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WHAT IS AGREEMENT? As you know, when words agree they are of the same number. This concept means that singular subjects take singular verbs. Plural subjects take plural verbs. Singular means one; plural means more than one. CHOOSE BETWEEN SINGULAR AND PLURAL VERBS To decide whether to use a singular or a plural verb, first determine whether your subject is singular or plural. Most plural nouns end in -s or –es.
With singular nouns, use verbs that end in -s or -es. Otherwise, use the simple form of the verb.
WORK WITH COMPOUND SUBJECTS SUBJECTS JOINED BY AND Use plural verbs with compound subjects, which are joined by and. Brazil and Argentina border [not borders] Uruguay. SUBJECTS JOINED BY OR Use singular verbs with subjects joined by or if both subjects are singular. Bill or Sam has [not have] been elected to feed the pig. Use plural verbs with subjects joined by or if both subjects are plural. I can’t remember whether the Marx Brothers or the Three Stooges are [not is] her favorite comedians. If one subject is singular and the other is plural, the verb agrees with the one that is closer to it.
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COMPOUND SUBJECTS FOLLOWED BY SINGULAR COMPLEMENTS A complement is a noun or adjective that describes the subject but comes after the verb. When a compound subject is followed by a complement, the verb is plural even if the complement is singular.
COMPOUND SUBJECTS THAT NAME THE SAME PERSON, PLACE, OR THING When the parts of a compound subject name the same person, place, or thing, the verb is singular. The commander of the colonial army and our first president was [not were] George Washington. COMPOUND SUBJECTS AS ONE UNIT When two subjects form a unit, the verb should be singular. Peas and carrots is [not are] my favorite side dish.
Peas and carrots grow [not grows] in the garden by the window. RELATIVE PRONOUNS FOLLOWING COMPOUND SUBJECTS When a relative pronoun (that, which, who, whom, or whose) refers to compound elements, the verb following that pronoun is plural. Spanish and Portuguese, which are [not is] Romance languages, are both spoken in Europe and South America. ADJECTIVES USED TO FORM COMPOUND SUBJECTS If separate adjectives are used to distinguish two types of the same noun, the verb is plural even if the noun is singular. College and professional football share [not shares] many of the same rules. MASTER SPECIAL SUBJECT/VERB AGREEMENT PROBLEMS RELATIVE PRONOUNS AS SUBJECTS When a relative pronoun —who, which, or that—is a subject, make the verb agree with its antecedent, the word to which a pronoun refers. The movie was about a woman who wins the lottery. The subject of who wins the lottery is who. The antecedent of who is woman. Woman is singular; therefore, who takes a singular verb, wins. GERUNDS AS SUBJECTS A gerund is a noun that ends in -ing and that stands for an activity: running, writing, studying, working, reading, understanding. Deal with gerunds as you would other nouns. Donating food at our church helps [not help] the needy. SENTENCES THAT BEGIN WITH THERE / HERE If a sentence begins with there or here, the subject comes after the verb. Look for it there.
VERBS THAT COME BEFORE SUBJECTS If the verb comes before the subject, read the whole sentence and find the subject before deciding whether the verb is singular or plural. At the end of the Reflecting Pool stands the Washington Monument. SINGULAR NOUNS THAT END IN - S Some singular nouns end in -s. These include academic subjects such as mathematics,statistics, and physics. News,mumps, tennis, politics, and acoustics are also singular. Such nouns take singular verbs. Not:Genetics are the study of heredity. TITLES Titles of books, movies, television programs, plays, and other works are always considered singular. They take singular verbs. Not:Dubliners are a book of short stories by Joyce. TERMS OF QUANTITY Words that name quantities, such as majority, number, dollars, and years, are singular or plural depending on their use. If you are considering items together in one group, use a singular verb. If you are considering separate items within a group, use a plural verb.
WORK WITH PHRASES AND CLAUSES BETWEEN SUBJECTS AND VERBS FINDING THE TRUE SUBJECT Words that come between the subject and verb can sometimes hide the real subject of a sentence.
In the first sentence, the writer mistakenly assumes that the subject is city, which would take the singular verb includes. But the real subject is attractions, a plural noun that takes the plural verb include. To find the true subject of a sentence, first look for the sentence's verb. The verb is the word that conveys action or that helps describe another word by linking it with an adjective.
After finding the sentence's verb, ask the question, Who or what does the action? or Who or what is being described/identified? That word will be the true subject. Question:Who never asks questions?Answer:Students. PAYING SPECIAL ATTENTION TO COLLECTIVE NOUNS Collective noun name groups of persons or things. They include words such as family, tribe, nation, list, flock, pair, and team. Usually, collective nouns are singular and take singular verbs no matter what words come between.
WORK WITH INDEFINITE PRONOUNS An indefinite pronoun stands for a noun that is not specified in the sentence. An easy way to remember indefinite pronouns is to place them into four categories. OTHER INDEFINITE PRONOUNS
17.5a MAKING SINGULAR INDEFINITE PRONOUNS AGREE WITH VERBS Some indefinite pronouns are singular; they take singular verbs.
MAKING PLURAL INDEFINITE PRONOUNS AGREE WITH VERBS Some indefinite pronouns are plural; they take plural verbs.
USING INDEFINITE PRONOUNS THAT CAN BE SINGULAR OR PLURAL Some indefinite pronouns can be singular or plural depending on the meaning of the sentence.
WORKING WITH WORDS THAT COME BETWEEN SUBJECTS AND VERBS When checking agreement between indefinite pronouns and verbs, ignore words that come between; focus on the subject. Try setting off the words that come between.
17.5e USING PHRASES THAT BEGIN WITH OF Don't let phrases that begin with of and that come between the subject and verb confuse you. Focus on the indefinite pronoun to decide whether a subject is singular or plural.
17.5f WORKING WITH SUBORDINATE CLAUSES THAT COME BETWEEN SUBJECTS AND VERBS Relative pronoun —that, which, who, whom, and whose--—introduce subordinate clauses, which refer to and describe a noun or pronoun. Ignore those subordinate clauses when you make the subject and verb of the main clause agree.
USING EACH AS AN INDEFINITE PRONOUN OR ADJECTIVE Each is an indefinite pronoun. However, it can be used as an adjective if placed immediately before a noun.
In all cases, the verb is singular. MAINTAIN SUBJECT/VERB AGREEMENT WHEN USING EITHER/OR AND NEITHER/NOR Joining nouns and pronouns with and creates compound subjects, which are plural. But this situation isn't true when you use or and nor between subjects. Or and nor tell us to consider subjects separately, not together. The joining word helps us determine whether a verb should be singular or plural. Sam and Paul ride motorcycles. BUT Either Sam or Paul rides a Harley-Davidson. USING EITHER/OR AND NEITHER/NOR WHEN BOTH SUBJECTS ARE SINGULAR Either/or and neither/nor constructions make us consider the two subjects separately, not as a pair. Therefore, if both subjects are singular, the verb must be singular: Not:Either Thailand or Sri Lanka were her home.
USING EITHER/OR AND NEITHER/NOR WHEN BOTH SUBJECTS ARE PLURAL You learned that if both subjects in an either/or or neither/nor sentence are singular, the verb is singular. By the same token, if both subjects are plural, the verb is plural. Not:Neither the cats nor the dogs has torn the screen. USING EITHER/OR AND NEITHER/NOR WHEN ONE SUBJECT IS SINGULAR AND THE OTHER IS PLURAL When one subject is singular and the other is plural, the subject closer to the verb determines whether the verb is singular or plural. Neither the company nor the workers want a strike. BUT Neither the workers nor the company wants a strike. In the first, workers is the subject closer to the verb. Since workers is plural, the verb is plural. In the second, company is closer to the verb. Since company is singular, the verb is singular. USING EITHER AND NEITHER AS ADJECTIVES When either or neither comes immediately before a noun, the noun is singular. Therefore, the verb that follows is also singular.
MAKE VERBS AGREE WITH COLLECTIVE NOUNS A collective noun names a single unit. It stands for a group of people or things. Although collective nouns seem to be plural, they are usually singular. Collective nouns usually take singular verbs. The Congress has passed gun-control laws. Locate the verb in the sentences above. In each case, it comes directly after the subject.
AN EXCEPTION TO THE RULE Sometimes collective nouns refer to individuals in a group rather than to the group as a whole. In such cases, use a plural verb:
WORKING WITH COLLECTIVE NOUNS FOLLOWED BY PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES
Instead, base your decision on the sentence's meaning. First, separate the prepositional phrase from the subject and verb. Then decide whether the verb is singular or plural.
BUT
WORKING WITH SUBORDINATE CLAUSES BETWEEN COLLECTIVE NOUNS AND VERBS
Not:The club, which were once open only to men, now recruit
women. USING NOUNS OF QUANTITY Some nouns of quantity, though plural, really suggest just a single unit. They always take singular verbs.
MAKE PRONOUNS AGREE WITH THEIR ANTECEDENTS—SIX RULES Just as a verb agrees in number with its subject, a pronoun agrees with an antecedent, the word it refers to. Antecedents are nouns or other pronouns.
AVOID SEXISM WHILE MAINTAINING AGREEMENT WHAT ARE SEXIST PRONOUNS? Indefinite pronouns, such as anybody, someone, and something, do not refer to specific persons or things. Indefinite pronouns are singular. But sometimes writers use only masculine pronouns--—he, his, and him--—to refer to indefinite pronouns. This usage can make writing sexist, and it offends readers. AVOIDING SEXISM WHEN REFERRING TO INDEFINITE PRONOUNS One way to avoid sexism is by using both masculine and feminine pronouns:.
A second way to avoid sexism is to replace the pronoun with an article: a, an, or the.
A third way to avoid sexism is to replace the indefinite pronoun with a plural noun.
AVOIDING SEXISM WHEN REFERRING TO GENERIC NOUNS Most nouns in English are generic--—they are considered neither female nor male. Included are words such as teacher, engineer, nurse, and judge. Nongeneric nouns identify the sex of a person; they include grandmother, father, and aunt. One way to avoid sexism when referring to generic nouns is by replacing a masculine pronoun with both a masculine and feminine pronoun.
A second way to avoid sexism when referring to generic nouns is by replacing the pronoun with an article: a, an, or the.
A third way to avoid sexism when referring to generic nouns is to replace a singular generic noun with a plural noun and then use a plural pronoun.
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