Subject-Verb Agreement: 11 Rules for Subject-Verb Agreement

Subject-verb agreement refers to the grammatical concept that the subject of a sentence must align with the main verb of that same sentence. In particular, singular subjects take singular verbs and plural subjects take plural verbs.

The most common verb agreement errors occur when writers lose track of the real subject of the sentence—by treating the object of a preposition as part of the subject, for instance—and choose the wrong form of the verb. By studying subject-verb agreement rules and learning how to separate the prepositional phrases from the subjects, you can consistently match subjects with their proper verbs.

Follow these key rules to ensure subject-verb agreement in your own writing.

1. 1. Singular subjects require singular verbs. For example, in the sentence, “The train runs from Phoenix to El Paso,” “the train” is the singular subject taking on the singular verb “runs.”
2. 2. Plural subjects require plural verbs. In the sentence, “The trains run all night long,” the plural “trains” necessitates the plural verb “run.”
3. 3. Compound subjects with the word “and” require plural verbs. In the sentence, “Pizza and cauliflower taste great together,” “pizza” and “cauliflower” are grouped together to create a compound subject.
4. 4. Compound subjects with the word “or” or “nor” can take either a singular verb or a plural verb. If the number of the subject closest to the verb is singular, use a singular verb. For example, “Either Jeff or Jane knows the answer.” If the number of the subject closest to the verb is plural, use a plural verb. For example, “Either Jeff or his sisters know the answer.”
5. 5. Collective nouns can be singular or plural. Collective nouns like “team,” “company,” “city,” “state,” “government,” “committee,” and “store” are singular nouns and thus take singular verbs. Collective nouns like “team members,” “company leaders,” and “city officials” are plural and thus take plural verbs.
6. 6. Indefinite pronouns are singular and take singular verbs. The indefinite pronouns “anything,” “anywhere,” “anybody,” “anyone,” “each,” “each one,” “either,” “neither,” “everyone,” “everybody,” “nobody,” “somebody,” “someone,” and “no one” are singular. They take the singular form of verbs. For example, “Nobody likes fondue anymore.”
7. 7. A pair is a singular noun and takes a singular verb. For example, “pair” is the singular subject in “That old pair of jeans has treated me well.”
8. 8. Plural-form subjects are often singular when presented as a title. For example, “Physics is an essential subject.”
9. 9. Gerunds often function as singular nouns, and they take singular verbs. For example, “Swimming was the sport that taught me how to win.”
10. 10. The phrase “one of the [plural noun] who/that” requires a singular verb. Although the phrase will contain a plural noun, it should receive a singular verb to agree with the noun phrase “one of the [plural noun],” which functions as the subject. Despite the sentence referencing a group of people or things, the noun phrase is focusing on just one of them. For example, “Mr. Lee is one of the teachers who coaches sports after school.” Another example is: “One of the dogs is wagging its tail.”
11. 11. “They” is a third-person pronoun that can be both singular and plural. “They” can refer to a group of people or to one individual. Corresponding verbs should be singular or plural according to the context.

4 Examples of Subject-Verb Agreement
The following sentences demonstrate proper subject-verb agreement in the English language.

1. 1. Singular subject with a singular verb: “Michigan has four distinct seasons.”
2. 2. Plural subject with a plural verb: “The hyenas feed on what the lions leave behind.”
3. 3. Collective noun as a singular subject with a singular verb: “The audience treats the host like a deity.”
4. 4. The relative pronoun “who” taking a plural meaning: “Lyle is one of the guys who play cricket with me on Sundays.”

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