Subject Verb Agreement

Writers often use phrases to modify or describe nouns. These phrases often come after the noun. The group of a noun plus its modifying phrase is called a noun phrase, When a noun phrase serves as the subject of a sentence, the verb should agree with the main noun not the modifying phrase.

Indefinite pronouns do not refer to a specific person, place, or thing. Some as always singular such as anyone, anybody, anything, each, and neither. Some are always plural such as both, few, many, and several. Yet some can be singlular or plural depending on how it's used such as all, most, some, and none.

Collective nouns include words like group, family, committee, audience, and team. If the collective noun acts as a singular unit use a singular verb. If members of the collective group act individually, use a plural verb.

Certain special nouns end in -ics, so they appear to be plural, but they are treated as singular nouns. They used to be considered plural but over time people came to consider them singular collective nouns. (For example: mathematics, physics, politics, and gymnastics)