| (A)
All verbs except modal verbs agree in person and number with their subjects.
e.g. I play basketball every Sunday.
He plays basketball every Sunday.
The pictures are beautiful.
The picture is beautiful.
(B) When
the subject is qualified by a phrase, we must take care that the verb
agrees with the subject, not with the noun or pronoun in the phrase.
e.g. The building with big windows is a public
library.
The windows of this room are dirty.
(C ) We use
a singular verb:
i. when two subjects are linked by 'and' but express
one idea.
e.g. Bread and butter is my favorite breakfast.
The famous composer and singer is in Hong
Kong.
ii. after 'the number
of'
e.g. The number of millionaires is increasing.
iii. after 'many
a' and 'more than one'
e.g. Many a man has run away.
Compare: Many men have run away.
iv. after every, each, everyone, no one, someone, everything,
something, nothing, etc.
e.g. Everything is fine.
Someone is laughing.
v. after words denoting weight, measurement, an amount of money and
a period of time.
e.g. Ten years is a long time.
vi. after nouns ending in
's' such as news, apparatus, terminus, crossroads,
measles, etc. which are in fact singular in number.
e.g. The news was very shocking.
vii. when an infinitive, a gerund phrase or a noun clause is the subject
of the sentence.
e.g. Collecting coins is her favourite hobby.
To increase licence fees on new cars is not
the best way to solve the traffic problems.
(D) We use a plural verb:
i. after the nouns people, police, public, etc. as
they are plural in meaning.
e.g. The police are hunting for the suspect.
ii. when 'the
+ adjective' represents a category of people.
e.g. The rich are not always happy.
(E) We use
either a singular or plural verb in
the following situations:
i. when two subjects are joined by with, together
with, along with, as well as, including, in addition to, like, rather
than, etc., the verb agrees with the first subject.
e.g. Nancy, like her sisters, works very hard.
ii. when two subjects are
joined by or, eitherˇKor, neitherˇKnor and not
onlyˇKbut also, the verb agrees with the second subject.
e.g. Neither May nor the boys know anything
about the accident.
Neither I nor Jenny wants to do this job.
iii. collective nouns such
as family, committee, staff, audience, class, etc.
can either take a singular verb or a plural verb. We use a singular
verb if the group is thought of as a single unit and use a plural verb
if we refer to individuals within the group.
e.g. There is a large audience at the show.
The audience are shouting at the tops of their
voices.
iv. after half of,
the majority of, ten percent of, none of, a lot of, plenty of, most
of, etc.
1. we use a singular verb when referring to singular
or uncountable nouns.
e.g. Fifty percent of this composition is
irrelevant.
2. we use a plural verb when referring to plural
nouns.
e.g. Most of the guests have left.
v. The verb in a relative clause agrees with what who, which
or that refers to.
e.g. Paul is one of the boys that have been
selected for Best Student of the Year.
Paul is the only one of the boys that has
been selected for Best Student of the Year.
vi. after none of,
any of, either of, neither of ˇK
e.g. I donˇ¦t think any of these articles is/are
interesting.
Neither of these two books is/are worth reading.
Ouiz
Notes & Exercises
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