📎 5 Subject-Verb Agreement rules Subject-verb agreement, also known as “subject-verb concord,” is the matching of a sentence’s subject and verb in tense, aspect, and mood (abbreviated as TAM), which translates to number, person, and gender. Verb: Action words Singular verbs: used with third person singular subjects, such as he, she, and it. Singular verbs are formed by adding -s or -es to the base form of the verb. For example, leaves and stays are singular verbs. 1. A Singular Subject Goes with a Singular Verb Sofia plays the piano every day. 2. A Plural Subject Goes with a Plural Verb They play the guitar every day. 3. If two or more nouns or pronouns are connected using “and” in a sentence, then the verb used will be plural. Jennie and Lisa are siblings Jennie and Lisa sing together (In this statement also, there are two nouns and therefore the verb used is plural i.e., sing.) 4. If two or more singular nouns or pronouns are connected using “or/nor” in a sentence, the verb used will be singular. Your class teacher or the principal sanctions your leave application. he or she decides to leave the school library. 5. When a sentence contains both a singular and a plural pronoun, the verb used will be according to the pronoun closer to the verb. Shiva and his friends meet every week at the cafeteria. (In this statement, the plural noun “friends” is closest to the verb and therefore will be plural i.e., meet.) 5 Subject-Verb Agreement rules 1 5 Subject-Verb Agreement rules 2
