Subject-Verb agreement!

Some important rules!

1. Subjects and verbs must agree in number. This rule forms the background of the concept.

A dog growls when it is angry.

Dogs growl when they are angry.

2. Don’t get confused by the words that come between the subject and verb; they do not affect agreement.

Sachin, who made a lot of centuries, is a nice man.

3. N1/P1+ preposition+ N2/P2+ verb
(verb= according to Noun1 or Pronoun1)

The students of Sure-shot Academy are very sincere.😎

("Are" is correct as the subject "the students" is plural)

4. When sentences start with “there” or “here,” the subject will always be placed after the verb, so care needs to be taken to identify it correctly.

There is a problem with this balance sheet.

Here are the papers you requested.

5. Subjects don't always come before verbs in questions. Make sure you accurately identify the subject before deciding on the proper verb form to use.

Does he usually come late?

Where are the pieces of this puzzle?

6. If two subjects are joined by 'and' , they typically require a plural verb form.

Mohan and Sohan are good friends.

7. The verb is singular if the two subjects separated by 'and' refer to the same person or thing.

Bread and butter is my mom's favourite.

8. If one of the words each, every, or no comes before the subject, the verb is singular.

No smoking or drinking is allowed in Farrukhabad.🙊

Every man and woman is going to listen to what our PM says.

9. If two or more subjects r connected by the words or, nor, neither/nor, either/or , and not only/but also, the verb always follows the nearest subject.

Mohan or Sohan is to blame for this accident.

10. The only time when the object of the preposition factors into the decision of plural or singular verb forms is when noun and pronoun subjects like some, half, none, more, all, etc. are followed by a prepositional phrase. In these sentences, the object of the preposition determines the form of the verb.

All of the boys were there. All the sugar is spoilt.

11. Indefinite pronouns typically take singular verbs. *

Everybody wants to be loved.

Someone has stolen my watch.

12. When gerunds are used as the subject of a sentence, they take the singular verb form of the verb; but, when they are linked by 'and' , they take the plural form.

Standing in the water was a bad idea.

Playing cricket and singing songs are my hobbies.

13. Collective nouns like herd, senate, class, crowd, etc. usually take a singular verb form.

The herd is stampeding.

14. Titles of books, movies, novels, etc. are treated as singular and take a singular verb.

The Avengers is a movie starring Robert Downing.

15. Noun1/pronoun1+ with, together with, as well as , along with+ Noun2/noun2+ verb (verb= according to N1 or Pronoun1

He with his brothers is going to the cinema.

Thank you