Subject-verb Agreement

Subject-verb Agreement (s/v agr)

Subjects must agree with their verbs (sometimes also called predicates).  In order for that to happen, you must keep in mind several rules:

1. Singular subjects take singular verbs; plural subjects take plural subjects.

Tom drives to work everyday. 

 Singular subject = Tom;  singular verb = work

              Cats chase mice. 

Plural subject = cats; plural verb = chase

2. Prepositional phrases can come between the subject and verb.  In that case,

      overlook the prepositional phrase and make the subject agree with the verb.

                        One of my best friends is a lawyer.   

Prepositional phrase = of my best friends; singular subject = one;

singular verb = is.

3. Two subjects, joined to each other by and, is considered a plural subject, which   

       will naturally take a plural verb.

Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien are two late night comedians on NBC.

      Plural subject = Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien; plural subject = are

      When the compound subject forms a single idea, use a singular verb.

              Speech and theatre is the name of a college department.

      Singular subject = speech theatre; singular verb = is

4. When subjects are separated by or or nor (or by either and neither), the subject nearest the verb need to agree.

My brother or my parents are going to represent me at the meeting.

Plural subject = parents; plural verb = are

My parents or my brother is going to represent me at the meeting.

Singular subject = brother; singular verb = is

Neither the boys nor their father is going to meet the principal.

Singular subject = father; singular verb: is

5. Indefinite pronouns, as subjects, always take singular verbs.  These are indefinite pronouns:

each                 anyone                         anybody                      anything

either               everyone                      everybody                   everything

neither             someone                      somebody                    something

one                  no one                         nobody                        nothing

An example of a sentence with an indefinite pronoun follows:

Nobody is at home.

Singular subject = nobody, singular verb = is

6. Collective nouns, as subjects, take singular verbs.  Some collective nouns are

       words board of trustees, team, jury, faculty, committee, family, couple, crowd,    

       and audience.

              The faculty meets this Friday in the conference room.

      Singular subject = faculty; singular verb: meets

7. Subjects that seem to be plurals with an s at the end, although singular in meaning, take on a singular verb.  Examples of such words are news, statistics, economics, athletics, mathematics, politics, and physics.

Mathematics is one of the most difficult subjects for college students.

8.  When verbs come before the subjects, the subjects must take the appropriate verbs.   

     Usually, in a sentence the verb follows the subject.  However, in some, the verbs   

precede the subject.    

               Here is the book you are supposed to read for the class.

      Singular verb = is; singular subject = book

                  There were ten people at my party.

      Plural verb = were; plural subject = people

8. Gerunds, and titles of books, films, and company names will always take singular verbs.  Gerund phrases are verbs ending in ing and followed by modifiers, complements, or objects.

              Answering the phone is the job of the intern.

     Gerund: answering the phone; singular verb= is;

                        XYZ manufactures many of our household products.

      Title of company = XYZ; singular verb = manufactures

Verbs

Verbs (verb, vt)

            Verbs give many beginning writers problems.  Common verb problems involve be verbs, regular and irregular verbs, verb tense shifts, and standard and nonstandard verbs. 

Be Verbs

Be verbs (is, am, was, were, been, being) are troublesome. It is not uncommon to hear, even sometimes read in college essays, the be verb in this manner:

 I be at my mother’s house when the child knocked at the door. 

Despite this incorrect use of be verb, they make sentences tedious and uninteresting.  The ways to correct them involve using action verbs, changing passive voice to active voice (See voice in this Section.), changing nominalizations (See nominalizations in this chapter.) to verbs, and combining sentences to form compound ones.

(Weak form of the be verb):         The television network is planning to

broadcast five new reality shows this fall.

(Better form of the be verb):         The televisions network plans to broadcast five new reality shows this fall.

Helping Verbs

On many occasions, verbs perform their actions with some help from other verbs.  Common helping verbs are is, are, was, are, were, will, be, have, has, had, do, does, did, can, could, may might, must, shall, should, and could.  They come before the main verbs.  The helping the helping verb and the main together are known as verbal phrases.

Regular and Irregular Verbs

                  Verbs can be either regular or irregular.  Most verbs in the English language are regular.  These regular verbs have four principal parts: present, past, future, past participle, and present participle.  For example,

Present                  Past                 Past Participle             Present Participle

talk                                    talked              talked                          talking

call                         called               called                           calling

cause                     caused             caused                         causing

Two things should be noted about regular verbs.

1. Past tense and past participles are formed by adding d or ed the present tense form of the verb.  Talk becomes talked in the past and past participle forms.
2. Past participle forms have to employ helping verbs, such as has, have, or had or is, are, was, or were.  For example: Sara has talked to me about her plans to attend a private university.

Irregular verbs can be confusing since the majority of them change their

spellings in the past and past participle forms. Some of them keep the same spelling in the past and past participle forms as in the present tense.  Nonetheless, the present participle is formed in the same way as is done in regular verbs by adding ing.  The following is a list of common irregular verbs that can be useful.

Present                        Past                 Past Participle             Present Participle

be                    was, were        been                             being

beat                 beaten              beaten, beat                 being

become            became            become                        becoming

begin               began               begun                          beginning

bite                  bit                    bitten, bit                     biting

blow                blew                blown                          blowing

break               broke               broken                         breaking

bring                brought            brought                        bringing

burst                burst                burst                            bursting

buy                  bought             bought                         buying

catch                caught             caught                         catching

choose             chose               chosen                         choosing

come                came                come                            coming

cost                  cost                  cost                              costing

cut                   cut                   cut                               cutting

deal                 dealt                dealt                            dealing

dig                   dug                  dug                              digging

dived               dived, dove     dived                           diving

do                    did                   done                            doing

draw                drew                drawn                          drawing

eat                   ate                   eaten                            eating

fall                   fell                   fallen                           falling

feel                  felt                   fallen                           feeling

find                 found              found                          finding

fight                fought             fought                         fighting

fly                    flew                 flown                           flying

freeze              froze                frozen                          freezing

get                   got                   got, gotten                   getting

give                 gave                 given                           giving

go                    gone                went                            going

grow                grew                grown                          growing

hang                hung                hung                            hanging

have                 had                  had                              having

hear                 heard               heard                           hearing

hide                 hid                   hidden                         hiding

hit                    hit                    hit                                hitting

hurt                  hurt                  hurt                              hurting

keep                 kept                 kept                             keeping

know               knew               known                         knowing

lay                   laid                  laid                              laying

lead                 led                   led                               leading

lend                 lent                  lent                              lending

lie                    lay                   lain                              lying

lose                  lost                  lost                              losing

make                made               made                           making

mean                meant              meant                          meaning

pay                  paid                 paid                             paying

prove               proved             proved, proven            proving

read                 read                 read                             reading

ride                  rode                 ridden                          riding

rise                   rose                  risen                             rising

run                   ran                   run                               running

say                   said                  said                              saying

see                   saw                  seen                             seeing

send                 sent                  sent                              sending

set                    set                    set                                setting

sell                   sold                 sold                             selling

shake               shook               shaken                         shaking

show                showed            showed, shown           showing

shoot               shot                 shot                             shooting

shrink              shrank              shrunk                         shrinking

sing                  sang                 sung                             singing

sink                  sank                 sunk                             sinking

sit                    sat                    sat                                sitting

sleep                slept                 slept                             sleeping

speak               spoke               spoken                         speaking

spin                  spun                 spun                             spinning

sell                   sold                 sold                             selling

stand               stood               stood                           standing

steal                 stole                 stolen                           stealing

stick                 stuck                stuck                            sticking

sting                stung               stung                           stinging

strike               struck              struck, stricken            striking

swear               swore               sworn                          swearing

swim                swam               swum                           swimming

take                 took                 taken                           taking

teach                taught              taught                          teaching

tell                   told                  told                              telling

think                thought            thought                        thinking

throw               threw               thrown                         throwing

wake                woke, waked   woken, waked             waking

wear                wore                worn                            wearing

win                  won                 won                             winning

wring               wrung              wrung                          wining

write                wrote               written                         written

Sentence Fragments

A sentence fragment lacks the ingredients of a sentence, such as a subject, a complete verb, or making complete sense. 

Examples of fragments are as follows:

Talking on the phone.

Paper plates and cups strewn all over the lawn.

Although I am contented with my job.

Subject

In order to correct fragments, the first thing to do is ask the question: Does the statement have a subject?  If one is missing, adding a subject can turn the fragment into a sentence.

Picked up milk from the grocery.  (Who did?)

By adding the subject Saman, the statement will be a complete one:

         Saman picked up milk from the grocery.

Complete Predicate

Another question, you should ask: Does the statement have a complete verb?

She talking on the phone.

The verb is incomplete. 

By adding the helping verb is, the statement becomes complete.

She is talking on the phone.

Another thing that can create a fragment is the use of ing or to verb at the beginning or end of a sentence.

Kumar was sick.  Fighting a virus for a week.

The second statement is a fragment, which can be corrected by replacing the period with a comma after sick and making a of appearing into a lower case.

Kumar was sick, fighting a virus for a week

Dependent Words

Another way to test for fragments is to ask the question:  Are statements with dependent words connected to complete sentences (independent clauses)?  Dependent clauses have subject and verbs, but they begin with subordinating conjunctions (such as if, because, or when) or relative pronouns (such as who, which, or that). 

Because her opposition to the city dump is well known.

That you drove this morning.

Dependent-word statements can be corrected by connecting them to complete sentences or rewriting them.

(Attached to a sentence):        Because her opposition to the city dump is well

known, she is respected by those in the environmental movement.

(Correct):                                 Her opposition to the city dump has made her respected in the environmental movement.

(Attached to a sentence):       Raju has an antique car that you drove this morning.

 (Correct):                                You drove Raju’ antique car this morning.

In order for you to recognize dependent words, a list of the common words is given below.

after                                         if                                              what

although                                  since                                        when

because                                    that                                          which

before                                      unless                                      while

even if                                     until                                         who

Comma splice

A comma splice occurs when two sentences (independent clauses) are joined by a comma.

For instance:                            Mighty Mouse has been absent from movie screens for a number of years, Mickey Mouse is doing well in Disney’s theme parks. 

Commas are not strong enough to bridge the sentences.  There are ways by which comma splices can be corrected.