SESSION 2

Subject – Verb Agreement

Exercise 1: Choose the correct form of the verb that agrees with the subject.

1. Annie and her brothers (is, are) at school.

2. Either my mother or my father (is, are) coming to the meeting.
3. Either my shoes or your coat (is, are) always on the floor.
4. George and Tamara (doesn't, don't) want to see that movie.
5. One of my sisters (is, are) going on a trip to France.
6. The man with all the birds (live, lives) on my street.
7. The movie, including all the previews, (take, takes) about two hours to watch.
8. The players, as well as the captain, (want, wants) to win.
9. Either answer (is, are) acceptable.
10. Every one of those books (is, are) fiction.
11. Nobody (know, knows) the trouble I've seen.
12. (Is, Are) the news on at five or six?
13. Mathematics (is, are) John's favorite subject, while Civics (is, are) Andrea's favorite subject.
14. Eight dollars (is, are) the price of a movie these days.
15. (Is, Are) the tweezers in this drawer?
16. Your pants (is, are) at the cleaner's.
17. There (was, were) fifteen candies in that bag. Now there (is, are) only one left!
18. The committee (debates, debate) these questions carefully.
19. The committee members (leads, lead) very different lives in private.
20. The Prime Minister, together with his wife, (greets, greet) the press cordially.

Exercise 2: If the verb is correct, write ‘C’, if it is not incorrect, provide a correct answer:

1. Man and woman are complementary to each other.

2. Plenty of mangoes and bananas are available in this season.
3. A dictionary and an atlas are missing from the library.
4. The leader as well as his brothers belong to the same tribe.
5. Cats and dogs do not get along.
6. The brother as well as his sister is good at their studies.
7. The student accompanied by their teacher have gone on a picnic.
8. A lot of houses have collapsed in the storm.
9. The children as well as their mother are missing.
10. A large number of schools has been rebuilt after the earthquake.
11. We arrived late because there were a lot of traffic on the road.
12. The furniture in the room were quite old but they were very comfortable.

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 13. Many charity organisations provide a great deal of help.
14. The number of images on the wall were very impressive.
15. My father and brother watches a lot of sport at the weekend.
16. The number of students going to higher education have increased.
Exercise 3: Here is part of an IELTS Academic Writing Task 2 answer. There are 5 mistakes, can you find
and correct them?
It is clear that living in a foreign country have its own drawbacks. One of the social problems are language
barrier and lack of cultural awareness, which influences the behaviour of people. An individual who come to
the country from another place might make local people angry because his actions is offensive in that culture.
It is important to remember that every country have different customs.
Exercise 4: Rewrite the sentences in using ‘it’ and the adjectives in the brackets.
Eg: Going surfing is really fun. (fun)
 It's really fun to go surfing.
1. We need to improve the educational system. (IMPORTANT)
 It is important to improve the educational system
2. Everyone can see that I made a huge mistake (CLEAR)

3. The school cannot install a heating system now (IMPOSSIBLE)

4. Removing all the errors from the server is a real challenge. (DIFFICULT)

5. Parents must keep their children under supervision all the time. (NECESSARY)

Exercise 5: Write an Overview for the chart below:
The graph below shows population figures for India and China since the year 2000 and predicted population
growth up until 2050. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make
comparisons where relevant.

1. General trend:
What was the general trend for both lines? Did
they go up or down?
2. Highlight:
What is the most outstanding point of the chart?

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 Exercise 6: Write an Overview for the chart below:
The chart below shows the number of Apple iPhones sold between June 2007 and December 2010.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where
relevant.

1. General trend:
What was the general trend for all the
columns? Did they go up or down?
2. Highlight:
What is the most outstanding point of the
chart?