Gul Mohar Class 8 English Grammar - Subject-Verb Agreement


Subject-Verb Agreement

Subjects and verbs must AGREE with one another in number (singular or plural). Thus, if a subject is singular, its verb must also be singular; if a subject is plural, its verb must also be plural.
In present tenses, nouns and verbs form plurals in opposite ways:
• Nouns ADD an s to the singular form
• Verbs REMOVE an s from the singular form.


Here are nine subject-verb agreement rules.
Rule 1:  A phrase or clause between subject and verb does not change the number of the subject.
Examples:


Rule 2: Indefinite pronouns as subjects
Singular indefinite pronoun subjects take singular verbs.
Singular: each, either, neither, one, no one, nobody, nothing, anyone, anybody, anything, someone, somebody, something, everyone, everybody, everything
Plural indefinite pronoun subjects take plural verbs.
Plural:  several, few, both, many

Some indefinite pronouns may be either singular or plural: with uncountable, use singular; with countable, use plural.
EITHER SINGULAR OR PLURAL:  Some, any, none, all, most

Sugar is uncountable; therefore, the sentence has a singular verb.

Marbles are countable; therefore, the sentence has a plural verb.
          
Rule 3: Compound subjects joined by and are always plural.


Rule 4: With compound subjects joined by or/nor, the verb agrees with the subject nearer to it.

In the above example, the plural verb are agrees with the nearer subject actors.

In this example, the singular verb is agrees with the nearer subject director.

Rule 5: Inverted Subjects must agree with the verb.



Rule 6: Collective Nouns (group, jury, crowd, team, etc.) may be singular or plural, depending on meaning.

In this example, the jury is acting as one unit; therefore, the verb is singular.

In this example, the jury members are acting as twelve individuals; therefore, the verb is plural.

Rule 7: Titles of single entities (books, organizations, countries, etc.) are always singular.


Rule 8: Plural form subjects
Plural form subjects with a singular meaning take a singular verb. (e.g. news, measles, mumps, physics, etc.)

Plural form subjects with singular or plural meaning take a singular or plural verb, depending on meaning.  (e.g. politics, economics, etc.)

In this example, politics is a single topic; therefore, the sentence has a singular verb.

In this example, politics refers to the many aspects of the situation; therefore, the sentence has a plural verb.
Plural form subjects with a plural meaning take a plural verb. (e.g. scissors, trousers)

Note: In this example, the subject of the sentence is pair; therefore, the verb must agree with it. (Because scissors is the object of the preposition, scissors does not affect the number of the verb.)

Rule 9: With subject and subjective complement of different number, the verb always agrees with the subject.


Rule 10-A: With one of those ________ who, use a plural verb.

The above example implies that others besides Hannah like to read comic books.  Therefore, the plural verb is the correct form to use.

Rule 10-B: With the only one of those ________who, use a singular verb.

The above example implies that no one else except for Hannah likes to read comic books.  Therefore, the singular verb is the correct for to use.

Rule 11-A: With the number of _______, use a singular verb.


Rule 11-B: With a number of _______, use a plural verb.


Rule 12: With every ______ and many a ________, use a singular verb.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Also read!

Click on any of the below text for additional links:

Class 6

Class 6 Computer Kips Solutions
Class 6 Gul Mohar English Solutions
→ Class 6 Map Pointing Solutions
Class 6 NCERT Civics Solutions
Class 6 NCERT Geography Solutions
Class 6 NCERT History Solutions
Class 6 NCERT Maths Solutions
Class 6 NCERT Science Solutions

Class 7

Class 7 Computer Kips Solutions
Class 7 Gul Mohar English Solutions
English Grammar Class 7
English Writing Skills Class 7
Class 7 Map Pointing Solutions
Class 7 NCERT Civics Solutions
Class 7 NCERT Civics Notes
Class 7 NCERT Civics Extra Questions
Class 7 NCERT Geography Solutions
Class 7 NCERT Geography Notes
Class 7 NCERT Geography Extra Questions
Class 7 NCERT History Solutions
Class 7 NCERT History Notes
Class 7 NCERT History Extra Questions
Class 7 NCERT Maths Solutions
Class 7 NCERT Science Solutions
Class 7 NCERT Science Notes
Class 7 NCERT Science Extra Questions

Class 8

Class 8 Kips Artificial Intelligence Solutions
Class 8 Gul Mohar English Solutions
English Grammar Class 8
English Writing Skills Class 8
Class 8 Map Pointing Solutions
Class 8 NCERT Civics Solutions
Class 8 NCERT Civics Notes
Class 8 NCERT Civics Extra Questions
Class 8 NCERT Geography Solutions
Class 8 NCERT Geography Notes
Class 8 NCERT Geography Extra Questions
Class 8 NCERT History Solutions
Class 8 NCERT History Notes
Class 8 NCERT History Extra Questions
Class 8 NCERT Maths Solutions
Class 8 NCERT Science Solutions
Class 8 NCERT Science Notes
Class 8 NCERT Science Extra Questions
Class 8 NCERT Science Exemplar
Class 8 NCERT Science MCQs

Class 9

Class 9 Kips Artificial Intelligence Solutions
Class 9 Map Pointing Solutions
Class 9 NCERT Civics Solutions
Class 9 NCERT Geography Solutions
Class 9 NCERT History Solutions
Class 9 NCERT Maths Solutions
Class 9 NCERT Science Solutions

Class 10

Class 10 Kips Artificial Intelligence Solutions
Class 10 NCERT English Solutions
→ Class 10 Map Pointing Solutions
Class 10 NCERT Civics Solutions
Class 10 NCERT Civics Notes
Class 10 NCERT Civics Extra Questions
Class 10 NCERT Geography Solutions
Class 10 NCERT Geography Notes
Class 10 NCERT Geography Extra Questions
Class 10 NCERT History Solutions
→ Class 10 NCERT History Notes
Class 10 NCERT History Extra Questions
Class 10 NCERT Maths Solutions
Class 10 NCERT Science Solutions
Class 10 NCERT Science Notes
Class 10 NCERT Science Extra Questions

Computer Languages

Python Basics

Extra Activities

Extra Activities

Extra Knowledge

Extra Information
General Knowledge
Historical Places in India
Latest technology
Physical Sciences
Facts

• Mathematics quick links
Mathematical Terms
Maths Tricks

Home Top