Subject-Verb Agreement
Subject-verb agreement is an important grammar rule that helps you communicate ideas clearly and accurately. Basically, it means that the verb in a sentence should match its subject in terms of both number and person. Let’s see an example:
✗The team are working hard on their projects.
➔This sentence is incorrect because “team” is a singular noun, and the verb should also be singular. The correct sentence is:
✓The team is working hard on its projects.
In this corrected version, the singular subject “team” now agrees with the singular verb “is.”
Rules to Consider:
- ➔Pay attention to the number of your subject and choose the corresponding verb form.
- ➔Treat collective nouns, like “committee” or “faculty”, as singular entities, requiring singular verbs.
- ➔When you use “a variety of” or “the majority of”, treat the verb that follows as singular if you are talking about one collection or group.
- ➔Words like “everyone,” “everything,” and “each” necessitate singular verbs. If “none” refers to a plural noun, use a plural verb.
Further Examples:
Incorrect: ✗The results of the experiment is illustrated.
➔Correct: ✓The results of the experiment are illustrated.
Incorrect: ✗A variety of factors influence the outcome.
➔Correct: ✓A variety of factors influences the outcome.
Incorrect: ✗None of the participants understands the complexity.
➔Correct: ✓None of the participants understand the complexity.
Incorrect: ✗The majority of the research were conduct by one person.
➔Correct: ✓The majority of the research was conducted by one person.