Subject/Verb Agreement
One of the hardest grammar skills to master is the agreement of verbs to their subjects. For instance, in sentence (1) which answer would you choose?
1. Each of the students, teachers, and coaches (was, were) at the meeting.
Do you know? ......... Are you sure now? ......... The answer is [was].
How about sentence (2), can you pick the right answer?
2. Neither the buyer nor the sellers (was, were) happy about the deal.
The answer is [were].
These are just two examples of how choosing the correct verb can be confusing. This is not just about first person or third person nouns. The challenges in these sentences also deal with quantifiers, such as [each] in (1) and noun placement in (2).
When you use quantifiers like each and every before nouns, the main verb will be in third person singular. Also when you use one, or one of before nouns or noun phrases, the main verb will be in third person singular form. Look at sentences (3-5).
3. Every person in the audience was silent.
4. One man was standing alone.
5. One of my friends lives in Oregon.
When you are using correlative conjunctions like neither...nor and either...or, you need to make sure that the main verb agrees with the noun that is closest to it. Look at sentence (6).
6. Either my friends or my father is responsible for the graduation gift I received.
Also, sometimes you may want to have additional information for a subject, which will be set of in commas. In this case, the main verb agrees with the first subject NOT with the combined subjects. Look at sentence (7).
7. My aunt, as well as two of her friends, is coming to visit next month.
Even though you are referring to three people, your main verb agrees with [my aunt] because she is the main subject. If you create a compound subject using [and], then you DO use plural for your main verb, such as in sentence (8).
8. My aunt and uncle are coming to visit next month.
1. Each of the students, teachers, and coaches (was, were) at the meeting.
Do you know? ......... Are you sure now? ......... The answer is [was].
How about sentence (2), can you pick the right answer?
2. Neither the buyer nor the sellers (was, were) happy about the deal.
The answer is [were].
These are just two examples of how choosing the correct verb can be confusing. This is not just about first person or third person nouns. The challenges in these sentences also deal with quantifiers, such as [each] in (1) and noun placement in (2).
When you use quantifiers like each and every before nouns, the main verb will be in third person singular. Also when you use one, or one of before nouns or noun phrases, the main verb will be in third person singular form. Look at sentences (3-5).
3. Every person in the audience was silent.
4. One man was standing alone.
5. One of my friends lives in Oregon.
When you are using correlative conjunctions like neither...nor and either...or, you need to make sure that the main verb agrees with the noun that is closest to it. Look at sentence (6).
6. Either my friends or my father is responsible for the graduation gift I received.
Also, sometimes you may want to have additional information for a subject, which will be set of in commas. In this case, the main verb agrees with the first subject NOT with the combined subjects. Look at sentence (7).
7. My aunt, as well as two of her friends, is coming to visit next month.
Even though you are referring to three people, your main verb agrees with [my aunt] because she is the main subject. If you create a compound subject using [and], then you DO use plural for your main verb, such as in sentence (8).
8. My aunt and uncle are coming to visit next month.
Non-count Nouns
As you saw in the Nouns section of this site, non-count nouns take a third person singular verb. Sentences (9-11) are examples.
9. The money is on the table.
10. Her advice was good.
11. The furniture is old.
9. The money is on the table.
10. Her advice was good.
11. The furniture is old.
Below are links for practice.
