CONCORD

(Subject Verb Agreement)

J. Bala Mohan Raju

Asst. Professor
Dept. of BSE
ACOE
Introductio
n
Definition &
Meaning
Rules
Examples
 ?
Why should we
learn CONCORD?
Joke...
*Teacher asked a student to make a
sentence using the pronoun/ word ‘I’ .
Student said, “ I is ----”

“Don’t say I is, say I am” the teacher

corrected.
“If you say so”, the student replied, “I am
the ninth letter of the alphabet.” *
Let us now consider the following
sentences

1.Beware! Scissors ___ (is/are)sharp

2. My Luggage _____ (is/are) too heavy.
3. Generally Measles ____ (last/lasts) about two
weeks.
4. Mathematics _____ (is/are) my favourite
subject.
5. His hair _____(has/have) turned gray
6. The news about Corona ____(is/are)
frightening day by day.
7. All that glitters _____ (are / is) not gold.
8. Barking dogs seldom _____ (bites / bite)
Let us now consider the following
sentences
1.Beware! Scissors _are__ (is/are)sharp
2. My Luggage ___is__ (is/are) too heavy.
3. Generally Measles ___lasts_ (last/lasts) about
two weeks.
4. Mathematics __is___ (is/are) my favourite
subject.
5. His hair ___has__(has/have) turned gray
6. The news about Corona __is_ (is/are)
frightening day by day.
7. All that glitters ___is__ (are / is) not gold.
There are many grammatical
challenges that confront us on the
issue of Concord and various questions
arise on how to conform to the rules of
grammar.

Which type of subject goes with which type of

verb?
Is it possible to have a plural subject go with a
singular verb?
How does a plural verb look like?
Does a collective noun take singular or plural
verb?
 If two entities refer to one and the same person,
do we use a singular or plural verb?
So......
The answer for all such
questions is---
to master
Subject-Verb
Agreement because...
*it is an important
language skill *
 Objective :
The objective of this lesson is to learn to
write grammatically correct sentences having
a perfect harmony between the subject and
the verb.

After going through the lesson and

practicing the rules of the concord, we will be
able to avoid errors of verbs regarding their
being singular or plural and use the correct
number and person of the verb in a sentence.
Sentence -
A group of words that makes
complete sense...
It is made of different elements-
Subject and predicate
Ex. 1. Jolly plays carroms.

Subject Predicate ( Verb + Object)

2. Sweet are the uses of adversity.

Subject-? The uses of adversity are sweet
Predicate? Here comes the bus !
 What
Concord: is Concord?
(Formal)
Noun  UK  /ˈkɒŋ.kɔːd/ US  /ˈkɑːŋ.kɔːrd/
 
(General)
agreement and peace between countries
and people: nations living in concord

Concord X Discord (DISAGREEMENT) 
 (Language)  the situation in which the words in a
sentence match each other according to
the rules of grammar
i.e. the grammatical agreement
between two parts of a sentence.
 The basics of Concord
Subject-verb concord is when the subject of
a sentence and the verb of a sentence agree.

Simply, if the subject of the sentence is

singular, the verb must be singular. If the
subject of a sentence is plural, the verb must
be plural.
Concord, ought  to be very simple,
but it is  bit complex for  a reason:
 there are many types of subjects
sometimes it is ordinarily difficult to
know which is singular and which is
plural
and so on...

To resolve this problem, concord is

split into DIFFERENT TYPES

1. Grammatical concord: TYPES OF CONCORD

The principle of grammatical concord holds with

nouns that are grammatically marked for plural.
It is the easiest type of concord and the most
fundamental one.

Simply this rule says: singular subject takes

singular verb and plural subject takes plural
verb .

E.g  The boy is here,    The boys are here,   

The man likes food, The men like food.
2. Proximity concord-—-
Proximity means “nearness”.
The principle of proximity concord says that if two or 
more subjects are coordinated (joined) by the correlative
coordinators (corresponding conjunctions) “either ...or”
or “neither ...nor”, the subject that is closest to the
verb determines the concord- the rest (first one (s)) are
ignored.

E.g  1. If Santa fails her exams, either her parents, her
friends or her sister is to blamed.
2. If Santa fails her exams, either her sister , her
parents, or her friends are to be blamed.

3.Neither Kinsley’s friends nor his wife likes him (not

like)
3. Notional Concord.
The principle is used with collective nouns. Collective
nouns like “committee”, “club”, “choir”, “audience”,
“congregation” etc. mean a group of people, and
they can take either singular or plural verbs
depending on how they are used.
The rule is that, if the collective noun performs an
action, it takes a plural verb, but if no action is
involved, it takes a singular verb.
E.g. The choir sing very well (not sings, since an
action is involved, the verb will be plural), 
The Choir is very disciplined . (not are),
The audience is quite large (not are),
The audience were clapping their hands (not
is)
4. Categorization concord.
There are adjectives that denote a group or category of
people like: the poor, the rich, the lame, the blind, the
helpless, etc.
When these words are used as the subject of a
sentence, two things happen. The first - these words
are not pluralized, though they mean a group of people
(the poor means everybody that is poor, so does the
rich, the lame, the blind etc). So we do not have the
forms *the poors, *the blinds etc. Secondly, they
take plural verbs.

E.g. The poor need our help (not needs),

The rich also cry (not cries),
The blind see with their inner eyes (not sees)
5. Concord of indefinite pronouns—
Difference between definite pronouns &
indefinite pronouns

Indefinite pronouns are those pronouns that end

in “body”, “thing” and “one” like somebody,
everybody, nobody, anybody, something,
everything, nothings, anything etc.
They have a plural connotation, but they take
singular verbs.
E.g  Everybody in this class is hungry (not
are),
Nobody likes to be disrespected (not like),
Anything is better than nothing (not are).
6. Concord of quasi coordinated
subjects-
There are words we call quasi coordinators in English.
They include words like “as well as”, “with”,
“together with”, “in conjunction with”, “along with”
etc.

When these words are used to join two subjects, only

the first subject controls the verb and determines the
concord, the second subject is ignored.
E.g.1. The president together with his
ministers has arrived (not have),
2.The principal as well as all the teachers and
students is (not are)  in the hall right now,
3.The man with his wife was killed in the earthquake. 
7. Concord of coordinated subjects-
W hen two or more words referring to different persons
or things, are joined by “and”, the verb will be plural.

E.g. 1.Our English teacher and our head of the

department are absent today,
2.The principal and the chairman of the occasion
have arrived.

There are two “ours” and two “the’s”. This means that

the words joined by the “and” (“English
teacher” and head of
department, principal and chairman of the
occasion) refer to different people. Hence, the
sentences take plural verbs
8. Double title concord-

When two or more words referring to the same person

are joined by “and”, the verb will be singular.

E.g. 1. Our English teacher and head of

department is absent today,
2.The principal and chairman of the occasion
has arrived.

* There is only one “our” and only one “the”. This is

because the words joined by the “and” refer to the
same people.*
9. Many- a concord-
When “many-a” is used, it should be immediately
followed by a singular noun and singular verb.
E.g. 1. Many a girl likes him (not like),
2.Many a man is not trustworthy (not are)
etc.

10. More than concord– *

when “more than” is used to qualify the subject of a
sentence, it can take either a singular or a plural verb
depending on what comes after it.
If a singular noun comes after it- it takes a singular
verb,
if a plural noun comes after it - it takes a plural verb.

E.g. 1. More than one man lives here (not live),

2.More than five boys attend this school.
11. Concord of money, measurement, distance and
time–
When a word that denotes:
money (e.g. five dollars, twenty naira, fifteen pounds etc),
measurement (e.g. three litres, five kilograms etc),
distance (twenty kilometres, five miles etc)
and time (e.g. four hours, eleven minutes etc)
is used as the subject of a sentence, the verb will be
singular.

E.g. 1. Twenty thousand rupees is too small for me to spend, 

2. Five hundred thousand dollars was spent on the project (not
were),
3.Five cups of water is all he needs (not are),
4. Five days is not enough for the police to complete their
investigation (not are)
12. Concord of Fraction and percentages
—

When a word that denotes fraction and percentage is

used with the subject of a sentence, it can take either
singular or plural verbs depending on what comes
after it.
If a singular noun comes after it, it takes a singular verb
and if a plural noun comes after it, it takes a plural verb.

E.g. 1. Three-quarters of the hostel has been painted

and three quarters of the students have moved in.
2. Fifty percent of the boys have arrived and fifty
percent of the food has been eaten.
Ninety percent of dogs like bones etc.
 
13. Parenthesis Concord
The parenthesis statement is an additional
statement to what has already been said before.
* A parenthetical statement should not be
considered in choosing the verb that will follow.*
Eg. 1. The teacher, not her students is in the class.
The correct answer is, is because ( not her
students) is just parenthesis, and parenthesis has
nothing to do with choosing the verb.
2. The manager, not many of his workers, is (not
are) here now. not many of his workers is just a
parenthesis, therefore, the parenthesis should be
ignored.
The manager is a singular noun, hence a singular
verb
14. Pluralia tantums
Pluralia tantum are nouns that come in plural forms.
Some of these words have final “s”, while some do
not. However, whenever any of the following forms
appear, it must be followed by a singular verb.

School Subject: Mathematics, Economics, Civics, 

Physics, Statistics, and so forth.
You can see that all of the words end with “s” but it does
not show plurality.
Games: Darts, Snakes and Ladders, Draughts,
Billiards, Bowls and Skittles, and so forth, all end with
“s” but do not show plurality.
Diseases: Measles, Tuberculosis, Shingles, Mumps,
and so on, all end with “s” but do not show plurality.
Others: titles, news, series, means, and so forth.
Examples,
1. The series of incidents makes (not make) me shudder.
2. The means of transport hastens (not hasten) traveling.

Note: There are some nouns that do not appear as singular at all

but as plurals and they often attract plural verbs.

Such words are: Funds (money), annals, spirits,

surroundings, guts, earnings, arms (weapons), auspices,
the middle ages, bowels, quarters ( headquarters), banns,
means, holidays, stars, wages, thanks, riches, writs,
savings, remains, ashes, goods ( product), arrears,
outskirts, pains, particulars, fireworks, and so forth.
All these nouns not verbs cannot appear without “s” and,
hence they attract plural verbs
Examples:
His manners are (not is) good
The remains (corpse) of the boy have ( not has) been buried.
15.Mathematical facts Concord

When mathematical facts are used, such as

subtraction, multiplication, addition, division, and
so forth, the verb will be any of Singular and
plural...
that is, a singular or plural verb can be used when
mathematical facts are used.
Examples:
Ten plus ten is or are ( are and is are both
correct) twenty.
Ten multiplied by two is or are twenty.
Both singular and plural are correct.
10 tricky cases of subject-verb agreement

Let us test ourselves

1. One of those disasters that often occurs/occur only in movies happened
just as I got off the plane.
2. The first author as well as the last two authors has/have approved the
proofs.
3. Getting my paper accepted in Cell and seeing it in the finished
journal was/were the highlight of my career.
4. Either the children or the parent has/have to give in.
5. Not only the previously published papers but also the one under
review were/was called into question.
6. More than one of the authors has/have received the Nobel Prize.
7. Ten dollars is/are not enough to get me to jump in the Atlantic Ocean in
February.
8. Boston, and all New England cities, tend/tends to get snow in January.
9. Each of the editors want/wants to accept the paper.
How did you do?
By now it should be clear that subject-verb agreement isn't always
straightforward.
Now let us compare our answers to the correct ones below.

1. One of those disasters that often occur only in movies

happened just as I got off the plane.

The subject of "occur" is "that," whose antecedent in this case is

plural ("disasters"). The verb that goes with the singular subject
"one" is "happened."

2. The first author as well as the last two authors has

approved the proofs.

The phrase "as well as" always introduces parenthetical

information, which one should not take into account when
determining the singularity or plurality of the verb. Thus, the only
subject that matters here is "the first author," which is singular. If
we were to replace "as well as" with "and," we'd need to use
"have."
3. Getting my paper accepted in Cell and seeing it in the
finished journal was the highlight of my career.

"Getting my paper accepted in Cell and seeing it in the finished

journal” can be considered one idea, so it can take a singular
verb. It would be equally acceptable to write, “Getting my paper
accepted in Cell and seeing it in the finished
journal were the highlights of my career,” but in that case the
writer is thinking of these as two separate events. Consider
also, “A carelessness and inattention to detail runs through her
work.” The singular article “a” makes it clear that “carelessness
and inattention to detail” is a singular idea.

4.Either the children or the parent has to give in.

When two or more subjects are joined by "or," the verb must
agree with the closest subject. Thus, we would have to write,
"The parent or the children have to give in."
5. Not only the previously published papers but also the one
under review was called into question.

The verb agrees with the closer subject.

6. More than one of the authors has received the Nobel Prize.

"More than one," although plural in meaning, always takes a

singular verb. Another such idiom occurs when "one or two" acts
as the subject: One or two was found in the kitchen. (However,
“one or two were found in the kitchen” is also acceptable).

7. Ten dollars is not enough to get me to jump in the Atlantic

Ocean in February.

Some seemingly plural subjects can be singular in certain contexts.

For example, "Physics is an interesting subject” but “The physics
of this contraption baffle me."
8. Boston, and all New England cities, tends to get snow in
January.

When commas set off a parenthetical element in a sentence, what lies

between the commas has no effect on the verb. So we would write,
“All New England cities, including Boston, tend to get snow in January.

9. Each of the editors wants to accept the paper.

When "each" is the subject, as here, it is singular. When it modifies a

plural subject, it’s plural. Thus, we would write "The editors each want
to accept the paper." Now the subject is "editors" rather than "each."

10. A proportion of authors are at the conference.

Even though "a proportion" is singular, the verb should agree with
"authors," the object of the preposition ("of" is a preposition).
However, if we use "the proportion" instead of "a proportion," then the
verb should always be singular: "The proportion of authors at the
conference is lower this year than last year."
Any Queries please!