Subject Verb agreement
This article explains the fundamentals to learn Subject Verb
Agreement at an advanced level. The first part of the Subject Verb
agreement covers the basics for the topic and explains what subject-verb
agreement means. This article is the advanced part of the topic and
will give you more clarity on how to solve such questions in various
competitive exams.
Revision of Basics
These are some important points you need to keep in mind for this topic:
Subject: Doer of the verb.
Object: Receiver of the Verb
Verb: Action or state in a sentence.
Subject: Doer of the verb.
Object: Receiver of the Verb
Verb: Action or state in a sentence.
Basic rule of subject verb agreement: A subject must agree with its verb in number.
This has two implications:
A singular subject takes a singular verb.
Plural subjects take plural verbs.
A singular subject takes a singular verb.
Plural subjects take plural verbs.
Let's explore some interesting tips and tricks of subject verb agreement and extend your learning.
Subject-Verb Agreement: Advanced Tricks
Trick 1: Some indefinite pronouns are considered singular and require singular verb forms.
The following is the list of indefinite pronouns: anyone, anybody, anything, No one, nobody, nothing, someone, somebody, something, everyone, everybody, everything, whatever and whoever.
Example: Everyone wants to watch the movie. (Notice the singular verb 'wants' in this case).
A sentence which uses 'want' in the plural form is: Ram and Sham want to the movie.
The following is the list of indefinite pronouns: anyone, anybody, anything, No one, nobody, nothing, someone, somebody, something, everyone, everybody, everything, whatever and whoever.
Example: Everyone wants to watch the movie. (Notice the singular verb 'wants' in this case).
A sentence which uses 'want' in the plural form is: Ram and Sham want to the movie.
Trick 2: Five indefinite pronouns can be either singular or plural, depending on the usage.
Which are these pronouns? These are the SANAM pronouns: Some, Any, None, All, More / Most. You can use this handy mnemonic, SANAM, to keep this in mind.
Now the important thing is the basis on which we decide whether the noun is singular or plural. There is one simple rule that is followed here:
Which are these pronouns? These are the SANAM pronouns: Some, Any, None, All, More / Most. You can use this handy mnemonic, SANAM, to keep this in mind.
Now the important thing is the basis on which we decide whether the noun is singular or plural. There is one simple rule that is followed here:
- If the noun is a countable noun (nouns for which the plural form exists), then the verb is plural.
- If the noun is an uncountable noun (nouns for which only the singular forms exists), then the verb is singular.
Let's take up some example sentences to understand how this works.
Examples using Countable Nouns:
Examples using Countable Nouns:
Sentence 1: Some of the girls are going out.
Sentence 2: Most of the glasses were broken.
Sentence 2: Most of the glasses were broken.
We can see in both these cases that the nouns are plural in nature
(girls and glasses) and therefore the verb is plural in nature (are and
were). Now let's take up the example of uncountable nouns.
Examples using Uncountable Nouns:
Examples using Uncountable Nouns:
Sentence 1: Some water is needed.
Sentence 2: Most of the money was lost.
Sentence 2: Most of the money was lost.
In this case, we can see that water and money are uncountable nouns
(these cannot be counted and the plural form does not exist for these
words). Considering this, the verbs are singular in nature.
Trick 3: After many/a great many/a good many, etc., the noun is always plural, which is followed by a plural verb.
Example: A great many girls are following fashion trends these days. (Here the plural noun 'girls' is followed by the plural verb are.)
Example: A great many girls are following fashion trends these days. (Here the plural noun 'girls' is followed by the plural verb are.)
Trick 4: After 'a number of/a large number', the noun and verb in the sentence are always plural.
Example: A number of soldiers have lost their lives on the border. (Here the noun 'soldiers' is used in the plural form and the verb 'have lost' is also plural in nature.)
Example: A number of soldiers have lost their lives on the border. (Here the noun 'soldiers' is used in the plural form and the verb 'have lost' is also plural in nature.)
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Trick 5: After 'the number', the noun is plural but the verb is singular.
Example: The number of soldiers at the border is large.
This time, even though the noun soldiers is plural, the verb in the sentence ,'is', is singular in nature. The reason for this is that we are referring to a singular number in this case.
Example: The number of soldiers at the border is large.
This time, even though the noun soldiers is plural, the verb in the sentence ,'is', is singular in nature. The reason for this is that we are referring to a singular number in this case.
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