Learning English

Subject-Verb Agreement 3

I am happy. You are happy. He is happy! The subjects and verbs agree. But what about when the subject is a more complicated noun? Dan explains a final 3 ways to deal with difficult subject-verb agreement.

Watch the video and complete the activity

Summary

Verbs always agree with the subject noun in a sentence.

However, there are many types of noun and noun phrase in English, and it can be difficult to know if a particular noun takes a singular verb or a plural verb. Have a look below for some commonly difficult nouns:

1. And, Or, Neither, Nor.

'The King and Queen are coming!' (They...)

When two nouns are joined with ‘and,’ we use a plural verb. But, when the two objects are thought of as one unit, we use a singular verb.

'Fish and chips is the best meal a man can have.' (It...)

Or when two nouns refer to the same thing:

'The new CEO and majority shareholder is coming.' (One person - He or She...)
'The new CEO and majority shareholder are coming.' (Two people - They...) 

When two singular nouns are joined with ‘or’, we use a singular verb, but if singular and plural nouns join in this way, the verb agrees with the closest noun to it. This is also true with expressions using 'either/or' or 'neither/nor'.

'A pizza or a curry is being delivered.'
'A pizza or 3 curries are being delivered.'

2: Separated subjects and verbs.

Sometimes in English we separate a subject and verb. This usually happens because of a prepositional phrase, which is used to describe or qualify a noun. They begin with a preposition such as: of, about, with, on, off, above, around, etc. For example:

'This bunch of bananas is ripe'
'These bunches of bananas are ripe.'

This can lead to some very long complicated sentences (although nouns as long as this example are unlikely):

The builder of the house of my family with the blue overalls in the white car on the main road just over the bridge next to the school is a nice man.

Ignore all the prepositional phrases between the ‘head’ noun  and the verb! This tells you which word to make the verb agree with.

'This bunch ______ is ripe'
'These bunches ______ ripe.'
'The builder ______ is a nice man.'

This is true unless it’s a portion, like ‘half of the cake.’, where the verb agrees with the noun after the 'of' (see Subject Verb Agreement part 2)

3. Singular or plural verb with a cleft sentence.

A cleft sentence is a structure English speakers use to emphasise a particular point. They often, though not always, start with a WH word.

'What really makes me angry is people who throw rubbish on the ground.'
'The most interesting thing I saw last week was the elephant at the theatre.'

However, cleft sentences often use very large subjects (What really makes me angry) and long complements (people who throw rubbish on the ground) and because of this the verb can agree with the subject or the complement – which means, in the case of a plural complement – the verb can be plural.

'What really makes me angry is people who throw rubbish on the ground.' (Verb agrees with subject)
'What really makes me angry are people who throw rubbish on the ground.' (Verb agrees with plural complement)

End of Session

That wraps up this week’s Masterclass. Remember, the choice of noun determines the choice of verb - understand the nouns, and your verb will never disagree. 

Next, join us for News Review, where you can gain language from the latest stories and how to use it in your everyday English.