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Grammar and Usage Unit 3: Agreement

Verbs must match their subjects in number, and pronouns must match the nouns they replace.

Covers: Subject-verb agreement, tricky subjects (each, neither, collective nouns), pronoun-antecedent agreement, pronoun case

Study guide

Subject-verb agreement means a singular subject takes a singular verb and a plural subject takes a plural verb: the dog barks, the dogs bark. Find the true subject first. Words between the subject and the verb, especially prepositional phrases, don't change the subject: "The box of chocolates is on the table." Sentences that begin with there or here have the subject after the verb: "There are three books."

Some subjects are tricky. Indefinite pronouns like each, everyone, everybody, someone, nobody and either are singular. Both, few, many and several are plural. Some, all, most and none depend on the noun they refer to. Two subjects joined by and are plural. With or and nor (either…or, neither…nor), the verb agrees with the subject closer to it: "Neither the players nor the coach is happy." Collective nouns like team, class and family are usually singular in American English when acting as a unit.

Pronoun-antecedent agreement means a pronoun matches the noun it replaces in number and gender: "The students forgot their books." Make sure every pronoun has a clear antecedent, and avoid vague "they" or "it" that could refer to more than one thing. Singular they is widely accepted for a person whose gender is unknown or who uses they.

Pronoun case depends on the pronoun's job. Subject pronouns (I, he, she, we, they, who) act as subjects; object pronouns (me, him, her, us, them, whom) act as objects of verbs and prepositions. So it's "between you and me" and "She and I went." To check, remove the other person: "Me went" sounds wrong, so it's "I went."

Phrases such as as well as, along with, together with and in addition to don't make a subject plural. In "The coach, along with her players, is celebrating," the subject is still coach, so the verb is singular. Some nouns end in -s but are singular: news, mathematics, physics, economics, civics and measles. Write "The news is good" and "Mathematics is my favorite subject."

An amount of money, time or distance treated as a single quantity takes a singular verb: "Ten dollars is too much," "Three hours is a long wait." The same goes for titles of works ("The Birds is a famous film"). Nouns for things with two matching parts, such as pants, jeans, scissors, glasses and tweezers, are plural: "My glasses are on the desk." With "a pair of," the verb agrees with pair: "A pair of scissors is in the drawer."

Key ideas

• Singular subjects take singular verbs; plural subjects take plural verbs.
• Ignore prepositional phrases between subject and verb.
• Each, every, everyone, neither and either are singular.
• With or/nor, the verb agrees with the closer subject.
• Use subject pronouns (I, he, she, we, they) as subjects and object pronouns (me, him, her, us, them) as objects.

Formulas and rules

Common mistakes

• Matching the verb to a noun inside a prepositional phrase.
• Writing "between you and I" instead of "between you and me".

Words to know

Indefinite pronoun "everyone"

Singular; takes a singular verb (everyone is).

Prepositional phrase (agreement)

Ignore it when matching the verb: The box of chocolates is.

Neither/nor agreement

The verb agrees with the nearer subject: Neither the players nor the coach is.

Object pronoun after a preposition

Use me, him, her, us, them: between you and me.

Pronoun-antecedent agreement

A pronoun must match the noun it replaces in number and gender.

Subject-verb agreement

Singular subjects take singular verbs; plural take plural.

Compound subject with "and"

Plural: Ana and Ben go.

Plural indefinite pronouns

Both, few, many, several.

Variable indefinite pronouns

Some, all, most, none: depend on the noun they refer to.

Collective noun

A group word like team or class; usually singular in American English.

Inverted sentence

The subject comes after the verb: There are three books.

Subject pronouns

I, he, she, we, they, who.

Object pronouns

Me, him, her, us, them, whom.

Singular they

Used for a person whose gender is unknown or who uses they.

Sample practice questions

23 more questions like these, from level 1 to 5, are in the practice set.