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Subject and Verb are the 2 most critical component of any sentence. In
fact, every sentence would definitely have a subject and a verb. A
sentence is incomplete without a subject and a verb (a Finite
Verb). Everything else adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, helping
verbs is optional in a sentence, but the subject and the verb are
mandatory.
Subject-verb agreement is one of the most common concepts tested in
the Verbal section of the GMAT. We have already had a glimpse of
agreement-type
questions.
Remember
Pronoun-Antecedent
agreement?
In fact, SC questions in the GMAT tests concepts similar to pronounantecedent agreement (write this sentence down on the screen). In
pronoun-antecedent agreement, we said that the pronoun must agree
with its antecedent in gender and in count. If the antecedent is
singular, the pronoun must be singular as well. Similarly, if the subject
is singular, the verb must be singular as well.
For eg, notice the 1st sentence of the last paragraph. The subject of the
sentence is questions, and the main verb of the sentence is tests.
In other words, the sentence is talking about questions that the
GMAT tests.
Notice that the subject questions is plural. However, the
corresponding verb tests is a singular verb. Therefore, the subject
and the verb are not in agreement over the count.
We have 2 choices now
1) Make the subject singular to agree with the verb SC question
on the GMAT tests concepts similar to pronoun-antecedent
agreement
2) Make the verb singular to agree with the subject SC questions
on the GMAT test concepts similar to pronoun-antecedent
agreement
Which of these 2 sentences is closer in meaning to the original
sentence. Obviously the 2nd one!
Remember, if given a choice, modify the verb to agree with the
subject, and Not vice-versa. The subject is important!
Now Who is the do-er of the verb, i.e. who have made the
progress - The committee or the representatives?
The answer is the committee. The fact that the committee is
made up of representatives from some people is a different
matter.
The subject; therefore, is committee and is singular.
Now, the subject committee is singular, and the verb have
made is plural. This is incorrect! Lets fix this and make the verb
singular. The correct sentence would be
The committee on economic affairs; which is made up of
representatives from the Ministry of Finance and the Central
Bank, have not made significant progress in facilitating
investment in the manufacturing sector
In both the sentences the subjects are the boss and the
subordinates. In the first sentence the plural subject (the
subordinates) is closer to the verb and, hence, the verb also
takes the plural form.
In the second sentence, the singular subject (the boss) is
closer to the verb and hence, the verb also takes the singular
form and becomes is.
5) Agreement when subject follows the verb
Sometimes the folks at GMAT would change the normal order of
the sentence and bring the verb before the subject. Be careful to
take this into account and change the singular/plural nature of
the verb accordingly.
For eg:
i) My soup is full of flies (singular)
ii) There are flies filling up my soup (plural)
iii) There are a cat and a dog in my living room (plural)
The subject (soup) precedes the verb (is) in the 1st sentence.
So, we follow the normal rules of Subject-Verb agreement and
keep the verb singular.
In the 2nd sentence, the verb are precedes the subject flies.
Take care of the fact that here we have essentially flipped the
previous sentence and made flies the subject instead of
soup.
Now, the verb are has to agree with the subject flies.
In the 3rd sentence, the verb are is used to signify a cat and a
dog. This sentence may look odd at first, but is grammatically
correct. To understand why we should use are here and not
is, consider the following
Lets flip the sentence and bring it in the normal order, i.e. the
subject first and the verb after.
A cat and a dog are there in my living room
Now, what would be correct verb form to use here? Would it be
singular or plural? Remember Commandment #3 subjects
joined by and are plural. Therefore, the correct verb form
should be are i.e. plural.