SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT

In grammar, subject-verb agreement refers to the

correspondence in form between a verb and its subject.
Every verb in a clause or sentence must agree in number
and person with its subject. That is, make a verb singular
if its subject is singular; make a verb plural if its subject is
plural. Also, make a verb agree in person (i.e., the doer
of the action first person, second person, third person)
with its grammatical subject.

The Basics: Subjects in the first and second
person take plural verbs, as does the third person plural.
The third person singular takes a singular verb, as
illustrated in the chart below.


Person Singular Plural
First I eat. We eat.
Second You eat. You eat.
Third He/She/It eats.
The bird eats.
They eat.
Birds eat.

To make a verb singular, add an -s or -es ending to your
verb. To make a verb plural, leave off the s or es
ending.

Example (singular subject): The cat lives on Lake Street.

Example (plural subject): The cats live on Lake Street.

Some rules to remember:

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

Example:
The dog growls when he is angry.
The dogs growl when they are angry.

2) Use singular verbs in constructions of the form
the number of (blank) . . .:
Example:
The number of people here boggles the
mind.

3) Use plural verbs in constructions of the form a
number of (blank) . . .:
Example:
A number of people here disagree.

4) In sentences beginning with here or there, the
true subject follows the verb.
Examples:
There are four hurdles to jump.
There is a high hurdle to jump.
Here are the keys.

5) Dont get confused by the words that come
between the subject and verb; they do not affect
agreement.
Example:
The dog, who is chewing on my
jeans, is usually very good.

6) Prepositional phrases between the subject and
verb usually do not affect agreement.
Example:
The colors of the rainbow are beautiful.


Name: _______________________________________
Grade & Section: ________________________
Date: ________________________


Part 1. Circle the correct form of the verb in the
parentheses.

1) My brother (sketch, sketches) almost everyday.
2) The main highway (continue, continues) this way
and then (narrow, narrows) into two lanes.
3) The President will (arrive, arrives) at nine and
(enter, enters) the convention hall a short time
later.
4) Newspaper reporters (gather, gathers)
information and (write, writes) articles.
5) Some writers (combine, combines) words with
photography and (create, creates) essays.
6) All these possibilities are (open, opens) to a
young writer.
7) Many people (write, writes) for a career.
8) Both magazines and newspapers (use, uses)
many writers.
9) Both children and adult (like, likes) spaghetti.
10) Mom (boil, boils) the pasta and (cover, covers) it
with sauce.
11) She (add, adds) cheese and (bake, bakes) the
pasta.

Part 2. Underline the correct form of the verb.
1) There (goes, go) the cat.
2) There (is, are) a pine tree.
3) There (are, is) many trees in the garden.
4) The mother together with her children (are, is)
waiting.
5) The teacher as well as the students (was, were)
working on the problem.
6) The boy, who is sleeping on the couch, (are, is)
my brother.
7) The theme of the show (is, are) remarkable.
8) The colors of the painting (is, are) stunning.
9) Here (is, are) your things.
10) A number of people (go, goes) to church every
Sunday.
11) The number of people (celebrate, celebrates)
Fathers Day.
12) Farmers (grow, grows) crops in the summer.
13) Crabs and lobsters (crawl, crawls) along the
ocean floor.
14) Scientists (performs, perform) research.
15) Workers (pick, picks) mangoes.