Subject/Verb Agreement
(Excerpted from College Writing Basics by Thomas E. Tyner)
1. The subject of a sentence may have two different forms: singular or plural.
a. Singular means one of anything: a person, a state, an idea, a place, a thing
b. Plural means more than one of anything: people, states, ideas, places, things
c. Most plurals words end in –s or –es: dogs, cats, apples, houses, churches, boxes
2. The basic rules for subject-verb agreement are the following:
a. If the subject is in third person/singular (can be replaced by he, she, or it), and the
verb is in the present tense, then the verb ends in –s.
Examples:
Jack enjoys long walks.
The cat sleeps practically anywhere.
One player needs to stay back on defense all the time.
b. If the verb is in the present tense and the subject is plural, then the verb has no
ending.
Examples:
The boys enjoy long walks.
Those cars sleep practically anywhere.
Two players need to stay back on defense all the time.
3. When the subject of the sentence is a pronoun, the following subject-verb agreement
rules apply:
a. With he, she, and it (third person/singular) when the sentence is in present tense,
verbs end in –s.
Examples:
He likes to fish below the dam.
She prefers fishing in the lake above the dam.
It takes a lot of courage to admit mistakes.
b. With all other pronouns (I, you, they and we) when the sentence is in present tense,
verbs have no ending.
Examples:
I like to fish in the dam.
You prefer fishing in the lake above the dam.
They enjoy eating fish more than catching them.
We clean the fish for everyone.
UTB Learning Enrichment—Writing Lab—Student Union 2.16