Subject-Verb Agreement

Subject/Verb Agreement

Point of view and numbers

Subjects and verbs should always agree in person and number.

Person	Number	Number
	Singular	Plural
First	I sleep.	We sleep.
Second	You sleep.	You sleep.
Third	He/she/it sleeps. The puppy sleeps.	They sleep. Puppies sleep.

Plural and Singular Subjects/Verbs

Noun: Singular	Verb: Singular
Sara	watches.
Noun: Plural	Verb: Plural
They	eat.
Noun: singular	Verb: Singular
The girl	walks.
Noun: Plural	Verb: Plural
The boys	play.

Compound Subjects/Verbs

Two singular subjects can be combined into a compound subject that requires a plural verb.

Bob and Sue plant a garden every year.

The llama and the goat are the most popular animals at the petting zoo.

Indefinite Pronouns

With an indefinite pronoun such as anybody or all, use a singular or plural verb as appropriate.

An indefinite pronoun is one that doesn’t refer to a specific person or thing. Although most take a singular verb, some take a plural verb and some take a singular or a plural verb. See chart below.

Common Indefinite Pronouns

Singular		Singular or Plural	Plural
Anybody	Neither	All	Both
Anyone	Nobody	Any	Few
Anything	No one	More	Many
Each	Nothing	Most	Several
Either	One	None
Everybody	Somebody	Some
Everyone	Someone
Everything	Something
Much

Examples:

Singular indefinites refer to a single unspecified person or thing and take a singular verb:

Everybody works.
Something isn’t right.
Plural indefinites refer to more than one unspecified thing and take a plural verb:

Several are going. Both were invited.

The others take a singular or plural verb depending on whether the word they refer to is singular or plural. The word is either stated or implied.

Stated:	Any person employed at the college is invited to the party.
	More people are going than I expected.
Implied:	All is going toward the benefit fund.
	None are coming like we had planned.

Created Fall 2016 by Emily Gleason