Subject Verb Agreement

Subject verb agreement is an important skill for English writing.  Every verb must agree with its subject.  Some verbs are plural and some are singular.  Take a look at this
example:

• The chair is red.
  
• The chairs are red.
  

With one chair the verb is singular (is), but with more than one chair, the verb is plural (are).  In both sentences, the subject agrees in number with the verb.The following headings show the rules of subject verb
agreement.

Pronouns

I	play
You	play
He/She/It	plays
We	play
They	play

With pronouns, he, she, and it use the 3rd person form of the verb, which takes an "s" at the end.  Here are some example
sentences:

• He lives in Toronto.
  
• They live in Vancouver.
  

• She works downtown.
  
• We work downtown.
  

Subjects of the sentence are singular or plural.
SINGULAR SUBJECTS

Indefinite Pronouns

Someone	Somebody	Something
No one	Nobody	Nothing
Everyone	Everybody	Everything
Anyone	Anybody	Anything

Indefinite Pronouns take a single verb, like the 3rd person (He,
She, It) form of the verb.

Examples:

• Someone is watching us.
  
• Everyone lives in the apartment.
  

Groups

Family	Team	Group
Band	Class	Flock
Herd	Staff	Company
Cub	Orchestra

Groups of people or things take singular verbs.  Although they are multiple people, there is still only one group.  For example, although you have brothers, sisters, and parents, you only have one family.  If it were plural, that would mean there are two families.

Examples:

• My family is going to go on vacation.
  
• The team plays at 7:00pm.
  

Gerunds (Verb + ING)When gerunds are the subject of the sentence, they are singular.  It is only one action, so the verb is singular.

Examples:

• Running is fun.                        
  
• Swimming is difficult.
  

Be careful for actions followed by plural nouns.  Remember there is only one action.

• Playing games is fun.

• Buying toys was expensive.

PLURAL SUBJECTS
2 Subjects joined with "and"Compound subjects joined with "and" must take a plural verb.
Example:        

• The boy and his dog are playing in the park.
  

Plural SubjectsThese words mean two or more things:
Both, several, many, most, all, few, none, some, any, etc.
Examples:

• Some of the people are watching the movie.
  
• Most of the people live in the city.
  

Irregular plurals
Although these words may seem singular, they are all plural nouns:

Children, men, women, people, mice, feet, teeth, fish, geese, deer

Examples:        

• The children are playing.

• My teeth hurt.

For more help with these words, see irregular plural nouns page.
ExceptionsNon-Count Nouns are always singular.

• Some of the sugar is in the kitchen.

Some subjects look plural, but are actually singular.

• Mathematics is a difficult subject

• Ten dollars is not a lot of money.

• The news was on at 9pm last night.

Compound subjects can be considered singular if they act as one thing.

• Peanut butter and banana is my favourite sandwich.

Look out for phrases that do not affect the subject, especially prepositional phrases.
Accompanied by, along with, either…or, neither…nor, among, as well as, in addition to, together with, joined by, etc.

• The box of socks and underwear is on the floor.

• Tom, along with Bob, is going to the party.

• My friend or my sister is going to help me move.

• Either the dog, the cat, or the bird is sick.

• Neither the man, nor his wife is coming to the party.

The subject closer to the verb affects the verb.
The teacher or the students are going to bring the money.
The students or the teacher is going to bring the money.
Nationalities for people are plural, but languages are singular.
The Spanish people are very friendly.
Spanish is an interesting language.