AGREEMENT OF THE VERB WITH THE SUBJECT

1. A Verb must agree with its subject in Number and Person. Often, by what is called the “Error of Proximity”(=nearness), the verb is made to agree in number with a noun near it instead of with its proper subject. This should be avoided as shown in the following examples:-

The quality of the mangoes was not good.

The introduction of tea and coffee and such other beverages has not been without some effect.

His knowledge of Indian vernaculars (=the language or dialect spoken by the ordinary people of a country or region) is far beyond the common.

The state of his affairs was such as to cause anxiety to his creditors.

The results of the recognition of this fact are seen in the gradual improvement of the diet

of the poor.

2. Two or more singular nouns or pronouns joined by and require a plural verb; as,

Gold and silver are precious metals.

Fire and water do not agree.

Knowledge and wisdom have oft-times no connection.

Are your father and mother at home?

In him were centered their love and their ambition.

He and I were playing.

►But if the nouns suggest one idea to the mind, or refer to the same person or thing, the

verb is singular; as,

Time and tide waits for no man.

The horse and carriage is at the door.

Bread and butter is his only food.

Honour and glory is his reward.

The rise and fall of the tide is, due to lunar influence.

My friend and benefactor has come.

The novelist and poet is dead.

3. Words joined to a singular subject by with, as well as, etc., are parenthetical. The

verb should therefore be put in the singular; as,

The house, with its contents, was insured. The Mayor, with his councilors, is to be

present.

The ship, with its crew, was lost.

Silver, as well as cotton, has fallen in price.

Sanskrit, as well as Arabic, was taught there.

Justice, as well as mercy, allows it.

The guidance, as well as the love of a mother, was wanting.

4. Two or more singular subjects connected by or or nor require a singular verb; as.

No nook or corner was left unexplored.

Our happiness or our sorrow is largely due to our own actions.

Either the cat or the dog has been here.

Neither food nor water was to be found there.

Neither praise nor blame seems to affect him.

►But when one of the subjects joined by or or nor is plural, the verb must be plural, and the

plural subject should be placed nearest the verb ; as,

Neither the Chairman nor the directors are present.

5. When the subjects joined by or or nor are of different persons, the verb agrees with

the nearer; as,

Either he or I am mistaken.

Either you or he is mistaken.

Neither you nor he is to blame.

Neither my friend not I am to blame.

►But it is better to avoid these constructions, and to write:-

He is mistaken, or else I am.

You are mistaken, or else he is.

He is not to blame, nor are you.

My friend is not to blame, nor am I.

6. Either, neither, each, everyone, many a, must be followed by a singular verb; as,

He asked me whether either of the applicants was suitable.

Neither of the two men was very strong.

Each of these substances is found in India.

Every one of the prisons is full.

Every one of the boys loves to ride.

Many a man has done so.

Many a man does not know his own good deeds.

Many a man has succumbed to this temptation.

7. Two nouns qualified by each or every, even though connected by and, require a

singular verb; as,

Every boy and every girl was given a packet of sweets.

8. Some nouns which are plural in form, but singular in meaning, take a singular verb ; as,

The news is true.

Politics was with him the business of his life.

The wages of sin is death.

Mathematics is a branch of study in every school.

9. Pains and means take either the singular or the plural verb, but the construction must

be consistent; as,

Great pains have been taken.

Much pains has been taken.

All possible means have been tried.

The means employed by you is sufficient.

In the sense of income, the word means always takes a plural verb; as,

My means were much reduced owing to that heavy loss.

His means are ample.

 10. Some nouns which are singular in form, but plural in meaning take a plural verb; as,

According to the present market rate twelve dozen cost one hundred rupees.

11. None, though properly singular, commonly takes a plural verb (see § 132); as,

None are so deaf as those who will not hear.

Cows are amongst the gentlest of breathing creatures; none show more passionate

tenderness to their young.

12. A Collective noun takes a singular verb when the collection is thought of as one

whole; plural verb when the individuals of which it is composed are thought of ; as,

The Committee has issued its report.

The Committee are divided on one minor point.

But we must be consistent. Thus, we should say :

The Committee has appended a note to its (not their) report.

13. When the plural noun is a proper name for some single object or some collective

unit, it must be followed by a singular verb; as,

The Arabian Nights is still a great favourite.

The United States has a big navy.

Plutarch's Lives is an interesting book.

Gulliver's Travels was written by Swift.

14 . When a plural noun denotes some specific quantity or amount considered as a

whole, the verb is generally singular; as,

Fifteen minutes is allowed to each speaker.

Ten kilometres is a long walk.

Fifty thousand rupees is a large sum.

Three parts of the business is left for me to do.

Exercise

In each of the following sentences supply a Verb in agreement with its Subject :-

1. To take pay and then not to do work --- dishonest.

2. The cost of all these articles --- risen.

3. The jury --- divided in their opinions.

4. That night every one of the boat's crew --- down with fever.

5. One or the other of those fellows --- stolen the watch.

6. The strain of ail the difficulties and vexations and anxieties --- more than he could bear.

7. No news --- good news.

8. The accountant and the cashier --- absconded.

9. A good man and useful citizen --- passed away.

10. The famous juggler and conjurer --- too unwell to perform.

11. The Three Musketeers --- written by Dumas.

12. Each of the suspected men --- arrested.

13. The ebb and flow of the tides --- explained by Newton.

14. Ninety rupees --- too much for this bag.

15. The cow as well as the horse --- grass.

16. Neither his father nor his mother --- alive.

17. There --- many objections to the plan.

18. Two-thirds of the city --- in ruins.

19. The formation of paragraphs --- very important.

20. Man's happiness or misery --- in a great measure in his own hands.

Rules for Finding and Fixing Pronoun Agreement Errors

What is pronoun agreement? • How do I maintain agreement between the pronoun and the antecedent?

Understand the problem.

Whenever you use a personal pronoun like she, it, orthey, you first have to have an antecedent, the word that the pronoun is replacing.

Read this sentence:

Gustavo slowed to the speed limit whenhe saw the police cruiser in the rearview mirror.

The pronoun he replaces Gustavo. Pronouns like he will keep you from repeating Gustavo, Gustavo, Gustavoover and over again.

The pronoun must agree with its antecedent. To navigate this agreement successfully, you will need to know these singular and plural pronoun forms:

Singular	Plural
he, she, it him, her, it his, her, hers, its himself, herself, itself	they them their, theirs themselves

The general rule for pronoun agreement is straightforward: A singular antecedent requires a singular pronoun; a plural antecedent needs a plural pronoun.

Read these examples:

The boy scratched his armpit.

The boys scratched their armpits.

In most cases, you won't need to debate whether you need the singular or plural form. The spoken English you have heard will help you make the right pronoun choice when you write.

Use the correct pronoun in tricky situations.

English unfortunately includes some special agreement situations discussed below. These will require your morecareful attention.

Know how each and every can complicate pronoun agreement.

In math, 1 + 1 = 2. This rule applies to pronoun agreement as well. If you have 1 singular noun + 1 singular noun, then together they = 2 things, or a plural antecedent.

Read these examples:

The woodpecker and his mate tried their best to oust the squirrel who had stolen their nest.

Ronald wanted the attention of the cheerleader and the baton twirler, but he could not make them look his way.

The plural pronouns their and them are logical and ear-pleasing choices for woodpecker + mate and cheerleader + baton twirler, respectively.

Two words, however, have incredible sentencepower. Each and every are singular and can strong-arm an otherwise plural antecedent to become singular as well.

Watch what happens:

The cowboy and his horse drank their fill at the desert oasis.

Each cowboy and horse drank his fill at the desert oasis.

Every cowboy, horse, pack mule, trail hand, and cook drank his fill at the desert oasis.

Each and every will also change the verbs that have to agree:

Whenever a diner walks in five minutes before closing, the cook and waitress sigh and roll their eyes.

Whenever a diner walks in five minutes before closing, every cook and waitress sighs and rolls her eyes.

Understand how correlative conjunctions can confuse pronoun agreement.

Exercise caution when you use correlative conjunctions like either ... or, neither ... nor, and not only ... but also. Because correlative conjunctions have two parts, you'll find two separate antecedents.

Read these examples:

Not only the hand-picked flowers but also the home-made peanut butter pie will win Brian's heart with its thoughtfulness.

Not only the home-made peanut butter pie but also thehand-picked flowers will win Briana's heart with theirthoughtfulness.

Notice that you have two antecedents, the home-made peanut butter pie and the hand-picked flowers. Use the closer of the two antecedents to determine if you need a singular or plural pronoun.

Recognize the problems that singular indefinite pronouns can cause.

Indefinite pronouns, a special class of words, will often be antecedents. Some indefinite pronouns—despite the illogic—are always singular:

Singular Indefinite Pronouns

each, either, neither anybody, anyone, anything everybody, everyone, everything nobody, no one, nothing somebody, someone, something

When people talk, logic wins, so you will hear plural pronouns with these words. But when you write, words like everyone, somebody, and nothing are singular and require a singular pronoun for agreement.

Everyone on the planet deserves clean water to quench their histhirst.

Can you believe it? Somebody lefttheir her dog in a hot car with the windows rolled up!

Nothing is in their its place after the violent shaking from the earthquake.

Because this group of indefinite pronouns is singular, your choice of singular pronoun might strike some people as sexist. If, for example, you say,

Everybody should take his seat.

then the females present might take offense that you have excluded them. Or if you say,

No one needs her money because the food is free.

then the males might wonder why they have to pay.

One solution is to include both genders with constructions like he or she, him or her, his or hers, or him or herself.

The problem with using these inclusive constructions is that they are awkward. Although you do maintain pronoun agreement and avoid offending one gender, these constructions wreck the cadence of a good sentence.

Read a piece of professional writing—an essay, a movie or book review, an opinion piece in the newspaper—and you'll notice that real writers, those folks who engage audiences that number in the thousands or millions, will seldom, if ever, use a phrase like he or she.

Instead, professional writers might revise the sentence so that a pronoun is unnecessary. Sometimes, they make the antecedent plural so that they can use the natural-sounding they,them, or their. Or they might decide to alternatehe and she in the piece so that both genders get mentioned.

Using he or she or him or her is technically correct. But it's also bad style. Avoid these constructions if you can.

Realize that not all indefinite pronouns are strictly singular.

Another group of indefinite pronouns are singular or plural, depending on the information from the prepositional phrase that follows.

Indefinite Pronouns That Can Be Singular or Plural

all, any, none*, more, most, some

Read these examples:

Some of this footwear smells because Tina wears it to the barn.

Some of these shoes smell because Tina wears them to the barn.

In the first sentence, footwear makes some singular, so it is the pronoun that agrees. In the second sentence, shoes, a plural noun, has all the power. Some becomes plural too, and them is the appropriate pronoun for agreement.

*Some people consider none a strictly singular word, a contraction of no one. We at Grammar Bytes! subscribe to the alternative belief that noneis the opposite of all, and, like all, can be either singular or plural. Exercises here will reflect that belief.

Know how to handle pronoun agreement with collective nouns.

Collective nouns name groups [things] composed of members [usually people].

Here are examples:

Collective Nouns

army, audience, board, cabinet, class committee, company, corporation, council department, faculty, family, firm, group jury, majority, minority, navy public, school, senate, team, troupe

When the members of the group act in unison—everyone doing essentially the same thing at the same time—then the collective noun is singular and requires singular pronouns for agreement.

Read these examples:

The family is at the table, ready for its dinner, when Grandma prepares her delicious chicken pot pie.

The committee decided to spend its budget surplus on yo-yos for the officers.

The team agreed to host a car wash to finance its farthest away game.

When, however, the members of the group act as individuals—each person taking on separate responsibilities or actions—then the collective noun is plural and requires plural pronouns for agreement.

Look what happens:

When Grandpa begins boiling liver, the family quickly find other plans for their dinner.

At the car wash, the team took their places so that each vehicle got vacuumed, washed, and dried.

The committee disagree if they should offer Billie financial assistance after he suffered a concussion during an unfortunate yo-yo accident.

If deciding whether the collective noun is singular or plural makes your head hurt, remember that you have a couple of options.

First, you can substitute a regular plural noun for the collective noun. Then you can use a natural-sounding plural pronoun.

The team football players [orathletes, or teammates] earned 500 dollars for their trip.

Another option is to add the word members after a collective noun. Members is a plural antecedent and requires an ear-pleasing plural pronoun.

When Grandpa has dinner duty, the family members stretch their budgets eating dollar items from the value menu at Tito's Taco Palace.

The committee members wish that they had spent their surplus on soft teddy bears, not skull-crushing yo-yos.

Unlike collective nouns, named businesses, schools, and organizations are always singular.

Many people comprise a business, school, or organization. For the purposes of pronoun agreement, however, consider these three groups singular and use it, its, or itself to maintain agreement.

Read these examples:

To increase its profits, Tito's Taco Palace packs its burritos with cheap refried beans.

Weaver High School encourages its students to make leaner lunch choices, such as hot, steaming bowls of squid eyeball stew.

The Southeastern Association of Salt & Pepper Shaker Enthusiasts will hold its annual convention in Atlanta.