I are going to my friend’s house after school. He have a trampoline.
When reading the above sentences, you notice pretty quickly that something needs adjusting. These sentences lack proper subject-verb agreement. When we put the subject, the one doing the action, in bold, and underline its action verb, it becomes easier to spot when the subject and verb don’t align with each other.
Correct: I am going to my friend’s house after school. He has a trampoline.
When a subject does an action, the action must reflect if the subject is plural or singular. When subjects and verbs agree, meaning a singular subject has a singular verb or a plural subject has a plural verb, readers always know who does what in your writing.
If a subject and verb don’t agree, the writing begins to confuse readers about which subjects do which actions. Poor subject-verb agreement becomes especially confusing when sentences have multiple subjects, multiple verbs, and a lot going on.
How to Make Sure Your Sentence Has Subject-Verb Agreement
If you feel unsure about a subject-verb agreement in your writing, identify and bold your sentence’s subject, the one doing the action. Sometimes a sentence’s subject is a place or item, instead of a person.
- Correct: Our table collapsed yesterday.
- Correct: Big cities make me feel overwhelmed.
Then, identify and underline the verb, or action, that subject does. Sometimes, a subject will have multiple verbs.
- Correct: My parents took me out to dinner and bought my meal.
- Correct: Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson drain threes and play defense.
Using the above strategy, we will discuss some of the main rules regarding subject-verb agreement.
Subject-Verb Agreement Rules
1. Singular subjects accompany singular verbs.
Singular subjects, including I, you, he, she, and it, must have a singular verb attached to them. Keep in mind that in present tense, I and you share the same verbs as plural subjects.
- Correct: Sally wants tacos for dinner.
- Correct: I love playing football.
- Incorrect: Mikey leave work at 5 pm every evening.
To review verb conjugations in various tenses, check out the “Verb Tenses” guide or the guide for the specific verb tense that applies to your sentence.
2. Plural subjects accompany plural verbs.
Plural subjects include we, they, multiple subjects listed together (Mike and Sally), sport teams, and plurally-named groups that end with s (The Wilsons, The Beatles)
- Correct: Mike and Sally come over frequently.
- Correct: The teachers at Johnson High eat together in the staff lunch room.
- Incorrect: The Beatles is my favorite band.
3. Conjunctions matter: The word and compounds subjects, making them a plural subject. Oppositely, the word or separates subjects into singular subjects.
The conjunction and links nouns together as a group. The conjunction or separates them into interchangeable individuals
- Correct: Paul McCartney and John Lennon are a dynamic duo.
- Correct: Michael Jordan or LeBron James is the best player ever.
- Incorrect: Adele or Taylor Swift are the best singers.
4. One subject, multiple verbs: A subject’s verbs, no matter how many, must all agree with the subject.
- Correct: Dad does it all: He hunts, runs marathons, even cooks our dinner every night.
- Correct: Carrots provide nutrients, taste good, and are affordable.
- Incorrect: My favorite movies entertain me and makes me laugh.
5. Indefinite pronouns are singular, unless they’re countable and plural.
Singular: anybody, anything, nobody, nothing, everybody, everything, each
- Correct: Everybody wants to rule the world.
- Correct: Nothing gets in the way of my goals.
- Incorrect: Each get their share.
Plural if countable, singular if uncountable: all, most, some, none
- Correct: All of my sugar is gone.
- Correct: All of my toys are gone.
- Incorrect: Some of my soda tastes watery.
For a more in-depth review of indefinite pronouns, view our “Comprehensive Guide to Pronouns.”
6. Linking phrases such as in addition to do not compound/pluralize subjects.
All phrases and conjunctions besides and keep subjects separated. This means in addition to, neither/nor, either/or, as well as, in combination with, each do not have a pluralizing effect. Use a plural verb only if the subjects themselves are plural.
- Correct: Piano as well as guitar is my favorite instrument.
- Correct: Neither Mr. Harmon nor Mrs. Jacobs assigns very much homework.
- Incorrect: Spongebob Squarepants, in addition to Patrick Star, make me laugh.
7. Noncount, or uncountable, nouns always take a singular form.
- Correct: Water is all over my leg.
- Correct: There is no air in here!
- Incorrect: This soda are tasty.
8. When a compound subject joined by or contains plural and singular nouns, the verb agrees with the closest noun before it.
- Correct: The principal or the teachers design the curriculum.
- Correct: The teachers or the principal design the curriculum.
9. Collective nouns that imply a group, like “group,” “pair,” “team,” “class,” and “company,” even band names, are singular unless they start with The or end with -s.
- Correct: My class disrupts my teacher too much.
- Incorrect: My study group work hard to prepare for a test.
10. Sports teams are always plural. Musical band names are singular, unless they start with The or end with -s.
- Correct: The Miami Heat play tough defense.
- Incorrect: The Oklahoma City Thunder shoots the ball well.
- Correct: The 1975 put on a good show.
- Correct: The Beatles are my favorite band of all time.
- Incorrect: Fleetwood Mac are a talented band.
11. In sentences that begin with There is or Here are, the nearest following noun determines which form of to be you use.
Since there and here don’t act as nouns in this case, the nearest noun determines if you use is or are.
- Correct: There are seven Dwarves in Snow White.
- Correct: Here is one of my favorite sewing techniques.
- Incorrect: There’s many ways to say “I love you.”
Next time your subject-verb agreement gets a little uncertain, keep this list on hand to help your subjects act accordingly. It might seem like a lot of rules to take in at once, but many of the rules overlap, and many of them will come to you more and more naturally as you spend time reading, writing, and expressing the complex experiences of your writing subjects. Subjects and verbs make up critical parts of our storytelling lives, and here’s to you enjoying the storytelling process as you move forward.
