Grammar Workshop Series- Unit 5: Subject-Verb Agreement

Robert Gillespie Academic Skills Centre

Grammar Workshop Series

Unit 5

Subject-Verb Agreement

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Agreement Pre-Test

Choose the best option to complete the sentence.

The best part of being an Art History student _____ the grammar classes.

A) is

B) are

C) were (answer on the next slide)



Agreement Pre-Test (Answer)

Choose the best option to complete the

sentence.

The best part of being an Art History student

_____ the grammar classes.

A) is



Agreement Pre-Test Choose the best option to complete the

sentence.

On the television screen ________ an

image of the most famous Renaissance

painters.

A) appear

B) appears (answer on the next slide)



Agreement Pre-Test (Answer)

Choose the best option to complete the

sentence.

On the television screen ________ an

image of the most famous Renaissance

painters.

B) appears



Subject-Verb Agreement

One Rule! Subjects and verbs must agree in number and person.

• A singular subject requires singular verb

• A plural subject requires a plural verb

Example: Leonardo da Vinci is the archetype of the

“Renaissance man.”

Example: Leonardo da Vinci and Botticelli are famous

Renaissance artists.



Showing Agreement

• S-V agreement is shown with the letter “s”

or the letters “es”

• Verbs in present tense:

– For singular verbs, add “s” or “es”

• The student agrees.

• The students agree.

• The student works.

• The students work.



Ignoring Words between the

Subject and Verb • Ignore all words between subject and verb

– Error: Paintings such as da Vinci’s Mona Lisa

draws thousands of tourists to the Louvre in

Paris every year.

– Correct: Paintings such as da Vinci’s Mona

Lisa draw thousands of tourists to the Louvre

in Paris every year



Ignoring Words between the

Subject & Verb • YES: The student in my college class

works long hours.

• YES: The student in my college classes works long hours.

• YES: The students in my college class work long hours.

• YES: The students in my college classes work long hours.



Subject-Verb Agreement:

Common Errors 1) Two subjects joined by "and" create a

compound subject that calls for a plural verb.

Error: The Mona Lisa and The Last Supper is two of the most famous paintings in the western world.

Correct: The Mona Lisa and The Last Supper are two of the most famous paintings in the western world.




Common Errors But watch out! Some constructions only look like compound

subjects.

• Phrases such as “together with”, “as well as”, and “along with” are not the same as “and”.

• The phrase introduced by “as well as” or similar words will modify the earlier word (mayor in this case), but it does not compound the subjects (as the word “and” would do).

Correct: The mayor and his brothers are going to jail.

Correct: The mayor, as well as his brothers, is going to jail.

Incorrect. The mayor, as well as his brothers, are going to jail.




Common Errors

2) When each or every precedes two

subjects joined by and, then use

singular verb.

Error: Almost every art historian and critic

admire Leonardo da Vinci’s work.

Correct: Almost every art historian and critic

admires Leonardo da Vinci’s work.




Common Errors

3) When using either/or and neither/nor,

make verb agree with closest subject.

Correct: Neither Leonardo da Vinci nor his

assistants are famous for being wealthy.

Correct: Neither his assistants nor Leonardo

da Vinci is famous for being wealthy.




Common Errors

4) Indefinite Pronouns (everybody,

anyone, nobody, nothing) are usually

singular, but get their meaning from

context

Error: Everybody recognize the Mona Lisa.

Correct: Everybody recognizes the Mona

Lisa.




Common Errors

4) Indefinite Pronouns Continued

• Some indefinite pronouns (i.e., as all or some)

are singular or plural depending on what

they're referring to.

• Ask whether the thing referred to is countable or

not.

Correct: Some of the beads are missing.

Correct: Some of the water is gone.




Common Errors

5) Collective nouns (team, group, class)

are usually singular.

Error: The Leonardo da Vinci fan club have

a Facebook site

Correct: The Leonardo da Vinci fan club has

a Facebook site.




Common Errors

6) When using “who/which/that”, make the verb

agree with the antecedent.

Correct: The professor who teaches Leonardo da

Vinci is renowned for his good lectures.

Correct: The professors who teach Leonardo da

Vinci are renowned for their good lectures.




Common Errors

7) Sometimes our sentences have inverted word order, meaning the subject isn’t at the start of the sentence. In these cases, search for the subject FIRST then determine whether the verb agrees.

Error: On the television screens appear an image of Leonardo da Vinci’s many paintings.

Correct: On the television screen appears an image of Leonardo da Vinci’s many paintings.

(image = singular subject; appears = singular verb)




Common Errors 7) Inverted Word Order Continued

• “There” and “here” are never the subjects of sentences; “it” can be a subject.

• YES: There are nine planets in our solar system. (planets = subject; are = verb)

• YES: There is no life on eight of the planets. (life = subject; is = verb)

• YES: It is the life forms on the ninth planet that have been making trouble lately. (It = subject; is = verb)




Common Errors 8) Linking verbs

• Linking verbs agree with the subject, not the

subject complement (see the first workshop for

the definition of subject complement).

Error: The worst part of Leonardo da Vinci’s

career are the years of poverty he suffered.

Correct: The worst part of Leonardo da Vinci’s

career is the years of poverty he suffered.



Miscellaneous (Common)

Problems with Agreement

The Following Examples Are Correct:

• Some of the voters are still angry.

• A large percentage of the older population is voting against her.

• Two-fifths of the troops were lost in the battle.

• Two-fifths of the vineyard was destroyed by fire.

• Forty percent of the students are in favor of changing the policy.

• Forty percent of the student body is in favor of changing the policy.

• Two and two is four.



Miscellaneous (Common)

Problems with Agreement The Following Examples Are Correct:

• My glasses were on the bed.

• My assets were wiped out in the depression.

• Our thanks go to the workers who supported the union.

• The news from the front is bad.

• Measles is a dangerous disease for pregnant women.

• The department members but not the chair have decided not to teach on Valentine's Day.



Choose the Best Option

• Either his sketches of inventions or his

painting, the Mona Lisa, ____ going to sell

for millions of dollars at the auction.

A) is

B) are




• Some of the votes __________ to have

been miscounted.

A) seem

B) seems




• Every one of Leonardo da Vinci’s paintings

in the French government’s collection

______ an acknowledged masterpiece.

A) is

B) are




Leonardo da Vinci’s painting, along with his

inventions, _____ him unique among his

peers.

A) make

B) makes




At least three-quarters of his paintings

__________ destroyed.

A) were

B) was




• Some of the Guild members _____

charged with sodomy and then acquitted

in 1476.

A) is

B) are




• The band ______ ready to go on tour.

A) is

B) are




• The band members ______ ready to go on

tour.

A) is

B) are




• 90% of da Vinci’s 13,000 pages of journal

entries _________ in mirror-image cursive

from right to left.

A) is written

B) are written




• There ____ approximately 15 of da Vinci’s

original paintings remaining in the world.

A) is

B) are




• Almost every one of our students ______

on to have a successful career as an

artist.

A) goes

B) go




• The field of anatomy, together with civil

engineering, optics, and hydrodynamics,

______ greatly advanced by Leonardo da

Vinci.

A) was

B) were



Answers

A, A, B, B, A, B, A, B, B, B, A, A.


Documents

Grammar Workshop Series- Unit 5: Subject-Verb Agreement