Examples of Subject-Verb Agreement

What is subject-verb agreement? Subject-verb agreement simply means that the subject and verb in a sentence must agree in number. They both need to be singular, or they both need to be plural. Keep reading for subject-verb agreement examples in different kinds of sentences.

Subject-Verb Agreement Examples

Subject-verb agreement means that the sentence is grammatically correct. Subject-verb agreement is usually more of a problem in present-tense sentences. Verbs in the past tense don't change as much when the number of the subjects change ("He walked" is the same verb form as "They walked," for example).

Here are some examples of subject-verb agreement in singular subjects and verbs (the subject is bolded and the verb underlined):

Subject-verb agreement examples with plural subjects and verbs include:

Compound Subjects

Compound subjects are two subjects in the same sentence. They usually take a plural verb, unless the combination is treated as singular in popular usage or the two subjects refer to the same thing or person.

Here are some examples of subject-verb agreement with compound subjects:

• Sugar and flourare needed for the recipe.
• Neither my dad nor my brothersknow how to ski.
• Pepperoni and cheeseare great on a pizza.
• Corned beef and cabbageis a traditional meal in Ireland. (popular usage)
• The creator and produceris arriving soon. (both refer to the same person)

When using “or” or “nor” in a compound subject containing a singular and plural subject, the verb agrees with the closest subject. Examples of compound subjects using or, neither-nor, or either-or include:

• My mom or dadis coming to the play. (both nouns are singular)
• Neither gray nor whiteis my favorite color. (both nouns are singular)
• Either Grandpa or my sistersare going to the park. (the closest subject is plural)
• Either my sisters or Grandpais going to the park. (the closest subject is singular)
• Neither she nor Iam going to college. (the closest subject is singular)

Singular Indefinite Pronouns

Indefinite pronouns stand in for nouns that are unknown, unclear or uncountable. They can be singular or plural, depending on what nouns they are replacing. Here are some examples of subject-verb agreement with singular indefinite pronouns:

Plural Indefinite Pronouns

When indefinite pronouns replace plural nouns, they require plural verbs. Examples of subject-verb agreement with plural indefinite pronouns include:

• Bothare qualified for the job.
• Manywent to the beach and got sunburned.
• Fewknow what it really takes to get ahead.
• Severalare already on location.
• Some sugar is required for taste. (sugar is uncountable so singular verb used)
• Most of the cookies were eaten. (cookies are countable so plural verb used)

Noun Phrase as Subject

Subject-verb agreement isn't so hard when the subject and verb are next to each other. But what about when the subject is actually a noun phrase? You still need to determine whether the subject is singular or plural. Subject-verb agreement examples with noun phrases include:

• A theory of physics ascertains that a body in motion stays in motion.
• A virus in all the company’s computers is a real threat to security.
• The causes of this prevalent disease are bad diet and lack of exercise.
• The couch and chair I got at the store look really nice in here.
• The members of the choir are very happy with the performance.

Collective Nouns

Collective nouns, which are words that represent groups of nouns, are typically singular in American English. Here are some examples of subject-verb agreement examples with collective nouns:

• The committeemeets here every Thursday.
• The crowdis getting angry.
• The juryhas finally reached a decision.
• The majorityrules most of the time.
• The staffhas gone their separate ways for the holidays.