Subject Verb Agreement Plural Singular

13th December 2021

Subject-verb agreement is an important aspect of English grammar that can make or break the credibility of your writing. It refers to the proper matching of the subject and verb in a sentence, in terms of number and person. In other words, the verb must agree with the subject in terms of singular or plural form.

Plural Subject and Singular Verb

One common mistake in subject-verb agreement is when a plural subject is matched with a singular verb. For example, “The group of students is going to the museum”. Here, the subject is “group of students”, which is a collective noun and considered singular. However, the verb “is” is singular, creating a mismatch. The correct sentence should be “The group of students are going to the museum”.

Singular Subject and Plural Verb

Another common mistake is the reverse of the previous one, where a singular subject is matched with a plural verb. For example, “The boy with his friends are playing soccer”. Here, the subject is “boy”, which is singular. However, the verb “are” is plural, creating a mismatch. The correct sentence should be “The boy with his friends is playing soccer”.

Compound Subjects

When a sentence has a compound subject, meaning two or more subjects joined by “and”, the verb should be plural. For example, “John and Jane are going to the party”. Here, both subjects are plural and the verb “are” matches them. However, if one subject is singular and the other is plural, the verb should match the plurality of the subject closest to it. For example, “The dog and the cat is sleeping”. Here, the second subject “cat” is singular, so the verb should also be singular.

Collective Nouns

As mentioned earlier, collective nouns refer to a group of people, animals, or things considered as one unit. Examples of collective nouns are team, jury, committee, audience, and family. Depending on the context, collective nouns can be treated as singular or plural subjects. For instance, “The family is going on vacation”. Here, the subject “family” is considered singular. On the other hand, “The jury are deliberating on their verdict”. Here, the subject “jury” is considered plural.

In conclusion, subject-verb agreement is a crucial aspect of writing that can affect the clarity and accuracy of your message. Be mindful of the number and type of your subjects, and match them accordingly with the correct verb form. By doing so, your writing will be more effective in conveying your ideas to your target audience, as well as in optimizing your content for search engines through proper SEO techniques.