HMH Grammar Subject Verb Agreement

a singular noun names ONE person, place, thing, or idea.

a plural noun names MORE THAN ONE person, place, thing, or idea.

Match singular subjects with singular verbs and plural subjects with plural verbs.

In other words, a verb must agree in number with its subject.

Ex: The beetle chews the flowers and stems.

Ex: The beetles chew the flowers and stems.

RULE: When combining 2 or more subjects with and, use a plural verb.

Ex: Dave and his best friend are entering the trumpet contest.

Collective nouns, such as team, club, and public; name a group of people or things. Use a SINGULAR VERB when you think of a collective noun as a single unit. Use a PLURAL VERB when you think of a collective noun as multiple members.

Ex: The audience awaits the band's arrival. (singular)

Ex: The audience clap their hands as the band plays. (plural)

RULE: "Doesn't" means "does not." Since "does" is a singular verb, it goes with a singular subject.

"Don't" means "do not," and since "do" is a plural verb, it goes with a plural subject.

Ex: Jon's steak knife doesn't have a wooden handle. (knife - singular / does - singular)

Ex: Our new steak knives don't have wooden handle. (knives - plural / do - plural)

Same rules apply with "is" and "are." "Is" is singular, "are" is plural.

Ex: He's a hot head with a quick temper. (He - singular / is - singular)

Ex: In our family, we're all hot heads. (we - plural / are - plural)

Nouns ending in -s are sometimes plural in form but singular in meaning: news, economics, mathematics, physics.

Ex: News plays an important role in education. (News - singular / plays - singular)

Other nouns ending in -s alway take a plural verb, even though they are understood to refer to one thing: scissors, pliers, pants, clothes, thanks.

Ex: Thanks are due to all the volunteers. (Thanks - plural / are - plural)

An indefinite pronoun does not refer to a specific person, place, or thing.

Some of these are always singular and take singular verbs: anybody, anyone, anything, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything, much, neither, nobody, no one, nothing, one, somebody, someone, something.

Ex: Nobody wants that jacket. (Nobody-singular / wants-singular)

Some indefinite pronouns are always PLURAL and take plural verbs: both, few, many, others, several. 

Ex: Many of my friends are serious readers. (Many-plural)

Some indefinite pronouns can be either singular or plural: all, any, most, none, some - singular when they refer to a portion or to a single noun / plural when they refer to a number of individual nouns.

Sometimes, the object of the preposition will signal whether the pronoun is singular or plural.

Ex: None of their music makes sense to me. (None-singular)

Ex: None of the lyrics make any sense. (None-plural)