Agreement Between Subject and Verb Help (page 3)

Introduction to Subject Verb Agreement

In any list of common errors in English, lack of agreement between subject and verb ranks high. For example:

The berries in my cereal tastes so sweet.

To correct an agreement error, you need to identify both the subject and the verb. Whenever possible, start by identifying the verb. In the example sentence, the verb is tastes. Then you can ask, what tastes? The berries tastes. Oops! You just found the error. Berries is a plural subject and the verb must agree with it. Decide which is correct:

Berries tastes.

Berries taste.

Of course it is the latter.

In addition, just ahead, you will discover how the times (tenses) of verbs must be consistent and logical as verbs follow one another. What's wrong with the following?

Yesterday, I reprimanded the children when they run into the street.

Obviously, yesterday and reprimanded indicate past time, but run is in the present time. Change run to the past time—ran:

Yesterday, I reprimanded the children when they ran into the street.

Subject Verb Agreement Practice and Answers

Practice

In the following paragraphs, check the tenses of all the verbs for consistency of time. Find the one verb in each paragraph that needs to be corrected.

Paragraph 1

Children are not always happy to play alone. Does that mean that parents have to devote all their time to playing with their children? No, it didn't. Certain techniques work to encourage children to play on their own.

Paragraph 2

In 1999, The Academy of Pediatrics provided some guidelines for children and TV. They suggest that children under two years old should not watch TV. They advised that even older children should not watch TV before bedtime. Instead, they said that parents should read to children, or children might read to themselves and with their parents.

Answers

Practice

In each of the following sentences, find the verb (action word). Label each verb present, past, or future. The first one is done for you.

1. A consumer quickly learns that "living green" is not easy.
2. I will avoid plastic packaging as much as possible. __________
3. My family turned off the lights all over the house. __________
4. Toby decided to cycle to work. __________
5. Marilyn's child uses much less hand towels than my child does. __________
6. He eats lunch at the same time every day. __________
7. Our three children will play together tomorrow. __________
8. They ate lunch in the park. __________
9. I collected shells on the beach. __________
10. I keep a scrapbook for each child. __________
11. You will ask yourself some important questions before the election. __________
12. The law student completed his final exam. __________
13. David played the guitar in the band Neville Blues. __________
14. Aidan will start school next year. __________
15. The car stops at every yellow light. __________

Answers

Consistent Verb Tense in Paragraphs

The verb tenses in the previous written practice section were likely easy to determine. You have just made decisions about tense in single sentences, and you can do this for verbs in paragraphs, too. There is one additional consideration: That is, is the tense consistent throughout the paragraph? Read the following paragraph, and decide if the writer was consistent.

When I decide to ask for a raise at work, I do some homework first. First, I consult the Occupational Outlook Handbook from the U.S. Department of Labor to check recent salaries in my field. Then I gather my recent performance evaluations, and I reread them carefully to recall the list of my accomplishments. However, I still need to list accomplishments that have accrued since that evaluation. I always list higher sales, the number of sales calls, and the number of those calls that result in sales.

You probably realized that the writer was consistent in this paragraph. Some of the present tense verbs are decide, do, consult, gather, reread, and need. Now read this paragraph with the same task in mind. Is the tense consistent?

Your company may not be in a position to offer you a raise. If the company was laying people off, it is probably not a good idea to ask for a raise at this time. Asking for a substantial raise can only make you seem unrealistic and untouched by what is going on around you. Instead, ask for something other than money, such as flex time, or a better office, or new equipment.

Here are some verbs: offer, was laying off, ask. Are they all in the same tense? Clearly, the writer meant to write in the present tense, but one verb does not conform: was laying off indicates the past; it should be is laying off.

Consistent Verb Tense Practice and Answers

Practice

In the following paragraph, choose the correct verb for each sentence. The first one (opens) is provided for you and sets the tense, or time, in the present.

Every morning Maria opens the office and immediately (checks/checked) the fax machine for messages. It seems that each day more and more unsolicited faxes (will appear/appear). Now Maria (knows/knew) she will have to find a way to unlist the fax number.

Answers

Subject and Verb Agreement in Number

As you read in the introduction to this section, a verb changes depending on whether the subject of the sentence is singular or plural. Look at the following examples:

The new computer saves me so much time.

The new computers save us so much time.

In the first sentence, the subject is computer and it is singular—there is only one. In the second sentence, the subject is computers and it is plural, meaning there is more than one. A singular noun, such as one computer, does not have an s; but a plural noun, such as two or more computers, uses the s to show there is more than one. Now look at the verb. One computer saves me so much time. The verb takes an s to accommodate a singular subject. Obviously, verbs don't work according to the same rules as nouns. With a verb, an added s means that it is singular, not plural.

One more complication: sometimes two words are used to form a plural subject:

A desk and a chair (plural subject) stand (plural verb—no s) in the corner of the room. Two things stand in the room.

A desk stands in the corner of the room. One thing stands in the room.

Once again, a plural subject is followed by a verb with no s. A singular subject is followed by a verb with an s ending.

Let's look at more examples:

Food and exercise (plural subject) comprise (plural verb—no s) an important part in any weight-loss program.

The two candidates (plural subject) address (plural verb—no s) the crowd.

My son and daughter (plural subject) live (plural verb—no s) on their own now.

Two cars (plural subject) vie (plural verb—no s) for that spot each morning.

Lack of agreement between subject and verb (e.g., The contest winners was there to receive their awards.) is one of the errors most often committed by speakers and writers. We frequently hear these errors as well as see them in writing. Frequency, however, does not give anyone a pass

Let's go back to Joe Hidalgo's e-mail history. He has some work to do on subject-verb agreement.

From:   Joe Hidalgo

To:       Harry Malcolm

Subject: New office designs

Harry,

I'm attaching the two designs you liked most. Your patience and consideration in waiting for their completion is very much appreciated. Carlos, Mark, and I, who have been assigned to this project, feels honored to have been chosen to work on this inquiry. Please feel free to ask us about any item that is unclear to you.

We look forward to working with you.

Joe Hidalgo

Did you see the subject-verb agreement errors in the e-mail? They occurred in the second and third sentences. Here are simple changes to correct the errors. Sentence 2 correction: Your patience and consideration… are very much appreciated.

The subject (patience and consideration) is plural. You cannot use the singular is with a plural subject; you can use the plural form are. Sentence 3 correction: Carlos, Mark, and I, who have been assigned to this project, feel… inquiry. The subject (Carlos, Mark, and I) is plural. You cannot use the singular feels with a plural subject. You can use the plural form feel.