Making Subjects and Verbs Agree

​Subject-verb agreement means that a verb must agree with its subject in number (singular or plural).

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When the subject is a singular noun, the verb takes an -s (or -es)

in the present tense.

The baby sleeps.

The baby cries.

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When the subject is a plural noun, the verb does not take an -s (or -es)

in the present tense.

The babies sleep.

The babies cry.

​When looking for subject-verb agreement in sentences where the subjects are difficult to find, keep two points in mind:

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• Subjects are not found in prepositional phrases or appositive phrases.

• Subjects can be found after the verb in sentences that are questions and in sentences that begin with the word there or the word here.

​A collective noun (also called a group noun) is considered singular unless the meaning is clearly plural.

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​The class was waiting for its turn to use the gym

​The Cub scout troop is holding its jamboree in July

​The orchestra performs in Cincinnati next week

​Sometimes a collective noun takes a plural verb or requrires a plural pronoun to refer to that noun because the members of the group are clearly acting as individuals with separate actions.

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​The class were putting on their coats

​(each member has his or her own coat)

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​The Cub Scout troop were having difficulty with their tents.

​(Each person is individually having trouble with his tent)

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​If the parts of a compound subject are connected by the word and, the verb is usually plural.

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​Alberto and Ramon are the winners.

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​If the parts of a compound subject connected by and are though of as a single unit, the verb is singular.

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​Peanut butter and jelly is my favourite sandwich.

Some nouns are always singular in meaning but end in -s:

Mathematics, Diabetes, United States, Economics, Measles, Kansas

Mathematics is my major.

Some nouns are always plural in meaning:

clothes, tweezers, pants, scissors, fireworks, pliers

My blue pants are ripped.

Some nouns change internally rather than add -s at the end:

foot - feet tooth - teeth

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Some nouns remain the same whether singular or plural:

deer, elk, fish, moose

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​When some foreign words are used in English, they continue to form the plural by following the rules of their original languages. (um-a)

​bacterium-bacteria datum-data stratum-strata

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