Language/English/Grammar/Subject-Verb-Agreement
One of the most commonly made mistakes when it comes to languages, English in particular, is the disagreement between the verb and its subject in that sentence.
As obvious as it sounds, the verb and its subject have to be in agreement for the sentence to be correct.
The disagreement is normally a result of the failure to identify the subject of the sentence correctly.
I will summarize some basic rules that might help with achieving the Subject-Verb agreement.
Rule 1: A verb must agree with its subject in Number.
The verb has to agree with the 'number' of the subject or subjects. For example, The sentence 'Andrew goes to school.' is correct because Andrew is singular, and the form of the verb 'goes' agrees with the subject. If the writer were to use 'go' instead of 'goes', the sentence would be incorrect as Andrew is not plural.
Often, the verb is made to agree in number with the noun near it instead of its proper subject, and that is a mistake. The next example demonstrates this:
- The introduction of tea and coffee has not gone without some effect.
- The quality of the mangoes was not good.
In the sentence mentioned above, the verb is 'to be'. The tense used is Past, Simple Past in particular. The subject of the verb is not 'mangoes', which is plural, but the 'quality' of those mangoes and 'quality' is singular being an uncountable noun. It is as though the phrase 'the quality of the mangoes' is replaced with 'x'. This gives the sentence 'X was not good' in which 'x' is singular. Therefore, the verb must agree with the subject and the correct form is 'was' rather than 'were'. A few more examples of such nature can be:
- His knowledge of Physics is far beyond the common.
Rule 2: Two or more singular nouns or pronouns joined by 'and' require a plural verb.
- Fire and water do not agree.
- Are your brother and sister at home?
- He and I were singing.
It may happen that the nouns, when joined, may suggest just one idea, or refer to the same person or thing, and then the verb is singular.
- Bread and butter is his only food.
- My friend and classmate has come.
Rule 3: Words joined to a singular subject by 'with', 'as well as', etc, require a singular verb.
- The house, with its contents, was insured.
- Peter, with his family, is to be present.
- The ship, along with its crew, was lost.
- Guidance, as well as love, was missing.
Rule 4: Two or more singular subjects connected by 'or' or 'nor' require a singular verb
- No nook or corner was left unexplored.
- Either the cat or the dog has to go.
Rule 5: If even one of the subjects joined by 'or, or 'nor' is plural, the verb must be plural and the plural should be placed nearest to the verb.
- Neither the teacher, nor the students were present.
- Either his question or their answers are incorrect.
Rule 6: When the subjects joined by 'or' or 'nor' are of different persons, the verb agrees with the nearer.
- Either he or I am mistaken.
- Either I or they are mistaken.
- Neither you nor he is to blame.
Rule 7: Either, neither, each, everyone, many a, any, one of the, etc, must be followed by a singular verb.
- He asked me if either of the recipes was suitable.
- Everyone has to complete it.
- Neither of them was strong enough.
- Each student has to submit the report individually.
- One of the best Physicists was Albert Einstein.
- Many a man has made that mistake.
- Every boy and girl was given a packet of sweets.
Rule 8: 'None', though singular, usually takes a plural verb
- None of the students were there.
- Cows are one of the gentlest of creatures, none show more passionate tenderness to their young.
Rule 9: A collective noun requires a singular verb.
- The committee has published their results.
- The public is united.
There are some more rules and generalizations for this topic, but the ones mentioned above, in my opinion, are the most common and basic ones.