Subject-Verb

ENG302 : The Class : The Process : Final Preparation : Subject-Verb
Subject-Verb Agreement

Subject-Verb Agreement

The subject of a sentence is either singular or plural. The verb of the sentence must agree with the subject in number: a singular subject demands a singular verb; a plural subject demands a plural verb.

The engineers survey _ the documents.

The engineer _ surveys the documents.

As long as the sentence is simple, the writer usually has no problem with subject-verb agreement. However, more complicated sentences sometimes cause difficulty. A few rules covering these complications follow:

1. Collective nouns are singular. Collective nouns have plural meanings but are grammatically singular:

The engineering staff surveys the documents.

The furniture is ugly.

Other collective nouns include such words as equipment, faculty, and committee.

2. Two singular nouns joined by "and" are plural:

The engineer and the lawyer survey the documents.

3. Two singular nouns joined by "or" are singular:

The engineer or the lawyer surveys the documents.

4. With a singular noun and a plural noun, the verb agrees with the noun closest to it:

The engineers or the lawyer surveys the documents.

The engineer or the lawyers survey the documents.

5. A prepositional phrase is not a subject and is not involved in subject-verb agreement:

The position of the companies is excellent.

The friends of my client are scary.

E-mail Greg Larkin at Gregory.Larkin@nau.edu
or call (520) 523-4911

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