SUBJECT – VERB AGREEMENT PART - II

 

SUBJECT – VERB AGREEMENT PART - II

A few more problems with Subject-Verb agreement in the formation of sentence structure are mentioned below.

1.     The words “besides, as well as, in addition to, including, with, together with, along with” in a sentence do not affect the verb.

 eg: The gorilla as well as the orangutan is a primate.

2.     When both singular and plural subjects are present in a sentence, the verb agrees with the near subject.

 eg: Neither the son nor the daughters are alive today

       Neither the daughters nor the son is alive today

3.     If the two singular words are connected by ‘or, neither-nor, either-or’, then the subject is singular and it takes a singular verb.

 eg: Neither the dog nor the cat is silent.

       Either October or November is going to be my wedding month.

4.     Words that are singular in meaning but plural in form take the singular verb.

 eg: News is informative.

       Meals is my favorite food for lunch

5.      The linking verb always agrees with the subject not with the compliment.

  eg:  Excessive contribution in academic activities was his reason for success.

6.      Nouns like “goods, ashes, remains, proceeds” do not have singular form and takes plural verb.

  eg: The goods are imported from foreign countries.

7.     Subject – Verb agreement for collective nouns:

a.     The committee has agreed to submit their assignment on Monday

(The verb is singular because the group acts as one unit)

b.     The committee have agreed to submit their assignment on Monday

(The verb is plural because the members of the group act separately)

c.     6 months is too long a time to wait and see you.

(Singular verbs are used for noun expressing time, amount and quantity)

d.     A part of / Two-thirds of / One half of the building was destroyed due to fire.

(If the ‘of’ is followed by singular noun then it takes a singular verb)

e.     One of the reasons for his success is his excessive contribution in academic activities.

(The singular verb is used if the sentence contains “One of / One of the”)

f.      The cattle are grazing in the garden.

(Certain collective nouns are singular in form but always used plural in sense. For eg: poultry, cattle, offspring and etc.)

g.     My luggage is very heavy.

(Certain nouns like luggage, baggage, information, advice, mischief, furniture, business, traffic, weather are singular and always takes singular verb)

h.     Countable nouns have plural forms whereas uncountable nouns do not have plural forms.

8.     The title of the books / magazines is followed by the singular verb.

 eg: The news stories in The Hindustan Times is very informative.

9.     Words like “anybody, everybody, nobody, somebody, anything, everything, nothing, something, anyone, everyone, no one, and someone” are always singular and take the singular verb.

 eg: Everybody in the office has unique talent.

Author:

Dr. L. Suresh

Assistant Professor of English

Sri Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya College of Arts and Science (Autonomous)

Coimbatore – 641 020