Subject-Verb Agreement
Structures requiring singular subject-verb agreement:
1. Indefinite pronouns: everyone / body / thing, someone / body / thing, no one / nobody / nothing, another, the other, one...
· e.g., Nobody likes to be singled out in front of the class.
· Note that the prescriptive logic of e.g., None of the arrivals has a passport may be considered affected; both spoken and written preference in NAE is frequently given to the more naturalistic None of the arrivals have a passport.
2. Specific quantitative adjectives / adjectival phrases: each, every, many a, the number of...
· e.g., Many an authoritarian leader has regretted the coming of the Twitterverse.
3. Collective nouns: humankind, clothing, furniture, advice, information, rice, flock, herd, battalion...
· e.g., The second-hand clothing was quite a bit more costly than what we had expected.
4. Certain academic subjects: Mathematics, Physics, Economics, Politics …
· e.g., Would you agree that Politics is a blood-sport?
5. Certain games: Billiards, Checkers, Dominoes, Horseshoes...
· e.g., Darts is a game which enjoys specialized interest and even then, only in certain countries.
6. Certain countries and cities: The United States, The United Arab Emirates, Algiers, Naples...
· e.g., The UAE experiences the Sharqi, a highly humid southeastern wind that blows in during the summer months.
7. Certain diseases which appear to be plural: Herpes, Hepatitis, Tyhpus, the Measles, Syphilis...
· e.g., “The Mumps”, if not treated effectively, results in painful swelling of the salivary glands.
8. Hyphenated numerals used as adjectives: Two-year hiatuses, three-year old children, three-part novella...
· e.g., That seven-year-old binder should be either thrown out or recycled.
9. Certain measurements: Time, money, weight, volume.
· e.g., Three weeks isn’t enough time to do all that I want to do in Paris.
· e.g., 36 kilos is too much weight to lose on any diet.
· e.g., Four litres of milk contains far more calcium today as a result of food modification processes.
10. Gerunds / gerund phrases, infinitives / infinitive phrases: resisting legitimate arrest often entails additional charges. To err is human, to forgive divine.
· e.g. Advertising requires significant preparation – everything from concept, layout, pitch, and the right connections.
11. Noun clauses:
· e.g. What these zoological specimens all have in common is diverse stratifications.
12. Be careful about Blind Agreement, where the parenthetical information (between the commas) does not affect the singularity of the logical subject: rather than..., together with..., along with..., in addition to..., as well as..., except..., ...of the..., no less than...
· e.g., Everyone, except the guilty, is to receive an official pardon tomorrow morning.
Structures requiring singular subject-verb agreement:
13. Certain quantitative adjectives: some, many, both, several, few, a number of...
· e.g., He is a man of his word, is he not? Few doubt that he will come through in a pinch.
14. Certain collective nouns: The uninitiated, the blind, the handicapped, the needy, the homeless...
· e.g., They say that the rich are not like the rest of us.
15. However, other collective nouns may require singular or plural agreement depending upon the circumstance: The class, the faculty, the team, the majority, the couple, the committee, the audience, the family, the group, the orchestra, the gang, the choir, the congregation, the public, the commission, the police…
· e.g., The thesis committee fully approve the awarding of a magisterial degree this spring.
16. The proximate noun/noun phrase within correlative conjunction constructions, determines the singularity or plurality of the verb: Either...or, neither...nor, not only...but also
· e.g., Either the Dean or the students are bound to be upset by the decision.
· e.g., Either those remaining unchosen or the successful candidate is to leave the chamber immediately.
17. Expressions of portion: However, certain expressions describing portions e.g., all of, half of, some of, none of… depend on the following countable/uncountable noun to determine agreement:
· e.g., All of the coffee has been spilled onto the tablecloth/All of the perpetrators were surprisingly found innocent of the most serious charges.
18. Latin & Greek terminology: Singularity and plurality in Classical languages such as Latin and Greek have particular morphological patterns for feminine, masculine, and neuter nouns:
GREEK / Singular / Plural / LATIN / Singular / Plural-is / -es / -us / -i
-a / -ae
-on / -a / -um / -a
-ix / -ices
· Greek: criterion / criteria, zoon / zoa, analysis / analyses, crisis / crises…
· Latin: addendum / addenda, memorandum / memoranda, symposium / symposia, curriculum / curricula, datum / data, medium / media, stratum / strata, cactus / cacti, fungus / fungi, nucleus / nuclei, stimulus / stimuli, genus / genera, alumnus / alumni, larva / larvae, vertebra / vertebrae…
In the following exercise, choose the correct word.
1. Your child, along with all of 5 siblings, (sits, sit) to the right in the future.
2. I don’t care what the currency exchange officer says: 740 Euros (are, is) insufficient for a week-long stay in Madrid.
3. Almost half of the lemonade (has, have) been consumed by the under-13s an hour before our party has even started!
4. One’s character, no less than one’s attitudes, (are, is) paramount in today’s complex society.
5. The number of unemployed North American students with graduate and post-graduate degrees (are, is) increasing every year.
6. Every student in the class (succeeds, succeed) when hard work is the norm.
7. Meningitis (prove, proves) ultimately fatal if not treated aggressively.
8. Neither his brother nor his sisters (care, cares) much for spending weekends at the cottage any longer.
9. It is the babysitter, rather than the children, who (need, needs) the discipline!
10. Brussels, the capital of Belgium located in the Flemish-speaking part of that country, actually (comprise, comprises) 19 separate municipalities.
11. “(Has, have) the jury reached its verdict?” “Yes, your Honor: the members of the jury (has, have) reached their verdict.”
12. It seems that everything in the fridge, the liver, as well as the pork, the fish, and the vegetables, (has, have) gone bad.
13. According to our record of online queries, it has become apparent that a growing number of applicants (are, is) preferring to remain completely invisible on line.
14. Some of the downstairs furniture (need, needs) painting but most of the upstairs pieces (don’t require/doesn’t require) any further touch-up.
15. Data received from the Hubble Telescope (has, have) begun to produce sketchy information about our sister galaxy, Andromeda.
16. It should be clear by now that either the elders or the presiding presbyter (make, makes) all future decisions binding upon the congregants.
17. It is not only the lawyers but also the presiding judge who vigorously (opposes, oppose) overturning the ruling.
18. Applying for passports and other travel documents well in advance of departure dates (is, are) standard procedure worldwide.
19. I think that we all require a short (two-minutes, two-minute) break.
20. If, as we hope, the faculty (come, comes) to unanimous agreement on the issue at hand, faculty will nonetheless be polled one by one for (their, its) individual responses.
21. If the choir (sings, sing) out of tune, the conductor tries to identify who the offending chorister is.
22. Our beloved family pet, together with her puppies, (are, is) purring contentedly in the corner.
23. Unlike Croquet, Cricket, and Baseball, Horseshoes (is, are) not organized beyond the amateur level.
24. The United States (consist, consists) of 48 contiguous states as well as two non-contiguous states, Hawaii and Alaska.
25. This concern, in addition to the ones expressed earlier by committee members, (is, are) libelous.
26. The Netherlands (is, are) actually an estuary comprised of the confluence of three rivers: the Scheldt, the Meuse, and the Rhine.
27. The Family of Schools, to which Glen Walter S.S. belongs, (grows, grow) with each new generation of immigrants arriving on our shores.
28. A number of issues (has, have) arisen regarding the registration procedures for both legal and non-legal residents of the province and (need, needs) to be addressed expeditiously.
29. None of the litigants in the pre-trial hearing (agrees, agree) with the pre-arranged statement of findings.
30. The police rarely (has, have) time to address the same neighborhood complaints on a daily basis.
31. To make mistakes again and again (is, are) only human.
32. Most of the new computer peripherals (has, have) been installed and (is, are) ready for use on Monday.
33. Many a one (has, have) devoutly wished to escape from destitution.
34. The star of each one of those plays (acts, act) superbly and so (do, does) all of the other members of the supporting cast.
35. The airline’s frequent flyers, in addition to its ground personnel, and flight crews, (were, was) richly rewarded when end-of-year bonuses were handed out.
36. In some cultures, the notion of possessing one’s own private backyard (is, are) quite foreign to the ethos of community living.
37. The news media (deliver, delivers) daily updates on developing situations worldwide.
38. The agenda, approved at last night’s sitting of council, (is, are) neither to be amended nor re-submitted for study.
39. Their scissors (was, were) unable to cut the telephone cord; however, my handy pair of pocket scissors always (serves, serve) me well.
40. There (is, are) a lot of disagreement among the members, yet there (is, are) also wide areas of convergence.