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Subject-Verb Agreement

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!

However, if there is no option where the verb is modified, then you


may go ahead and choose the option where the subject is modified to
be consistent to the verb used.
Now, the reason that many of you were unable to spot this error in the
first place was that the subject and the verb were separated by a
bunch of words. This is a very common GMAT tactic.
The GMAT would try to make it difficult to spot the Subject and the
Verb clearly. The test-makers would add intruders between the
subject and the verb that would confuse the reader about the
properties of subject such as count or gender.
A good example of such an intruder is a prepositional phrase.
Remember, how we discussed that they act as adjectives and adverbs,
and how they can be easily be left out of the picture.
The children in the class that are crying out loud seems really
hungry.
Here, the subject of the sentence is children
The action being performed by these children (the subject) is to
seem hungry, i.e. the word seems is the verb.
Rest of the words, that are crying out loud, and in the class are
prepositional phrases.
The subject children and the verb seems do not agree in number.
The former is plural, while the latter is singular.
So, we should change the verb and make it plural too. The correct
sentence, therefore, would read
The children in the class that are crying out loud seem really hungry
Lets discuss various aspects of subject-verb agreement
1) Agree in count (singular or plural):
Before we proceed with this, first lets quickly go through the
singular and plural forms of verb.
Goes is singular, eg: He goes to the school everyday
Go is plural, eg: They go to the school
Runs is singular, eg: She run 5 km every day
Run is plural, eg: We should run now

The broad idea is that when a verb ends with s or an -es it is


singular. For eg: rises, dances, paints, etc.
This is contrary to what happens with nouns. When common
nouns end with an s it means that they are plural. For eg:
apples, oranges, kilos, gallons, etc.
Please be conscious of this difference. The non-native speakers
may find this thing a bit peculiar but be very aware and clear of
this difference.
Consider the following sentences:
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.

We are considering a move to London.


The scientist; regardless of whatever the general scientific
community thought about his theories, is convinced on the
merits of string theory.
A collection of balls are on display in the room.
These colorful balls represent the water molecules.
One of these balls represent the carbon atom.
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

The first one is straightforward. The subject is we, i.e. plural.


The verb is are which is again plural. Both the subject and the
verb agree in count and hence, this sentence is correct.
Lets focus on the second one. What is the subject of the
sentence?
To find the verb and the subject of a sentence we use the What
and the Who test.
Step 1: What is happening in the sentence?
Someone is convinced about the merits of the string theory.
Therefore, the verb is is convinced
Step 2: Who is the do-er of the action or the verb?
i.e. who is convinced about the merits of the theory The
Scientist. Therefore, the subject of the sentence is Scientist
The scientist is singular and the verb is convinced is also
singular (are convinced would have been plural)
The subject and the verb agree in number and the sentence is
correct.

In the 3rd sentence, the subject is a collection. Now collection


is a collective noun, and the sheer use of the article a indicates
that it is just 1 collection. Therefore, the subject in this case is
singular.
The verb here is display, which is used in its plural form. We
know its the plural form because the singular form would be
displays and because the helping verb are is being used.
The subject is singular and the verb is plural. Wait! This is
incorrect. So lets make the verb singular (which is always
preferable to changing the subject and making it plural). The
correct sentence; therefore, would be
A collection of balls is on display in the room
In the 4th sentence, the subject is balls, which is plural. The
verb is represent, which is plural again.
The subject is plural, the verb is plural, and therefore, the
sentence is correct.
In the 5th sentence, the subject is one of these balls and is
singular. This is because we are just talking about 1 of the balls,
and not all of them.
The verb is represent, which is plural.
The subject is singular and the verb is plural. Wait! This is wrong.
Lets fix this and make the verb singular as well.
One of these balls represents the carbon atom
The 6th sentence is the kind of question that would often appear
in the GMAT. What is the subject of this sentence? Think hard. Is
it the committee? Is it the representatives? Is it the Ministry
of Finance? Is it the Central Bank? Is it the progress?
All of these are the nouns in the sentence, but which of these is
the subject?
Ask yourself first What is happening in the sentence. It says
that no significant progress has been made. So the verb is have
made. Is this singular or plural? It is plural because the word
have is used and have is plural of has.

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

As you would observe in the sentences below, the core of this


concept is very easy. Most of us are familiar with the singular and
plural forms of the verb. Its just that the GMAT introduces so
much extra detail in the sentence (in the form of adjectives,
adverbs, prepositional phrase, or extra information separated by
commas or dashes) that we often lose sight of the main subject
and the main verb.
Lastly, if you ever get confused and have to make an intelligent
guess Choose singular when confused
2) Agree in meaning (correct, not absurd noun):
This one is essentially a careless mistake, and can easily be
avoided if we understand the sentence.
The pattern of this problem is that the sentence would have 2 or
more nouns/pronouns in it. That is there would be multiple words
that can be made the subject of the sentence.
However, the wrong noun would be bearing the burden of doing
the action, i.e. the wrong noun would be made the subject and
be associated with the verb.

To correct these sentences, well need to simply put the burden


of doing the action on the correct noun and make that noun the
subject of the sentence.
For eg: The invention of fusion power plants will provide clean
and cheap power to the inhabitants of Earth for centuries to
come
What is the subject of the sentence? It is invention. The verb
here is provide
Now, the subject is responsible for doing the action right? Here,
is the invention responsible for providing cheap power for
centuries. No, right!
It is the fusion power plants that would do that right. So, the
burden of providing electricity for centuries should be on them.
Therefore, the meaning of this sentence is incorrect. It can be
restructured like this
Upon invention, the fusion power plants will provide clean and
cheap power to the inhabitants of Earth for centuries to come
Lets try more.
The efficacy of the medicine was below par, consequently, it
failed to treat the ailment effectively.
What is the subject of the sentence? Efficacy (Efficacy means
potency or effectiveness)
What is the action that the subject is doing failed to treat
Now, was it the medicine that failed to treat the ailment or the
medicines efficacy? It was the medicine that failed to treat the
ailment, right. But, in the sentence it is suggested otherwise.
It says that the efficacy failed to treat the ailment. We know this
because the word it in the sentence refers to the subject
efficacy. So, lets fix the sentence to put the burden of failing
to treat the ailment on the correct noun the medicine
The correct sentence should be
The medicines efficacy was below par, consequently, it failed to
treat the ailment effectively.
The 10 Commandments of Sentence Correction:

1) A clause or prepositional phrase between the subject and the


verb does not change the count of the subject:
The GMAT loves to introduce distracting information between the
subject and the verb. This may distract you at times and may
confuse you about the subject and/or the verb.
Remember the Who test and the Which test to identify the
subject and the verb.
For eg: The can containing cashew nuts is kept on the table.
Observe that we are using singular is instead of the plural
are. This despite the fact that the immediate noun before is
is plural (cashew nuts).
We use the singular form of the verb because the subject can
(as in the canister) is singular.
2) Indefinite pronouns act as subjects:
As we have seen before, indefinite pronouns can also act as
subjects. Some indefinite pronouns are Always Singular Each,
Either, Everybody, Anybody, Anyone, Everyone, Nobody, Neither,
No One, Nothing, Somebody, Someone, One
For eg: Everyone thinks that OJ was the culprit
Nobody likes to eat raisin pie
Some indefinite pronouns are Always Plural Several, Both, Few,
Many
For eg: Several of them have opted to study Engineering
Both of them are really bright kids
Some indefinite pronouns can be either singular or plural Some,
Any, Most, All, None (acronym SAM AN)
If used with uncountable items use the singular form.
If used with countable items use the plural form.
For eg: Some sugar is kept on the table (sugar is uncountable;
hence singular)
Some balls are kept on the table (balls are countable; hence
plural)

3) Subjects joined by and are plural


Subjects (compound subjects i.e.) joined by and are always
plural.
For eg: Sarah and Jamie make a good team
She and I are best friends
However, be careful of certain nouns that are different
individually, but when joined with the help of and they act as a
single subject. Naturally, the singular verb would be used in such
cases.
For eg: My friend, philosopher, and guide is leaving town today.
Some compound subjects can act as either singular or plural
depending on the context.
For eg: Creating financial statements is my bread and butter
(singular)
Bread and butter are sold at the grocery store (plural)
Sometimes, it is the article in the compound subject that would
define whether the verb would be singular or plural. This one is
really important to know.
For eg: The Chairman and CEO is coming (singular)
The Chairman and the CEO are coming (plural)
Observe that the first sentence implies that the Chairman and
the CEO are the same person. While in the second sentence,
using the article the twice indicates that the Chairman and the
CEO are different people. Hence, the verb should be plural.
4) For Either-or or Neither-nor, proximity rules
In case of conjunctions such as Either-or and Neither-nor the
verb agrees to the subject that is closer to it.
For eg:
Neither the boss nor his subordinates are doing the work
efficiently (plural)
Neither the subordinates nor their boss is doing the work
efficiently (singular)

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.

Remember, when the verb appears before the subject, try


flipping the sentence to find out what verb form should be used.
6) Collective nouns are mostly singular
In the GMAT, most collective nouns are singular.
For eg: The committee is in session (singular)
A gathering of twenty thousand people; coming from all walks of
life, is marching on Times Square. (singular. The subject is a
gathering)
The jury has decided that the defendant is guilty. (singular)
The members of the jury have decided that the defendant is
guilty. (plural)
Notice the last 2 sentences. When we use the collective noun
jury, we use a singular verb. This is because we are talking about
1 jury.
However, in the second sentence we are focusing on the
members of the jury. The word members is plural and hence
the verb have is plural as well.
7) Names or Titles are always singular
The names of certain people, groups or objects are always
singular, even if they sound plural.
For eg: Letters to my son is my favorite collection of essays
The United Nations has decided to focus on malaria eradication
from Africa
In the above sentences, the subjects (Letters to my son and
United Nations) are singular, even when their names sound
plural. Correspondingly, singular verbs (is and has) have
been used.
8) Plural sounding subjects
Some plural sounding subjects are singular in nature. For eg:
measles, news, League of Nations, Yankees, physics, etc.
Physics is not my favorite subject

However, some plural sounding subjects can be either singular or


plural depending on the usage. For eg: politics, economics
Politics is my favorite subject (singular)
The politics of the situation are complicated (plural)
In the second sentence, the politics refers to the many facets of
the situation, therefore, we use a plural verb.
9) Quantity words or phrases
When using percentages or fractions or ratios, the verb agrees
with the subject used after the preposition.
For eg: Half of my life is gone (singular)
Half of my books are gone (plural)
In the first case, the subject after the preposition is my life,
which is singular. Therefore, the verb used is is also singular.
In the second case, the subject after the preposition is my
books, which is plural. Therefore, the verb used are is plural
as well.
10)

The number vs A number

The number is singular and A number is plural.


For eg: The number thirteen is my lucky number (singular)
A number of people have tried their luck at acting (plural)

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