Practicing Subject-Verb Agreement in English

In English, subject-verb agreement means that when making a sentence, the subject and verb must “agree” (be the same). 

A singular subject requires a singular verb.


Examples:

  • He grills the steaks for dinner.
  • The cat drinks the milk. 
  • It makes a sound.
  • The girl tastes the soup.
  • She is funny. 

Remember, these words and phrases are also singular and require a singular verb: each, each one, either, neither, anybody, anyone, everybody, nobody, someone, somebody, no one. 


Examples:

  • Each person needs to bring a check for $35.
  • Nobody deserves the prize.
  • Neither Mom nor Dad knows the answer to my question. 

Collective nouns also take a singular verb. Some examples include family, group, and team, herd, and flock.


Examples:

  • Our family likes traveling to new places. 
  • The flock of birds rests in the trees across from my house.
  • Did your group decide on a name?  

A plural subject requires a plural verb.


Examples:

  • They grill the steaks for dinner.
  • The cats drink the milk
  • They make a sound.
  • The girls taste the soup.
  • They are funny. 

Practice:


Part A: Identify the underlined subject/verb pair as singular or plural.

  1. The little boy walks to school. 
  2. My teacher grades the papers. 
  3. Everybody saw the lightning last night during the storm. 
  4. We are celebrating Christmas tomorrow. 
  5. The cars race down the street.
  6. Her husband mows the lawn.
  7. The sun shines on the flowers.
  8. In the forest, the birds sing happily.
  9. The printer needs more ink.
  10. In the fall, we play football and volleyball. 

Part B: Write the correct form of the verb in parentheses

  1. The puppy _____ (sleep/sleeps) on my bed every night.
  2. Do you know if they _____ (are/is) coming to the dance?
  3. The boys_____ (live/lives) in the country. 
  4. During the summer, we _____ (visit/visits) our family in California. 
  5. Nobody _____ (want/wants) to sing in the school choir.
  6. The stapler _____ (are/is) broken.
  7. The band _____ (play/plays) my favorite song. 
  8. Usually she _____ (attend/attends) church on Sundays.
  9. The can of beans _____ (sit/sits) on the counter.
  10. Each worker _____ (do/does) their own work.

Part C: Read this story. Identify and correct the subject-verb agreement errors. 


This summer, my kids is very busy. My oldest daughter, Sarah, are working at the city swimming pool. She work as a lifeguard. My other daughter, Janet, are not old enough to work, but she keep busy helping me around the house. She are also taking dance lessons with her friends. They is learning ballet! They rehearses for two hours every Monday and Wednesday. My two boys is also busy. They is mowing lawns this summer for our neighbors. Timothy mow and rake the grass while Connor pick up tree branches and pull weeds in the yard. All of our neighbors says that the boys is hard workers. Everyone like my kids. They makes me proud!



Answers:


Part A:

  1. The little boy walks to school. singular
  2. My teacher grades the papers. plural
  3. Everybody saw the lightning last night during the storm. singular 
  4. We are celebrating Christmas tomorrow. plural
  5. The cars race down the street. plural
  6. Her husband mows the lawn. singular
  7. The sun shines on the flowers. singular
  8. In the forest, the birds sing happily. plural
  9. The printer needs more ink. singular
  10. In the fall, we play football and volleyball. plural

Part B:


  1. The puppy _____ (sleep/sleeps) on my bed every night.
  2. Do you know if they _____ (are/is) coming to the dance?
  3. The boys_____ (live/lives) in the country. 
  4. During the summer, we _____ (visit/visits) our family in California. 
  5. Nobody _____ (want/wants) to sing in the school choir.
  6. The stapler _____ (are/is) broken.
  7. That band that you saw _____ (play/plays) my favorite song. 
  8. Usually she _____ (attend/attends) church on Sundays.
  9. The can of beans _____ (sit/sits) on the counter.
  10. All of the workers  _____ (do/does) their own work.

Part C:


This summer, my kids are very busy. My oldest daughter, Sarah, is working at the city swimming pool. She works as a lifeguard. My other daughter, Janet, is not old enough to work, but she keeps busy helping me around the house. She is also taking dance lessons with her friends. They are learning ballet! They rehearse for two hours every Monday and Wednesday. My two boys are also busy. They are mowing lawns this summer for our neighbors. Timothy mows and rakes the grass while Connor picks up tree branches and pulls weeds in the yard. All of our neighbors say that the boys are hard workers. Everyone likes my kids. They make me proud!
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