Grammar 2nd year LMD Subject -Verb Agreement Lecturer: Mrs. BENCHAREF .

1. BASIC SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT

- The window is open - The windows are open.
- My friend lives in Boston. - My friends live in Boston.
- My brother, sister, and cousin study English.
- They study English.
- The soup tastes good.
- He always comes late.

Rule: After a singular or uncountable noun + Rule: After a plural noun+ after nouns joined by
after he/ she / it → use a singular verb. ‘and’ + after ‘they’ → use a plural verb.
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- Every person needs love. – All people need love.

- Each book is listed in the card catalog. – All the books were listed in the card catalog.
- Everyone/ everybody was pleased.
- Something/ nothing is wrong with her.
- Is anyone at home?

Rule: Use a singular verb after each- every- Rule: Use a plural verb after “all+ plural noun”
everyone- everybody- everything - anybody- anything-
someone- somebody- nobody- no one - one - nothing

Notes:
- Every man, woman, and child needs love.
- Each book and magazine is listed in the card catalog.
Rule: Even if there are 2 or more nouns connected by ‘and’ preceded by every, each → the verb is singular.

– My best friend and wisest counselor is a dog. ( the 2 subjects refer to the same animal “dog”)
- A hamburger and fries is my favourite snack. (hamburger + fries refer to one dish)
Rule: When the subjects are joined by ‘and’ and refer to the same unit → the verb is singular.

- That book on particular parties is interesting. - The ideas in that book are interesting.
- My dog, as well as my cats, likes cat food. - My dogs, as well as my cats, like cat food.
- The book that I got from my parents was interesting. - The books I bought at the bookstore were expensive.

Rule: Interrupting structures (phrases or clauses) do not affect the basic agreement between the subject and verb.

- Growing flowers is her hobby. - Shopping was fun.

- To grow flowers is her hobby. – To shop was fun.
Rule: Gerunds/ gerund phrases + infinitives used as the subject require a singular verb.
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- Either the players or the coach enjoys the game. – Either the coach or the players enjoy the game.
- Neither the dog nor the cat is happy to see me. – Neither the dog nor the cats like snow.
- Both my parents are coming for my talent show.
Rule:
- When using the correlative conjunctions “either…or” and “ neither …nor” the verb agrees with the second noun.
This is called the “proximity rule”.
- A plural verb is always used with “both …and” “ not only….but also”

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Grammar 2nd year LMD Subject -Verb Agreement Lecturer: Mrs. BENCHAREF .S

2. SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT: USING EXPRESSIONS OF QUANTITY

- Some of the book is good. - Some of the books are good.

- A lot of the equipment is new. - A lot of my friends are here.
- Two-thirds of the money is mine. - Two-thirds of the pennies are mine.
Rule: - In most expressions of quantity ( some of, a lot of, ..), the verb is determined by the noun (or
pronoun) that follows of.
For example: Some of + singular noun = singular verb
Some of + plural noun = plural verb

- One of the photos is missing.

- Each of my friends studies here.
- Every one of the players is ready.
- None of the boys is here. ( formal English) - None of the boys are here. (informal English)
- I wonder if either of those alternatives is/ are a good idea.
- The number of students in the class is thirty. - A number of students were late for class.
Exceptions
→ One of, each of, every one of ( + plural verb) take singular verbs.
→ Subjects with none of, any of, either of, neither of are considered singular in very formal English, but plural verbs are
often used in informal speech writing.
→ A number of is an expression of quantity meaning “a lot of”. It is followed by a plural noun + plural verb.

- Eight pounds seems a fair price.

- A hundred meters is not far to swim.
- Ninety kilos is too heavy for me to lift.
- Five minutes does not seem long to wait.
Rule: After an amount of money, a distance, a weight, or a length of time, we normally use a singular verb. We are talking
about the amount as a whole, not the individual pounds or meters.

3. SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT: USING THERE + BE

- There is a fly in the room. - There are thirty students in my class.
empty word V S (singular) S (plural)

Rule: In the structure there + be , “there” has no meaning as a vocabulary word. It introduces the idea that something
exists in a particular place. The pattern is: there + be+ subject+ expression of time.

*Changing the word order does not change the subject- verb agreement.

- There are seven continents. → Sometimes the expression of place is omitted when the meaning is clear. Here, the
implied expression of place is clearly in the world.

4. SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT: SOME IRREGULARITIES

a- Singular verb
- The United States is big.
- The Philippines consists of more than 7000 islands.
- The United Nations has its headquarters in New York City.

* These nouns (ending in ‘s’) are singular. They are changed by the pronoun it.
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 Grammar 2nd year LMD Subject -Verb Agreement Lecturer: Mrs. BENCHAREF .S

The word “news” is singular. – The news is interesting.

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- Mathematics (Maths) is easy for her. Physics is easy for het too.
- Gymnastics is his hobby.
* Fields of study + some other nouns that end in -ics require singular verbs: athletics, aerobics, politics, statistics,
electronics, ethics.
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- Diabetes is a chronic illness.
* Certain illnesses that end in –s are singular: diabetes, measles, mumps, rabies, rickets, shingles.
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- Two and two is four.
- Two and two equals four.
- Two plus two is/ equals four.
- Five times five is twenty-five.
*Arithmetic expressions require singular verbs.

b- Plural verb
- Those people are from Canada.
- The police have been called for the bank robbery.
*Some nouns which do not end in -s ( people, police, cattle) are plural nouns and require a plural verb.

*Other collective nouns (e.g. team, band, group, club, troupe, gang, choir, public, crew, army, navy, class, audience,
staff, family, committee, union, jury, firm, government, parliament, senate, society, faculty, department, minority,
orchestra, panel, bunch, …) are used with a plural verb when they are refer a group’s members as individuals (separate
units).
- The Rogers family have been parking their cars in the backyard.
- The public are more likely to complain if they have to pay more taxes.
- After taking a test, the class start their research papers on famous mathematicians.
- The jury disagree about the guilt of the accused and have told the judge that they are hopelessly deadlocked.

BUT If these collective nouns refer to a group as a single unit, they take a singular verb.
- His family is one of the oldest in the country.
- The public is not really interested in what the government is doing unless it increases taxes.
- The town council has approved plans to create a new park.
- The class waits for its teacher quietly.
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Certain words are always plural and take a plural verb : clothes, belongings, goods, surroundings, thanks, remains,
stairs, proceeds, congratulations, groceries, arms (weapons), contents (what is inside something), customs, earnings, ...
- Her clothes are always fashionable.
- Good manners are important.
- My belongings are all packed in suitcases.
+ words consisting of two parts (trousers, pants, pyjamas, jeans, shorts, glasses, binoculars, scissors) .
e.g. These trousers are tight. BUT A good pair of scissors is difficult to find.

+ games : billiards, darts, bowls, dominos, …

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 Grammar 2nd year LMD Subject -Verb Agreement Lecturer: Mrs. BENCHAREF .S

Compare: - English is spoken in many countries. (language) - The English drink tea. (people from England)
- Chinese is his native language. - The Chinese have an interesting history.

*Some nouns of nationality that end in -sh, -ch, and –ese ( Spanish, French, Japanese, Vietnamese, Portuguese, …)
can mean either language (used with a singular verb) or people (used with a plural verb) .

- The poor suffer from many problems.

- The rich get richer.
*A few adjectives can be preceded by the and used as a plural noun (without final -s) to refer to people who have that
quality. e.g. the young, the elderly, the living, the dead, the blind, the deaf, the disabled, …
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Some words have the same form in the singular and plural , so they can be used with a singular or a plural verb
crossroads, means, series, species, brackets
+ sheep, deer, salmon, trout, aircraft, fish.
→ Fish is normally unchanged. Fishes is used in biology to refer to multiple species of fish

- This means of transport saves energy. - Both means save energy.

- This species of insect is quite rare. – All these species of insect are quite rare.