A REVIEW OF THE

SUBJECT-VERB
AGREEMENT
GUEST SPEAKER: CHRISTIAN SY

1. Intervening expressions such as together

with, as well as, accompanied by do not affect
the number of the subject.
Katrina, as well as her friends, drinks only
bottled water.
Her sister, including her friends, knows how
conserve
water. is followed by a
2.toWhen
the subject
prepositional phrase, the verb agrees with the
subject, not with the object of the preposition.
The problems of water shortage affect the
whole community.
At the end of the Christmas holidays come the
best sales.

3. Indefinite pronouns may be singular or plural

depending on the sense of the sentence.
A. Singular indefinite pronouns
Each Anyone Either Nobody Neither
No One Someone Somebody Everybody
Everything
Somebody in here loves you.
either
of you have a pencil?
B. PluralDoes
indefinite
pronouns
Both Few Many Several
Both of my friends have decided to let it go.
Few seek the enlightenment of prayer.

C. Singular/Plural Indefinite pronouns

All Some Most Any Some None Most
Most of the people in the village complain about
their water supply.
All are affected by the water shortage.
All they want is sufficient water.
4. Compound subjects joined by and require a plural
verb. Dr. Santos and his assistant are
environmentalists.
Our professor and counselor is an
environmentalist.
Peanut
butter and Jelly is famous among
grade schoolers in western countries.

5. Compound subjects joined by correlatives

require singular verbs if both subjects are
singular, and plural verbs if both subjects are
plural. Jose nor his mother is aware of our impending
Neither
water crisis.
Neither his brothers nor his sisters are aware of
this problem.
A. Compound subjects differ in number
Either the group leader or the members of the
group have to disseminate information about
water
conservation.
B. Compound
subjects differ in person
Awkward: Either your friend or you are mistaken
in suspecting Danny's group of polluting our water
source.

Better: Either your friend is mistaken in suspecting

Danny's
group of polluting our water source or
you are.
Either you are mistaken in suspecting
Danny's group of polluting out water
source or your friend is.
6. The verb after the expletive there agrees with the
subject that follows it.
There is a fly in my soup.
There are fifty students in my English
class.
7.composition
A number calls
for plural verb; the number calls for a
singular
verb. of problems in our barangay is
The number
growing.
A number of these problems have been settled

8. An expression of quantity or amount is followed by a

singular
Fiftyverb.
percent of the funds is appropriated for
irrigation.
One hundred thousand pesos is allocated to
9. Collective nouns can either be singular or plural.
each farming area.
The class is attending the symposium on water
conservation.
The audience are going to their respective
classes after attending the symposium.
10. THE PRONOUN YOU IS ALWAYS FOLLOWED BY A
PLURAL VERB WHETHER IT IS USED IN THE SINGULAR
OR PLURAL. THE PRONOUN IT IS ALWAYS SINGULAR.

You are a member of the Haribon.

You are members of the Haribon.
The shortage of water is a widespread problem. It
calls for drastic measures.
11. Mathematical expressions of subtraction and
division require singular verb, addition and
multiplication take either singular or plural verbs.
Ten divided by two equals five.
Five times seven equals (OR equal) thirty
five.

12. A VERBAL NOUN (INFINITIVE OR GERUND)

SERVING AS A SUBJECT IS TREATED AS
SINGULAR, EVEN IF THE OBJECT OF THE VERBAL
PHRASE
IS PLURAL.
Hiding
your mistakes does not make
them go away.
To run five miles is my goal.
13. A PLURAL SUBJECT FOLLOWED BY A SINGULAR
APPOSITIVE REQUIRES A PLURAL VERB; SIMILARLY, A
SINGULAR SUBJECT FOLLOWED BY A PLURAL
APPOSITIVE REQUIRES A SINGULAR VERB.
The girls, a group of scholars, do not like
the proposal.
The board, all ten members, is meeting
today.

1. ____ (do) anyone ____ (has) a pencil I could

borrow?
2. No one (has) ____ finished reading the book yet.
3. No, my family (dont) ____ live nearby.
4. Our swimming club (be)____ going to compete on
Saturday.
5. The herd of horses (gallop)____ wildly across the
field.
6. The hockey players or the mascot(volunteer)____
at
the school.
7. There
(has) ____ been many hurricanes this year.
8. (Be) the tweezers in this drawer?
9. There (be) four candies in this bag. Now there (be)
only
one left.
10.Some
of these facts (be) incorrect.
11. Some of this information (be) is incorrect.