Basic Rules of Subject

Verb Agreement in
Standard
English
Rule 1:Subjects and verbs
must agree in number.

A. The dog chases the cat.

B. The dogs chase the cat.

Rule 2: Intervening phrases
do not affect agreement.

The dog, who is chewing on my

jeans, is usually very good.
Rule 3: Prepositional phrases
between the subject and verb
usually do not affect
agreement.
The colors of the rainbow are
beautiful.
Rule 4: When sentences start
with “there” or “here,” the
subject will always be
placed after the verb, so care
needs to be taken to identify the
subject correctly.
There is a problem with the
balance sheet. Here are the
papers you requested.
Rule 5:If two subjects are joined
by and, they typically require a
plural verb form.

The cow and the pig are

jumping over the moon.
Rule 6:The verb is singular if the
two subjects separated by and
refer to the same
person or thing.
My teacher and adviser
is my favorite listener.
Rule 7: The singular verb form
is usually used for units of
measurement.
Four quarts of oil was required
to get the car running.
Rule 8: With subjects joined with
or, nor, either…or, or neither…
nor, make the verb agree with
the part of the subject NEARER
to the verb.

Either your sister or your friends

want pizza for snack.
Rule 9: Indefinite pronouns
(anybody, each, everyone,
nobody, somebody, anyone,
either, everything, no one,
someone, everything, everybody,
neither, nothing, something)
typically take singular verbs.
Everybody wants to be loved.
No one is going to fail.
Rule 10: Plural pronouns (few,
many, several, both) always take
the plural form of the verb.

Few were left alive after the flood.

Rule 11: However, a few
indefinite nouns such as ALL,
ANY, NONE and SOME may be
singular or plural DEPENDING on
the noun or pronoun they refer
to.
A. Some of our bags were lost.
B. None of his advice makes sense.
Rule 12:Collective noun takes
singular verb when it acts as a
single UNIT.

1. The class respects the

teacher.
2. The team wins the game.
 Rule 13:Collective noun takes
plural verb when it acts as
individuals with different points
of view.

The team are having some

arguments.
Rule 14: Titles of books, movies,
novels, companies, work etc. are
treated as singular and take a
singular verb.
Lost Cities describes the
discoveries of many ancient
civilizations.
 Rule 15: The expression THE
NUMBER takes singular verb
while the expression A NUMBER
takes plural verb
A. The number of students
attends the seminar workshop.
B. A number of students attend
the seminar workshop.
 Rule 16: Words such as athletics,
economics, measles and news are
usually SINGULAR,
despite their plural form.

Statistics is among the most

difficult courses in our
program.
Rule 17: For hard-to-find
subjects, reverse the
sentences so that the
subject comes first.
Under the bushel are two
candles.
*(Two candles are under the
bushel.)*
FINAL RULE
Only
the subject
affects
the verb!