MATCHING SUBJECTS TO VERBS
DESPITE PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES AND INDEFINITE PRONOUNS
In this module, you will learn to do the following:
 Make subjects agree with their verbs despite
intervening prepositional phrases
 Recognize indefinite pronouns and determine their
numbers as subjects.
Introduction
If you haven't already done so, you may want to have a look at "Recognizing Prepositional
Phrases" before starting this module. For, In this module, we're going to put your
prepositional phrase identification to work because we're going to identify subjects and
verbs which sort of "hide amongst" those prepositional phrases.
In addition, we're going to have a good look at indefinite pronouns. If you don't understand
these pronouns and how they work, you can get into some difficulties in your writing.
Review
How about a quick review in identifying prepositional phrases?
Sentence:
"One of the children is going to win a prize for talent."
1. Identify the preposition.
We identify "of."
2. Identify the noun or pronoun that ends the prepositional phrase.
We start with "of" and keep reading.
We encounter "the," which we recognize as an adjective, so we keep reading until we
encounter children.
We identify "of the children" as a prepositional phrase.
We recognize the next preposition, "for." We go through our procedure and identify one
more prepositional phrase: "for talent."
Well done!
Prepositional Phrases
Since we know how to recognize prepositional phrases, we're going to get rid of them, so
to speak. We're going to strike them out in order to identify the subjects and the verbs
more easily and accurately. However, we must remember that
THE SUBJECT IS NEVER IN A PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE.
Using the sentence from above, we strike out prepositional phrases because the subject of
a sentence is never in a prepositional phrase. We get
Sentence:
"One
is going to win a prize
."
We can see in the sentence above that the subject is "one," not "children."
Let's try another one. This time, you have a choice of verb to select.
Sentence:
"Everyone in the crowd of thousands (was, were) happy to see the rock star."
You know, of course, that if the subject is singular, you will select the singular verb, "was";
and if the verb is plural, you will select the plural verb, "were."
To identify the subject, we'll start by striking out the prepositional phrases, and we get
"Everyone
(was, were) happy to see the rock star."
We identify the verb as either "was" or "were."
We identify the subject as "everyone."
Everyone is singular, so we choose the singular verb "was."
Let's try one more.
Sentence:
"One of the cars (has, have) a flat tire."
Strike out the prepositional, and we get.
"One
(has, have) a flat tire."
We identify the verb as either "has" or "have."
We identify the subject as "one."
One is singular, so we choose the singular verb "has."
Striking out all prepositional phrases before identifying the subject will help you in correctly
matching verbs to their subjects.
Indefinite Pronouns
At the beginning of this module, we introduced a new concept: a concept of "everyone"
and "one" being singular. Both "everyone" and "one" are part of a family known as
indefinite pronouns.
Some indefinite pronouns are always singular; some are always plural; and some vary
between singular and plural.
Always Singular
The following indefinite pronouns are always singular and take a singular verb when they
are subjects.
Anyone, anybody, anything,
everyone, everybody, everything,
no one, nobody, nothing,
someone, somebody, something,
another, each, either,
neither, one, the number.
REMEMBER that the above indefinite pronouns always take the "she, he, it" verb form.
Examples:
No one sings as well as she DOES.
Somebody IS going to be elected class president.
Nothing APPEARS to bother him.
Always plural
The following indefinite pronouns are always plural and take a plural verb.
Both, few, many,
a number, ones, several.
The indefinite pronouns that are always plural take the "they" form of the verb. See the
examples that follow.
Examples:
They TELL the same story.
Both TELL the same story.
Martha, Alice, and Josipa WANT to try out for the lead role.
Many WANT to try out for the lead role.
The prescribed books ARE these.
The ones prescribed ARE these.
Singular and Plural
The following indefinite pronouns are sometimes singular and sometimes plural.
All, any, enough,
half, more, most,
none, some, fractions,
percentages.
For this group of indefinite pronouns, you must go into the prepositional phrase to decide
whether the subject is singular or plural. When singular subjects, these indefinite pronouns
take the "she, he, it" form of verb. When plural subjects, they take the "they" form. See the
examples that follow.
Examples:
"All of the apples are gone."
"All" can be singular or plural.
Check inside the prepositional phrase.
"Apples" is plural, so "All" is plural.
"All of the pie is gone."
"All" can be singular or plural.
Check inside the prepositional phrase.
"Pie" is singular, so "All" is singular.
"Fifty percent of the subjects have failed to respond to the survey."
"Percent" (a percentage) can be singular or plural.
Check inside the prepositional phrase.
"Subjects," the noun in the phrase, is plural; so "percent " is plural.
"Fifty percent of the fuel has evaporated."
"Percent" (a percentage) can be singular or plural.
Check inside the prepositional phrase.
"Fuel," the noun in the phrase, is singular; so "percent" is singular.
Practice
Let's try a few practice sentences. Choose the correct verb from within the parentheses.
Sentence:
"One of the teachers of social studies (is, are) going with us."
We start by striking out the prepositional phrases, and we get
"One
(is, are) going
."
We identify the verb as either "is" or "are."
We identify the subject as "One" (singular), so we choose the singular verb "is" going.
Let's try another sentence.
Sentence:
"None of the stories (interests, interest) me in the least."
Strike out the prepositional phrases.
"None
(interests, interest) me
."
We know the subject is "none," but "none" can be singular or plural. We must decide
which. So we check the noun in the prepositional phrase. "Stories," the noun in the
prepositional phrase, is plural; so our subject, "none," is plural. Thus, the plural verb
"interest" is the complete verb of the plural subject "none."
One more sentence:
Sentence:
"Either of the jackets or sweaters (appears, appear) warm enough."
Strike out the prepositional phrase.
Either
(appears, appear) warm enough.
No doubt about it, neither "jackets" nor "sweaters" can be your subject because "jackets"
and "sweaters" are in a prepositional phrase.
"Either" is the subject, so we check the list and find that "either" is always singular when it
is a subject. Thus, the singular verb "appears" is the complete verb of the singular subject
"either."
Exercises
Read the sentence and then select the answer that correctly identifies the simple subject
and its correct verb. The answers appear after the last question.
1. Our trouble with printers (indicates, indicate) interruptions in the power supply.
A. Printers indicate
B. Trouble indicates
C. Supply indicates
D. Power indicates
2. An abundance of energy and enthusiasm (is, are) needed when teaching young
children.
A. Energy is needed
B. Enthusiasm is needed
C. Energy enthusiasm are needed
D. Abundance is needed
E. Abundance are needed
3. Neither of the two children (wants, want) to play the leading role in the school play.
A. Neither wants
B. Neither want
C. Children want
D. Two want
4. Good short stories with several characters and one plot (is, are) hard to write.
A. Stories are
B. Several are
C. Characters are
D. Plot is
E. One is
5. One of these parts (does, do) not seem to be part of the machine.
A. One does seem
B. These do seem
C. Parts do seem
D. Machine does seem
6. None of the meetings (has, have) been very productive.
A. Meetings have been
B. None has been
C. None have been
7. Something amongst the trees and bushes (appears, appear) to be moving this way.
A. Trees appear
B. Something appears
C. Trees bushes appear
D. Bushes appear
8. One of those employees (has, have) asked for a leave of absence.
A. Employees have asked
B. One have asked
C. Those have asked
D. One has asked
9. To each of the contestants (goes, go) a year's supply of dog food.
A. Contestants go
B. Each goes
C. Supply goes
D. Food goes
10. As the last step, (places, place) the solution into a freezer for 6 hours.
A. Step places
B. Solution places
C. Hours place
D. (You) place
Answers
1, B. 2, D. 3, A. 4, A. 5, A. 6, C. 7, B. 8, D. 9, C. 10, D.