Subject Verb Agreement -2024

Compound Subject
1. Poverty and sickness go/goes side by side.
2. Ali and Qasim go/goes to college.
3. Time and tide wait/waits for none.
4. Slow and steady win/wins the race.
5. Two and two make/makes four.
6. Bread and butter is/are everyone’s need.
7. Bread and butter is/are important edibles at the dining table.
8. My Brother and my friend has/have come.
9. My Brother and friend has/have come.
10. The horse and carriage is/are waiting at the door.
11. The horse and the carriage is/are waiting at the door.

As well as, like, unlike, besides, with, In addition to, Together with, Along with, but,
Except

12. The principal as well as the teachers is/are in the ground.

13. The teachers as well as the principal is/are in the ground.
14. She with her cousins was/were very happy.
15. All the persons here including I is/are/am responsible for this untoward.
16. Either he or I am/is wrong.
17. Either I or he is/am wrong.
18. Neither she nor her friends is/are present.
19. Ali or Akram is/are at fault.
20. Ali nor Akram is/are ready to go there.

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Gerund Phrase Agreement

1. Gerund subjects take a singular verb.

2. Exercising keep/keeps you healthy.
3. Cooking cost/costs less than eating out.
4. Shopping is/are an expensive hobby.
5. Jumping from walls is/are dangerous.
6. Cooking meals at home is/are cheaper than eating out.
7. Reading books is/are a good way to improve your English.
8. Meeting people makes/make shy people nervous.
9. Raising children costs/cost a lot of money.
10. Climbing mountains is/are hard work.
11. Watching movies helps/help many people relax.
12. Taking tests gives/give him a headache.
13. The thorough democratization of the nation, and the awakening of the people and the
unchaining of their powers has/have been the work of Mustafa Kamal.
Indefinite Pronoun
EEENO FAMILY SANAM (Singular or Plural Verb according to the Noun
(Singular
(Plural Verb) followed by SANAM Words)
verb)
Each Both(Brother) Some
Every Few(Father) Any
Either Many(Mother) None
Neither Several(Sister) All
One others More/Most

Singular Indefinite Pronouns

Singular indefinite pronouns include the compounds of -body, -one and -thing, along with
the words one, another, each, either, neither and much. A singular verb is used with these
pronouns:

1. Nobody likes/like liver for supper.

2. Everyone sings/sing in the shower.
3. Something smells/smell funny.
4. One of the keys does/do not fit the lock.
5. Each of the members has/have the right to bring a guest.
6. Either is/are fine with me.

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Plural Indefinite Pronouns

A plural verb is used with the pronouns, few, many and several, which are always plural:

1. Both of them play/plays the flute very well.

2. Few read/reads this well at such a young age.
3. Many of our young people go/goes to larger cities to find work.
4. Several of the neighbourhood lawns need/needs to be mowed.

Pronouns that can be either singular or plural

Pronouns like all, more, none and some take their meaning from the word to which they
refer (which is often found in a phrase following the pronoun):

1. All of the milk has spilled on the table. [all refers to milk and is singular]
All of the books were sold last week. [all refers to books and is plural]
2. More of the story is found online. [more refers to story and is singular]
More of the rules apply to me than to you. [more refers to rules and is plural]
3. None of the cake is left for dessert. [none refers to cake and is singular]
None of the songs are any good. [none refers to songs and is plural]
4. Some of the bread is mouldy. [some refers to bread and is singular]
Some of the photos are out of focus. [some refers to photos and is plural]

The +Adjective Take Plural verb

1. The poor is/are protesting against inflation.
2. The pious is/are love by God.
3. The notorious always remain/remains defamed.
4. The smart is/are always active.
5. The needy was/were searched by the rich.

Many/Many a as a Subject
1. Many students has/have been coming late to school.
2. Many a student has/have been coming late to school.

Rule for nouns expressing time, money or quantity

When nouns expressing periods of time, amounts of money or quantities are considered as a
singular unit, singular verbs are used. For e.g.
1-Rs 10 seem/seems too much for the job.
2-3 months is/are too long a time to wait.
3-The number of board members is/are very small.
4-That Rs 1 lac was/were an inheritance from my father.
5-Yes, 5m is/are ample for a suit.

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 Pair of
 Scissors, Shears, Trousers ,Pants ,Glasses, Goggles, Spectacles ,Tongs, Tweezers, Pliers, Pincers,
Forceps
always take plural verb and replaced by Plural Pronoun .
 Pair of all the above take singular verb and replaced by singular pronoun.
1-My trouser/trousers is/are torn.
2.Your glasses is/are broken and it/they need to be repaired.
3.He took a large pair of scissors and laid them/it in the bottom shelf.

Little & Few

Little, a little, the little +singular noun+ singular Verb
Few, a few, the few +plural noun+ plural Verb
Irregular Plural Subject
 Person –> People  Series –> Series
 Foot –> Feet  Vita –> Vitae
 Tooth –> Teeth  Tuna –> Tuna (toona)
 Child –> Children  Quiz –> Quizzes
 Mouse –> Mice  Index –> Indices
 Sheep –> Sheep  Man –> Men
 Deer –> Deer  Ellipsis –> Ellipses
 Fruit –> fruit  Codex –> Codices
 Fish –> Fish  Alumni –> Alumnae
 Leaf –> Leaves  Erratum–> Errata
 Goose –> Geese  Ox –> Oxen
 Woman –> Women  Oasis –> Oases
 Aircraft –> Aircraft  Swine –> Swine
 Apex –> Apices/Apexes (Top)  Trout –> Trout
 Bison –> Bison  Genus –> Genera
 Bureau–> Bureaux/Bureaus (drwer)  Larva –> Larvae
 Crisis –> Crises  Diagnosis –> Diagnoses
 Curriculum –> Curricula  Analysis –> Analyse
 Datum –> Data  Index–> Indexes (List)
 Focus –> Foci  Index–> Indices (Mathematical Codes)
 Fungus–> Fungi

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 Fraction,% age
After such expressions as ‘one half of’, ‘two-thirds of’, ‘a part of’, ‘a majority of’
 Use a singular verb if a singular noun follows the ‘of’.
1-A part of the office is/are closed.
2-Two-third of the mailing list has/have been typed.
3-A majority of 3500 indicates/indicate his popularity in the constituency.
 Use a plural verb when a plural noun follows the’ of’.
1-Part of the walls is/are to be painted.
2-Two thirds of our workers lives/live in the suburbs.
3-The majority of our staff members live/lives in villages.

One of Verb agreement (One of/The only one of)

1-One of the reasons for his demotion is/are his carelessness.
2-One of the pens is/are missing from my desk.
3-He is one of those managers who favor/favors increasing the staff.
4-Mr. Verma is one of our officers who is/are accompanying me.
5-He is one of our employees who is/are always alert.
6-Ramesh is the only one of our employees who is/are always alert.
7-Mr Verma is the only one of our officers is/are with me now.
8-Mr.Ahmad ,one of the teachers who teach/teaches you Mathematics ,is/are going to conduct a
class test next week.

Expression of Number
The number of-------------------+Singular verb

A number of------------+Plural verb

1. The number of board members is/are very small.

2. A number of board members was/were absent.
3. The number of orders is/are still to be executed is estimated at nearly a 100.
4. A number of our staff is/are going on leave.

Relative Pronoun
Who, which, That

Noun (S/P)+Relative Pronoun Verb(S/P)

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Majority, Minority/Majority of, Minority of
Majority/Minority---------Verb (Singular)

Majority of/Minority of Noun(S/P)-----Verb (S/P)

1-Minority hide/hides behind majority.

2-The majority of people is/are interested in sports.

(Noun appears to be singular/plural)

Nouns that look like plural but are singularThere are some words which look plural
as they end with a “s” but are actually used as singulars. Here are some such words
with examples showing their correct usage.

1. Athletics is/are regularly practiced in our school.

2. The coach believes high school athletics is/are in need of reform.
3. College athletics attract/attracts students from a variety of backgrounds.
4. He was offered classic/classics at the institute.
5. Economics is/are the social science that determines/dominates the
production, distribution and consumption of goods and services.
6. The economics working at the back of their business was/were marvelous.
7. (Financial System)
8. Ethics is/are the branch of philosophy.
9. Ethics is/are an important part of a successful business.
10. The culprit was sent to the gallow/gallows.
11. Gallows was/were erected in the jail.
12. Gymnastics is/are his favourite sport.
13. India scored 100 runs in the+ first inning/innings.
14. Mathematics is/are an easy subject.
15. Mechanics is/are a boring subject.
16. News was/were broadcasted yesterday.
17. Physics is/are a boring subject.
18. Mathematics is/are an interesting subject.
19. His mathematics is/are weak.(Calculations)
20. Politics is/are a waste of time.
21. His politics is/are enchanting.(Political ideas and beliefs)
22. Statistics is/are the study of the collection, analysis, interpretation, etc.
23. These statistics is/are not able to prove this thing in court.(Numerical Data)
24. London's summons was/were very irritating.
25. In December he received a summon/summons to appear in court.
26. In December he received three summons/summonses at different dates to
appear in court.
27. If the court summon/summons, you must appear.
28. If the courts summon/summons,you must appear

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Collective Noun
Collective nouns – Singular in form but are used as plural.

1. The gentry is/are well educated

2. The police has/have arrested the culprit.
3. People has/have no time to cook.
4. The clergy was/were invited for the party.
5. The vermin is/are dangerous.
6. Some folk is/are afraid of police.
7. The public is/are waiting for the guest to arrive
8. Cattle is/are grazing.
9. Poultry is/are farmed in great numbers with chickens to earn profit.
10. The peasantry in Agra is/are very poor.
11. The audience is/are requested to be in its seats.
12. My family do/does not agree to move from Pakistan.
13. My family live/lives in Lahore.
14. The staff has/have earned many awards this year.
15. The majority of people is/are interested in sports.
16. Minority has/have grown over past 2 years.
17. Minority parties has/have grown over past 2 years

Nouns which are same in singular and plural form

There are some nouns which do not change when converted from singular to plural. They remain the same.

Here are some such words which we often confuse.

1. Sheep
Singular: He saw a sheep grazing in the field.
Plural: He saw five sheep grazing in the field.
2. Fish
Singular: The fish live in water.
Plural: He sells 7 fishes every day.
3. Apparatus
Singular: He ordered the apparatus for experiments.
Plural: He ordered 5 apparatus for science experiments.
4. Corps
Singular: Corps is an organized body of people.
Plural: The corps surrounded the thief quickly.
5. Cod
Singular: Cod fish is popular as food.
Plural: Common species of cod are Atlantic cod and the Pacific cod.

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6. Yoke
Singular: A yoke is a wooden beam placed between a pair of oxen.
Plural: The field was ploughed with two yoke of oxen.
7. Series
Singular: Everyday she watches a TV series.
Plural: She follows TV series religiously.

8. Swine
Singular: Swine is a muddy animal.
Plural: Swine are harmed by bird flu and human flu virus.
9. Deer
Singular: He saw a deer in the park.
Plural: Deer are easy prey for tigers.
10. Rice
Singular: Rice is the staple food of Tamil Nadu.
Plural: These varieties of rice are grown here./He picked 10 grains of rice.
11. Means(way, source/ways sources)
Singular: She means a lot to me. /He is means of inspiration for me.
Plural: The best means of securing the cooperation of workers is to appeal their demands.
By all means it is perfect. /He has no means for her compensation.
12. Species
Singular: This species is common in India.
Plural: Speciation is the process through which species are formed by evolution.
13. Cannon
Singular: This cannon image is very clear.
Plural: The police required 5 water cannon to disperse the crowd.
14. Trout
Singular: Trout is a wild fish.
Plural: Trout are closely related to salmon.
15. Offspring
Singular: The kitten is the offspring of a cat.
Plural: A cat generally has around 4 offspring per litter.
16. Aircraft
Singular: Aircraft is made of aluminium.
Plural: Aircraft tyres are filled with non-inflammable nitrogen.
17. Information
Singular: The information in the brochure is incorrect.
Plural: Information brochures provided by them are very useful.
18. Scenery
Singular: The scenery of the islands is extremely beautiful.
Plural: The scenery in the African forests are wonderful.
19. Public
Singular: This is a public beach./The public is calm and placid in this issue.
Plural: When the results are made public, I'll let you know. The public are against this
issue.

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20. Music
Singular: I like any type of classical music.
Plural: My friends like some Western music.
21. Headquarters
Singular: It is the headquarters of the second army division.
Plural: The company headquarters are located all over the country.
22. Gymnastics
Singular: Gymnastics is my favourite sport.
Plural: What are the different types of Gymnastics?
23. Furniture
Singular: There is no furniture left in the room.
Plural: We are thinking of buying some new items of furniture.
24. Dice
Singular: We lost one dice whilst playing the game yesterday.
Plural: In this game, each player rolls the dice to see who plays first.
25. Advice:
Singular: I decided to follow your advice and take a vacation.
Plural: We received a lot of pieces of advice on all aspects of water efficiency.

Compound nouns - In which the second word gets “s” to

become plural.
And, here comes the list of compound nouns in which the second word takes the ‘s’ to make it plural.

Singular - Book-case
Plural - Book-cases
Example: He built a book-case for his sister.
Example: The book-cases will be suspended from the library for few days.

Singular - Class-fellow
Plural - Class-fellows
Example: He quarreled with his class fellow.
Example: All my class fellows were invited for the convocation.

Singular - Race-horse
Plural - Race-horses
Example: He had a list of 3000 racehorse names.
Example: The names of undefeated racehorses is included in the list of leading
Thoroughbred racehorses.

Singular - Step-son
Plural - Step-sons
Example: She loved him even though he was her stepson.
Example: She had a deep conversation with her stepsons about the property.

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Singular - Cast-away
Plural - Cast-aways
Example: The crew of the ship were cast away on a remote island for 2 weeks.
Example: The castaways kept waving their hands for help.

Singular - Grand-father
Plural - Grand-fathers
Example: She loves playing with her grandfather.
Example: We have invited all our grandfathers for the party.

Singular - Horse-race
Plural - Horse-races
Example: Have you participated in a horse-race?
Example: She loves watching horse-races.

Singular - Maid-servant
Plural - Maid-servants
Example: A maidservant carried a candle to my room when it was dark.
Example: Maidservants in her house looked after her the whole day.

Singular - Blackboard
Plural - Blackboards
Example - The teacher wiped the blackboard.
Example - The principal ordered 7 blackboards for the school.

Singular - Grandmother
Plural - Grandmothers
Example - Grandmother sent us a box of mangoes.
Example - Our grandmothers are good cooks.

Singular - Motorcycle
Plural - Motorcycles
Example - John gifted a new motorcycle to his dad.
Example - Motorcycles are easily available nowadays.

Singular - Grown-up
Plural - Grown-ups
Example - She has two grown-up children.
Example - Grown-ups have weird doubts.

Singular - Greenhouse
Plural - Greenhouses
Example - Water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone are greenhouse
gases.
Example - Plants which require very different optimum temperatures are kept together in
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greenhouses.

Singular - age-group
Plural - age-groups
Example - To most of my friends in my own age group, this sounds hilarious.
Example - Different age-groups like teenage, young adults, adults, etc. have participated in
the show.

Singular - Bus-stop
Plural - Bus-stops
Example - He was waiting at the bus-stop.
Example - You will have seven bus-stops on the way to Wahdat Road.

Compound nouns - In which the first word gets “s” to become plural.
There are some nouns which are a combination of two or more words. These are known as compound
nouns.

When we try to convert a compound noun into its plural form and want to add a ‘s’, many a times we are
left confused. This is because some compound nouns call for a ‘s’ in the first part to make them plural
while the others need it in the second half.

So, here’s a list of compound nouns that need ‘s’ to be added in the first half to turn them into their plural
form.

Singular - Daughter-in-law
Plural - Daughters-in-law
Example: After lunch, she went to meet her daughter-in-law.
Example: Her daughters -in-law are all pretty.

Singular - Hanger-on
Plural - Hangers-on
Example: Karan was a kind of hanger-on, he used to go everywhere she was sent.
Example: At dinner -time my friends and the hangers -on all stopped at the pub for my
birthday party.

Singular - Commander-in-chief
Plural - Commanders-in-chief
Example: He was appointed as the commander-in-chief on 20th of March.
Example: This museum has a collection of paintings and photographs of generals,
sergeants, commanders-in-chief and many other renowned soldiers.

Singular - Sister-in-law
Plural - Sisters-in-law
Example: My sister-in-law is very curious about everything.

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Example: I will invite all my sisters-in-law for the party.

Singular - Passer-by
Plural - Passers-by
Example: An innocent passer-by was shot dead by the terrorists.
Example: The passers-by helped the children to cross the road.

Singular – Looker-on
Plural - Lookers-on
Example: She spent rest of the evening just as a looker-on.
Example: A considerable number of lookers-on gathered round the accident.

Singular - Brother -in-law

Plural - Brothers-in-law
Example: My brother-in-law is getting married next week.
Example: My brothers-in-law are very excited for the party.

Singular - Governor-general
Plural - Governors-general
Example: Her husband was governor general from 2001 to 2003.
Example: He made a list of governors-general of India.

Singular - Court martial

Plural - Courts martial
Example: A court-martial is a military court empowered to determine the guilt of
members of the armed forces.
Example: Courts-martial have the authority to try a wide range of military offences which
closely resemble crimes

Nouns which are always used as plurals

There are some nouns which are always used as plurals irrespective of the form of sentence.

1. Alms is/are given to the poor.

2. The annal /annals of Indian history is very interesting.( a concise historical record)
3. Germany laid down her arm/arms in the war.
4. Billiards is/are generally played with a cue stick.
4.5. Breeches was/were used by men for horse riding.
5.6. The doctor advised Mrs. Kate to keep her bowels/bowel clean. (intestine)
6.7. Eatables is/are not allowed inside the cinema halls.
7.8. The terrorist was chained with iron fetter/fetters.
8.9. The goods was/were delivered to the customer.
9.10. Headphones is/are not detected by the computer.
10.11. He is suffering from measles/ measle.
11.12. This table is moveable/movables.

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 12.13. Grandmother gave her movables/moveable to her only granddaughter.
(belongings)
13.14. Mumps is/are a non-communicable disease.
14.15. The pantaloons worn by modern females is/are not found among Bedouin.
15.16. She disagreed with my premise/premises. (Assumption)
16.17. She entered the college.(A track of land with building)
17.18. Proceeds is/are donated to charity.( the money obtained from an activity or
event.)
18.19. Riches has/have wings.
19.20. Please give a pair of scissor /scissors
20.21. His new spectacles was/were on the table.
21.22. My socks is/are too big.
22.23. His dad wore an oversized shirt and boxer short/shorts.
23.24. The red stockings was/were worn out.
24.25. My grandmother was brought up in natural surrounding/surroundings.
25.26. Thanks/ Thank for your valuable time.
26.27. Trousers is/are too large and expensive.
27.28. Tongs is/are a tool used to lift objects.
28.29. The valuables was/were lost when she was traveling in the bus.

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