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Welcome to the PowerPoint Presentation on Subject-Verb Agreement, the
of grammar!
A singular subject demands a singular verb; a plural subject demands a plural verb. That is the simple principle behind subject-verb agreement.
This presentation will explore some of the difficulties we have with subject-verb agreement and provide some notes about avoiding agreement problems in our own writing. Links between subjects and verbs will be shown with red lines.

Indefinite pronouns such as everyone and everybody feel plural to some writers, but they are always singular — and take a singular verb.
Everyone is proud to be part of the effort.
Someone has to be responsible.
Don’t be confused by phrases that come between the subject pronoun and its verb — phrases that may contain plural words.
Each of the project partners is responsible for writing a chapter summary.
The verb that accompanies pronouns such as all and some will be determined by whether the pronoun is referring to something that is COUNTABLE or not.
Some of the students in the cafeteria have voted already.
Some of the grain was ruined by the flood.
“Students” is countable, but we cannot count “the grain”; it is one lump, one quantity.
None is usually regarded as singular, but it can be used as a plural pronoun.
None of the representatives has indicated how he or she will vote. OR None of the representatives have indicated how they will vote.
With fractional expressions (fractions or decimal equivalents), the verb will be determined by what is being measured: is it COUNTABLE OR NOT.
Two-fifths of the grain is ruined.
One-half of the students were convinced that there would be no final exams this year.
Of all the returns we have counted so far, fifty percent are in favor of the referendum.
A majority of the student body is in favor of asking the Dean to stay another year.
In formal writing, when either and neither appear as a subject alone (without or and nor), they are singular. This is true even though the subject seems to be two things.
Neither of these choices appears to be satisfactory.
The purchasing office will lend me a company car or give back my money. Either is fine with me.
When either and neither act as correlative conjunctions, however, life becomes a bit more complicated!
When either and neither act as correlative conjunctions (with or and nor), the subject that is closer to the verb determines the number (singular or plural form) of the verb.
Neither the students nor the teachers are at fault.
Either the teachers or the headmaster is responsible for the year-end festival.
Has either the President or his assistants been in touch with you?
When not only is used with but also, the subject that is closer to the verb determines the number (singular or plural form) of the verb.
Not only John but also his brothers were in debt.
Not only his brothers but also he was in debt.
Be careful when lengthy or numerous modifying phrases come between the subject and its verb.
Tim Berners-Lee, one of America’s most prominent computer scientists and —as a founder of the World Wide Web Consortium — one of the most important figures in the development of the Internet, has been working quietly at M.I.T. for many years.
The fact that the plural “scientists” and “figures” appear in this sentence has no effect on our choice of a singular verb, “has.”
With “of phrases,” try turning the sentence “inside-out” to find the right subject-verb combination.
Connecticut is one of those states that HAVE/HAS adopted a state income tax.
Turn this around to . . . .
Of those states that have adopted a state income tax, Connecticut is one.
This makes it easy to figure out the verb that belongs to a relative clause.
A gerund + singular verb:
Collecting posters is her favorite hobby.
2. “The number …” + singular verb:
The number of boys in our class is 33
3. “A number of … “ + plural verb:
A number of students in our class are boys.
4. Expression of time, money, distance + singular verb:
8 hours of sleep a day is enough.
100 dollars is too much to pay for that notebook.
5,000 miles is too far to travel on foot.
5. “That” clause + singular verb:
That we should be well-behaved to others is always true in any society.
Sometimes a noun that ends in –s is singular. It is the name of one country, one studying subject, one kind of diseases. It can also be one proper name or the noun itself has the letter “s” at the end.
The news is interesting.
The United States is powerful.
“Boys” is a discotheque in district 1.
Physics is easy for you to study.
Mumps is a very unpleasant disease.


Sometimes a noun that does not end in –s (people, police, poultry, cattle) is plural.
Those people are from Canada.
The police have arrived at the crime scene.
Some nouns of nationality that end in -sh, -ese, -ch can mean either language or people.
English is spoken in many countries.
Vietnamese is my native language.
The English drink a lot of tea.
The Vietnamese are proud of their history.


A collective noun ( class, group, crowd, team, family, council, committee, jury, army, audience, cabinet, couple, majority, minority, public etc.) + singular verb. In some cases, they are plural if the sentence indicates that the individual members are acting separately.
My family is poor compared with others’.
My family are gathering around the table for dinner.
Class IS03 is the best in the IH school.
Class IS03 are studying English now.

FURNITURE, EQUIPMENT, MACHINERY, TRAFFIC, INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE, SCENERY, LUGGAGE + SINGULAR VERB (Those nouns never end in -S:
- The furniture was more expensive than we thought.
Her luggage is over the normal weight.
The traffic has increased rapidly in the downtown areas.
I am sorry to say that the information you’ve sent me during the last six months is not true.
A lot of furniture has been bought for inner décor.
1. The weather in the Southern states _________ very hot during the summer.
a. gets b. get c. to get
2. The results of Dr. Noll’s experiment _________ published in a scientific journal
a. was b. were c. be
3. Making pies and cakes _________ Mrs. Reese’s specialty.
a. are b. be c. is
4. Half of this money _________ to you.
a. belongs b. belong c. belonging

1. Two-|hird of the pennies _________ mine.
a. is b. are c. be
2. A number of students …… English very well.
a. speak b. speaks c. to speak
3. Massachusetts …………. a state in the Northeastern part of the United States.
a. is b. are c. to be
4. Statistics ……………… a branch of mathematics.
a. is b. are c. to be
5. Many people in the world ............have enough to eat.
a. does not b. do not c. is not
1. Eight hours of sleep everyday _________ enough.
a. are b. be c. is
2. English _________ spoken everywhere in the world.
a. are b. is c. be
3. The Chinese _________ an interesting story.
a. have b. has c. to have
4. Every _________ in uniform in this school.
a. pupils are b. pupil are c. pupil is
1. One of the countries I would like to visit … Italy.
a. are b. is c. be
2. … of that furniture … comfortable.
a. Much / is b. Many / is c. Many are
3. Some of the … in our apartment … secondhand.
a. furnitures/are b. furniture/is c. furniture / are
4. Every man, woman and child … protected by law.
a. is b. are c. were

The millionaire, together with his wife and three sons, often (travel, travels) abroad.
Each of the lawyers (seem, seems) ambitious and capable.
Also traveling on plane yesterday (was, were) two representatives of Vietnam Airlines.
Either the doctor or the nurses (take, takes) care of changing the bandage every day.
6 dollars and 86 cents (was) what he owed.
Everyone in both groups (is, are) assigned a topic.
Measles (is, are) the most unpleasant to catch.
The number of people who came (was, were) surprisingly small.
His main concern (be) his wife and children.
Betty is the only one of those girls who (be) going to the college.