Basic Grammar Step by Step Second Edition
Mary W. Ng
Chapter 40
Subject and Verb Agreement
The subject is the who or what we talk about in a sentence.
| Jane has a cat. | (who has a cat) |
| The cat jumped. | (what jumped) |
The subject and the verb must agree in person and number.
| I jog. | (first person singular personal pronoun) |
| He jogs. | (third person singular personal pronoun) |
| The boy jogs. | (singular noun) |
| We jog. | (first person plural personal pronoun) |
| They jog. | (third person plural personal pronoun) |
| The boys jog. | (plural noun) |
If the subject has a plural form but is singular in meaning, the subject takes a singular verb.
| Subject | Verb | |
|---|---|---|
| The Philippines | has | over seven thousand islands. |
| Five dollars | is | the admission fee. |
Expressions like a lot of, some of, most of, all of may take a singular or plural verb. They take a singular verb when they are followed by an uncountable noun. They take a plural verb when they are followed by a plural noun or pronoun.
| Noun or Pronoun | Verb | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| A lot of | work | awaits | you. |
| A lot of | guests | have left. | |
| A lot of | them | have left. | |
| Some of the | information | is | useful. |
| Some of the | boxes | are | missing. |
| Some of | these | are | missing. |
The number of takes a singular verb, but a number of takes a plural verb.
| The number of students in this class is twenty. |
| A number of students are absent. |
One of, each of, neither of and none of with a plural noun or pronoun have a singular meaning and take a singular verb.
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