Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 124 views

    English Rules On Subject-Verb Agreement

    Uploaded by

    Tyler318
    The document outlines 5 rules for subject-verb agreement: 1. A singular subject takes a singular verb and a plural subject takes a plural verb. 2. The verb agrees with the subject, not other nouns or pronouns, even if they are between the subject and verb. 3. When two subjects are joined by "and" they are considered plural and take a plural verb. 4. When two singular subjects are joined by "or" or "nor" the verb is singular. 5. If subjects joined by "or" or "nor" are mixed singular and plural, the verb agrees with the subject closest to it.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    English Rules On Subject-Verb Agreement

    Uploaded by

    Tyler318
    124 views2 pages
    The document outlines 5 rules for subject-verb agreement: 1. A singular subject takes a singular verb and a plural subject takes a plural verb. 2. The verb agrees with the subject, not other nouns or pronouns, even if they are between the subject and verb. 3. When two subjects are joined by "and" they are considered plural and take a plural verb. 4. When two singular subjects are joined by "or" or "nor" the verb is singular. 5. If subjects joined by "or" or "nor" are mixed singular and plural, the verb agrees with the subject closest to it.

    Original Description:

    English rules on subject-verb agreement

    Original Title

    English rules on subject-verb agreement

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    The document outlines 5 rules for subject-verb agreement: 1. A singular subject takes a singular verb and a plural subject takes a plural verb. 2. The verb agrees with the subject, not other nouns or pronouns, even if they are between the subject and verb. 3. When two subjects are joined by "and" they are considered plural and take a plural verb. 4. When two singular subjects are joined by "or" or "nor" the verb is singular. 5. If subjects joined by "or" or "nor" are mixed singular and plural, the verb agrees with the subject closest to it.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    124 views2 pages

    English Rules On Subject-Verb Agreement

    Uploaded by

    Tyler318
    The document outlines 5 rules for subject-verb agreement: 1. A singular subject takes a singular verb and a plural subject takes a plural verb. 2. The verb agrees with the subject, not other nouns or pronouns, even if they are between the subject and verb. 3. When two subjects are joined by "and" they are considered plural and take a plural verb. 4. When two singular subjects are joined by "or" or "nor" the verb is singular. 5. If subjects joined by "or" or "nor" are mixed singular and plural, the verb agrees with the subject closest to it.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    Rule 1:

    For rule number 1, if the subject is singular, the verb must be singular too. If
    the subject is plural, the verb must also be in plural form too. Here are two
    examples:
    Becca recites in class every day.
    The students recite in class every day.

    Rule 2:
    When a phrase comes between the subject and the verb, remember that
    the verb should still agree with the subject, not with the noun or pronoun in
    the phrase following the subject of the sentence.

    This means that the noun in the phrase does not affect the verb. If the
    subject is singular, the verb stays singular. Here is an example.

    The teacher, as well as the grade 7 students, knows that tomorrow is a


    holiday.

    Since the subject “student” is singular, the verb “is” should be singular.

    The students, guided by their teacher, march to show their


    participation in the parade.

    Here the subject “students” is plural so the verb “march” is plural.

    Rule 3:
    Two subjects joined by the word “and” are considered plural and take a
    plural verb, meaning when we see one subject joined to another subject by
    the word “and,” the verb will take on a plural form.

    For example, in the sentence, “The mayor and his wife sing with happiness
    in their voices,” the mayor is singular and also his wife is singular but when
    they were joined by the word “and,” the whole subject became plural so,
    therefore, the verb “sing” is in plural form.

    Here is another example:

    The principal and the administrator discuss the day’s activities every
    morning.
    Rule 4:
    When two singular subjects are connected by “or” or “nor”, use a singular
    verb. For example:

    The president or the vice president approves the proposal before


    proceeding.

    The subjects “president” and “vice president” are singular so the verb is
    singular.

    Rule 5:
    Good morning, guys. For rule number 5, if the sentence has two subjects
    and one subject is singular and the other subject is plural and the two
    subjects are connected by the word “or” or the word “nor,” we will use the
    verb form of the subject that is closest to the verb. This is also called the rule
    of proximity.

    I’ll give you 2 examples:

    The student or the teachers attend mass every day.

    Here the subject closest to the verb “attend” is “teachers” which is plural so
    the verb should be in plural form: “attend.”

    Here’s example 2.

    Neither the teachers nor the student remembers what happened.

    Here the subject closest to the verb “remember” is “student” which is


    singular so the verb should be in singular form, which is “remembers.”

    You might also like