun, a pronoun or even a noun phrase. If it is a pronoun, the subject-verb agreement is done with reference to the person of the pronoun.
When using the ‘be’ form of verbs, there is an exception. In this case, the verb is used according to the number and person of the subject. Check out the following table to see how it works with different pronouns.
| Person | Pronoun | Verb | Example |
| First person singular | I | am | I am confident. |
| First person plural | We | are | We are confident. |
| Second person singular/plural | You | are | You are confident. |
| Third person singular | He | is | He is confident. |
| She | is | She is confident. | |
| It | is | It is amazing. | |
| Third person plural | They | are | They are confident. |
Furthermore, when used with other nouns and noun phrases, the rule applies. The same works even with simple past, present continuous and past continuous tenses when the ‘be’ form of verbs are used as the principal verb/helping verb. Check out the following examples to understand.
The use of ‘have’ and ‘has’ in the present perfect tense, the present perfect continuous tense and as a main verb is also dependent on the subject. All singular subjects use ‘has’ and all plural subjects use ‘have’.
Compound subjects combined using the conjunction ‘and’ take a plural verb.
When more than one noun is joined by the conjunction ‘or’, the subject is considered to be singular and a singular verb is used.
Sentences with pronouns such as anybody, anyone, no one, somebody, someone, everybody, everyone, nothing and nobody are treated as singular subjects and will therefore use a singular verb.
For sentences using ‘either..or’ and ‘neither..nor’, the verb should agree with the noun or pronoun that comes just before it.
When sentences have subjects like police, news, scissors, mathematics, etc. (nouns that are plural by default), the verb used should be plural.
When a negative sentence is written, the ‘do’ verb is used and it has to match the subject.
Interrogative sentences also take the help of the ‘do’ verb. As far as the subject-verb agreement of interrogative sentences is concerned, the first verb (‘be’ verb or ‘do’ verb) has to be aligned with the subject of the sentence.
When you have sentences that begin with ‘here’, ‘there’, ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘those’, ‘these’, etc., always remember that the subject follows the verb and therefore the verb has to be conjugated with reference to the subject.
Abstract nouns and uncountable nouns are considered as singular subjects, so make sure you use a singular verb along with it.
When the subject refers to a period of time, distance or a sum of money, use a singular verb.
The next rule is based on the use of collective nouns as subjects. Remember that when you have a collective noun as the subject of the sentence, the verb can be singular or plural based on the sentence and the context.
In sentences that have adjectives such as ‘all’, ‘a lot of’, ‘lots of’ or ‘some’ are used along with nouns to form a phrase that acts as the subject of the sentence, the verb is used according to the noun just before it.
When a sentence begins with ‘each’ or ‘every’ as the subject, it is considered singular and so the verb has to be singular too.
When you are using a sentence to express a wish or a sentence expressing a request, verbs are used a little differently from other sentences.
Furthermore, go through the article on tenses to learn how verbs are conjugated according to the tense of the sentence.
Go through the following sentences, analyse if the underlined verb agrees with its subject and make changes if necessary.
1. One of the plates are broken.
2. The seven children from Chennai has been selected for the final round of the quiz.
3. Neither the children nor the teacher has reached yet.
4. Sheena and her sister is here to see you.
5. A lot of food choices was given.
6. My parents lives in New Zealand.
7. Don’t you think 4 days are a little too long?
8. Do anyone know where the lift is?
9. The little girl do not like mangoes for some reason.
10. You has brought all that I had asked for.
Here are the answers for the exercise. Go through them to find out how many of them you got right.
1. One of the plates is broken.
2. The seven children from Chennai have been selected for the final round of the quiz.
3. Neither the teacher nor the children have reached yet.
4. Sheena and her sister are here to see you.
5. A lot of food choices were given.
6. My parents live in New Zealand.
7. Don’t you think 4 days is a little too long?
8. Does anyone know where the lift is?
9. The little girl does not like mangoes for some reason.
10. You have brought all that I had asked for.
The term ‘subject-verb agreement’, just like the name suggests, refers to the agreement between the subject and the verb. This is mainly with reference to singular and plural nouns/pronouns that act as subjects.
According to the Collins Dictionary, “concord refers to the way that a word has a form appropriate to the number or gender of the noun or pronoun it relates to. For example, in ‘She hates it’, there is concord between the singular form of the verb and the singular pronoun ‘she’.”
Here are 5 examples of subject-verb agreement for your reference.