Unit 3 - Subject-Verb Agreement Notes
Focus 3 – Correlative Conjunctions
Both…and
Both Tina and Winnie enjoy reading
wedding magazines.
Plural Verb
Either…or
Neither…nor
Neither Mohammed nor Juanita likes to
read novels.
verb should agree with the head noun after
or or nor.
Focus 4 – Noncount Nouns, Collective Nouns, and Nouns from Adjectives
Mass Nouns/Abstract Nouns
Singular Verb
Mass- furniture, traffic, money
Abstract- information, advice
Collective Nouns – groups
Singular Verb
family, team, the public, committee
variety, collection
Nouns from Adjectives
Plural Verb
the young, the rich, the poor
Focus 5 – Subjects with Singular Verbs
Singular nouns that end in –s:
courses, diseases, place names, news, book
and movie titles
Plural unit words of distance, time, and
money
Arithmetical operations
+- × ÷
Singular Verb
Singular Verb
Singular Verb
Focus 6 – Fractions, Percentages, and Quantifiers
Fractions, percentages, and quantifiers all (of) and a lot of depend on noun or clause
after these phrases.
Singular noun, noun clause, a noncount
noun
Singular Verb
Fifty percent of the book is about poetry.
Plural nouns
Plural Verb
One-fourth of the students have computers.
Collective nouns
Singular Verb
**Except with “a lot of” or “many”
A lot of my family live in Arizona.
**Plural Verb
Quantifiers:
Each, every, and everyone
Singular Verb
Every one of the students is on time.
A number of (always with plural noun)
Plural Verb
The number
Singular Verb
None of
Singular Verb (in formal written English)
Focus 7 – Exceptions to Traditional Agreement Rules
The following are cases where native speakers of English frequently don’t follow the
formal (traditional) rules, especially in spoken and less formal written English.
Either of the (plural noun)
Neither of the (plural noun)
Neither (noun) nor (singular noun)
None of the (plural noun)
There + singular
There + plural
Formal
Singular Verb
Singular Verb
Singular Verb
Singular Verb
Singular Verb
Plural Verb
Informal
Singular/Plural Verb
Singular/Plural Verb
Singular/Plural Verb
Singular/Plural Verb
Singular Verb
Singular/Plural Verb