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Subject-Verb
Agreement
The Fundamentals
Everything about subject-verb agreement follows this basic rule:
The finite verb
agrees with the subject
in person
and in number.
Master
this topic--once and for all!
If you have gaps in your knowledge about any of the four concepts in
the highlighted rule above, you
are likely to be in trouble.
You will then begin to struggle
without knowing why. Then, perhaps, you will be tempted to blame this
particular topic or even grammar itself and say—"Oh! This is all very
difficult." And then the usual next step is to slowly begin to
convince yourself— "Grammar is useless."
This is a variation of the "sour grapes" story. I suggest, you don't
become the protagonist (main character) in such a story, especially if
you are serious about
mastering this topic once and for all.
This page will deal with the fundamentals
of subject-verb agreement.
The next webpage will cover how
the verb agrees with a compound subject.
In our
subject-verb agreement story...
we have
two characters:
- The subject
- The finite verb
For a general
understanding of these two characters, click
here.
If you want a more intimate
understanding of them, click these links: subject and
finite verb.
and two
character traits:
- Person
- Number
Not everyone remembers that both these traits
(properties) are
important.
The
normal version of the agreement story...
What you usually hear is this:
- a singular subject takes a singular verb.
- a plural subject takes a plural verb.
A man sits at the counter. Two men sit at the counter.
- a
man is singular; so we have the singular verb sits.
- two
men is plural; so we have the plural verb sit.
Good! Singular and
plural takes care of the number. What about the person part of the
bargain (agreement)?
So
let's complete the basic story.
There's a
little bit that remains.
Look at these examples:
- I am sitting at the computer.
- He is sitting at the computer.
The subjects 'I'
and 'He'
are both singular. Why then are the verbs different? It's
because they
belong to different grammatical persons.
- The subject 'I' is in the first person; so the
verb is 'am sitting.'
- The subject 'He' is in the third person; so we
have 'is sitting'—a different form of the verb.
So let's repeat the fundamental lesson:
The finite verb
agrees with the subject
in person
and in number.
Not "number" only, but "person and number."
Subject-Verb
Agreement for Simple Subjects.
We now know what finite
verbs do. A finite verb has a good look at
the subject (from top to bottom)! In that one look, it determines the
person and number of the subject, and then it responds fittingly with
its own sweet form!
Agreement
in the present tense
Let's take an
action verb first...
"to sing"
|
Singular |
Plural |
| First
Person |
I sing |
We sing |
| Second
Person |
You sing |
you sing |
| Third
Person |
He/she/it/any singular subject sings |
They / any plural subject sing |
Note that the third person singular subject has sings.
For the verb
"to be", you have...
I am,
we are, you
are,
he/she/it/singular is,
they/plurals are.
Note the difference in the verb in two places: first person singular
and third person singular.
For verbs "to have" and "to do":
"to have"—I have, we have, you have, he/she/it has,
they have.
"to do"—I do, we do, you do, he/she/it does,
they do.
Agreement
in the past tense
Only the verb "to be" needs to be remembered; the other verbs have the
same form throughout.
"to be"—I was,
we were, you were, he/she/it was,
they were.
"to sing"—I sang, we sang, you sang, he/she/it sang, they sang.
Will,
Shall, Can, Could, and Other Modals
When a modal is the first word of a finite verb phrase (e.g. will or
shall, as in future tense sentences), we need not worry about
subject-verb agreement. Modals don't change form. Also, the next verb
after a modal is always the basic form of that verb (i.e. its bare
infinitive).
will sing, will be, will have, can sing, can be, can have, etc.
On the next page, we shall see how the fundamentals dealt with on this
page are applied to compound / composite subjects. The rule applied
there is the very same rule we learnt here:
The finite
verb agrees with the subject in person and in number.
Nothing more. Nothing less.
Coming Next...
Agreement of
Verb with Compound Subjects
For an exercise on the topic of
this page, click here.
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