20 Rules About Subject-Verb Agreement

Is, or are? Go, or goes? Whether a verb is singular or plural depends on any one of a complicated set of factors.
Here is a roster of rules for subject-verb agreement (or “Here are some rules . . .”):
1. Use verbs that agree with a subject, not with a noun that is part of a modifying phrase or clause
between verb and subject:
“The pot of eggs is boiling on the stove.”
2. Use singular or plural verbs that agree with the subject, not with the complement of the subject:
“My favorite type of movie is comedies,” but “Comedies are my favorite type of movie.”
3. Use singular verbs with singular indefinite pronouns — each, the “-bodies,” “-ones,” and “-things”
(anybody, everyone, nothing), and the like:
“Neither is correct.” (And, just as in rule number 1, the presence of a modifier is irrelevant: “Neither of
them is correct.”)
4. Use plural verbs with plural indefinite pronouns:
“Many outcomes are possible.”
5. Use singular verbs with uncountable nouns that follow an indefinite pronoun:
“All the paint is dried up.”
6. Use plural verbs with countable nouns that follow an indefinite pronoun:
“All the nails are spilled on the floor.”
7. Use plural verbs with compound subjects that include and:
“The dog and the cat are outside.”
8. Use plural verbs or singular verbs, depending on the form of the noun nearest the verb, with
compound subjects that include nor or or:
“Either the dog or the cats are responsible for the mess.” (“Either the cats or the dog is responsible for
the mess” is also technically correct but is awkward.)
9. Use singular verbs with inverted subjects that include singular nouns:
“Why is my hat outside in the rain?”
10. Use plural verbs with inverted subjects (those beginning with the expletive there rather than the
actual subject) that include plural nouns:
“There are several hats outside in the rain.”
11. Use singular or plural verbs with collective nouns depending on meaning:
“His staff is assembled,” but “Staff are asked to go to the conference room immediately.” (In the first
sentence, the emphasis is on the body of employees; in the second sentence, the focus is on compliance
by each individual in the body of employees.)
12. Use singular verbs for designations of entities, such as nations or organizations, or compositions,
such as books or films:
“The United Nations is headquartered in New York.”
13. Use singular verbs for subjects plural in form but singular in meaning:
“Physics is my favorite subject.”
14. Use singular or plural verbs for subjects plural in form but plural or singular in meaning depending
on the context:
“The economics of the situation are complicated,” but “Economics is a complicated topic.”
15. Use plural verbs for subjects plural in form and meaning:
“The tweezers are in the cupboard.”
16. Use plural verbs in constructions of the form “one of those (blank) who . . .”:
“I am one of those eccentrics who do not tweet.”
17. Use singular verbs in constructions of the form “the only one of those (blank) who . . .”:
“I am the only one of my friends who does not tweet.”
18. Use singular verbs in constructions of the form “the number of (blank) . . .”:
“The number of people here boggles the mind.”
19. Use plural verbs in constructions of the form “a number of (blank) . . .”:
“A number of people here disagree.”
20. Use singular verbs in construction of the forms “every (blank) . . .” and “many a (blank) . . .”:
“Every good boy does fine”; “Many a true word is spoken in jest.”
 Basic Principle: Singular subjects need singular verbs; plural subjects need plural
verbs. My brother is a nutritionist. My sisters are mathematicians.

See the section on Plurals for additional help with subject-verb

agreement.

The indefinite pronouns anyone, everyone, someone, no one, nobody are

always singular and, therefore, require singular verbs.

 Everyone has done his or her homework.

 Somebody has left her purse.

Some indefinite pronouns — such as all, some — are singular or plural depending on
what they're referring to. (Is the thing referred to countable or not?) Be careful
choosing a verb to accompany such pronouns.

 Some of the beads are missing.

 Some of the water is gone.

On the other hand, there is one indefinite pronoun, none, that can be either singular or
plural; it often doesn't matter whether you use a singular or a plural verb — unless
something else in the sentence determines its number. (Writers generally think
of none as meaning not any and will choose a plural verb, as in "None of the engines
are working," but when something else makes us regard none as meaning not one, we
want a singular verb, as in "None of the food is fresh.")

 None of you claims responsibility for this incident?

 None of you claim responsibility for this incident?
 None of the students have done their homework. (In this last example, the
word their precludes the use of the singular verb.

Some indefinite pronouns are particularly

troublesome Everyone and everybody (listed above, also) certainly feel like
more than one person and, therefore, students are sometimes tempted to use a plural
verb with them. They are always singular, though. Each is often followed by a
prepositional phrase ending in a plural word (Each of the cars), thus confusing the
verb choice. Each, too, is always singular and requires a singular verb.

Everyone has finished his or her homework.

You would always say, "Everybody is here." This means that the word is singular and
nothing will change that.

Each of the students is responsible for doing his or her work in the library.

Don't let the word "students" confuse you; the subject is each and each is always
singular — Each is responsible.

Phrases such as together with, as well as, and along with are not the same
as and. The phrase introduced by as well as or along with will modify the
earlier word (mayor in this case), but it does not compound the subjects (as
the word and would do).

 The mayor as well as his brothers is going to prison.

 The mayor and his brothers are going to jail.

The pronouns neither and either are singular and require singular verbs even
though they seem to be referring, in a sense, to two things.

 Neither of the two traffic lights is working.

 Which shirt do you want for Christmas?
Either is fine with me.

In informal writing, neither and either sometimes take a plural verb when these
pronouns are followed by a prepositional phrase beginning with of. This is particularly
true of interrogative constructions: "Have either of you two clowns read the
assignment?" "Are either of you taking this seriously?" Burchfield calls this "a clash
between notional and actual agreement."*

The conjunction or does not conjoin (as and does): when nor or or is used
the subject closer to the verb determines the number of the verb. Whether
the subject comes before or after the verb doesn't matter; the proximity
determines the number.

 Either my father or my brothers are going to sell the house.

 Neither my brothers nor my father is going to sell the house.
 Are either my brothers or my father responsible?
 Is either my father or my brothers responsible?

Because a sentence like "Neither my brothers nor my father is going to sell the house"
sounds peculiar, it is probably a good idea to put the plural subject closer to the verb
whenever that is possible.
 The words there and here are never subjects.

 There are two reasons [plural subject] for this.

 There is no reason for this.
 Here are two apples.

With these constructions (called expletive constructions), the subject follows the verb
but still determines the number of the verb.

Verbs in the present tense for third-person, singular subjects (he, she, it and
anything those words can stand for) have s-endings. Other verbs do not
add s-endings.

He loves and she loves and they love_ and . . . .

Sometimes modifiers will get between a subject and its verb, but these
modifiers must not confuse the agreement between the subject and its verb.

The mayor, who has been convicted along with his four brothers on four
counts of various crimes but who also seems, like a cat, to have several political
lives, is finally going to jail.

Sometimes nouns take weird forms and can fool us into thinking they're
plural when they're really singular and vice-versa. Consult the section on
the Plural Forms of Nouns and the section on Collective Nouns for
additional help. Words such as glasses, pants, pliers, and scissors are regarded as
plural (and require plural verbs) unless they're preceded the phrase pair of (in which
case the word pair becomes the subject).

 My glasses were on the bed.

 My pants were torn.
 A pair of plaid trousers is in the closet.

Some words end in -s and appear to be plural but are really singular and
require singular verbs.

 The news from the front is bad.

 Measles is a dangerous disease for pregnant women.

On the other hand, some words ending in -s refer to a single thing but are nonetheless
plural and require a plural verb.

 My assets were wiped out in the depression.

 The average worker's earnings have gone up dramatically.
  Our thanks go to the workers who supported the union.

The names of sports teams that do not end in "s" will take a plural verb: the Miami
Heat have been looking … , The Connecticut Sun are hoping that new talent … . See
the section on plurals for help with this problem.

Fractional expressions such as half of, a part of, a percentage of, a majority
of are sometimes singular and sometimes plural, depending on the meaning.
(The same is true, of course, when all, any, more, most and some act as
subjects.) Sums and products of mathematical processes are expressed as
singular and require singular verbs. The expression "more than one" (oddly enough)
takes a singular verb: "More than one student has tried this."

 Some of the voters are still angry.

 A large percentage of the older population is voting against her.
 Two-fifths of the troops were lost in the battle.
 Two-fifths of the vineyard was destroyed by fire.
 Forty percent of the students are in favor of changing the policy.
 Forty percent of the student body is in favor of changing the policy.
 Two and two is four.
 Four times four divided by two is eight.

If your sentence compounds a positive and a negative subject and one is

plural, the other singular, the verb should agree with the positive subject.

 The department members but not the chair have decided not to teach
on Valentine's Day.
 It is not the faculty members but the president who decides this issue.
 It was the speaker, not his ideas, that has provoked the students to riot.