What is “subject/verb agreement”?: Difference between revisions

For the subject and verb to agree in singular or plural subjects, they must have a singular or plural verb <ref>Kirszner, Laurie G., and Stephen R. Mandell., ''The Concise Wadsworth Handbook''. Instructor's Ed. Australia: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2005, p.240. [http://www.amazon.com/Concise-Wadsworth-Handbook-Laurie-Kirszner/dp/142829192X]</ref>. The subject takes the base form of the verb in all but the third person singular to make the subject and verb agree in person. The subject and verb must comply in number.  In third person singular add an ''s'' or ''es'' to the base form of the verb to make both the subject and verb agree.  

Eugenia Butler states in her book ''Correct Writing'', "Compound subjects joined by "and" normally require a plural verb" <ref>Butler, Eugenia, et al., ''Correct Writing''. 6th Ed. Lexington: D.C. Hath and Company, 1995, p.143-145. [http://www.amazon.com/Correct-Writing-Eugenia-Butler/dp/0669340731]</ref>. The only instance when this is not applicable and the subjects are considered singular is when the subjects refer to the same individual or object.

The author '''Jarvie Gordon,''' succinctly describes common grammatical errors of English language sentence formation in the work ''Bloomsbury Grammar Guide'', which provides examples of common subject/verb agreement sentences and how the reader can recognize the number of the subject and verb when an intervening expression or phrase is introduced into the sentence. <ref name="Jarvie"> ''Jarvie, Gordon. Bloomsbury Grammar Guide''. London: A. & C. Black, 2007. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 25 Apr. 2014.</ref>

Some pronouns are definite in the fact that they can replace a specific noun or another pronoun. But sometimes things aren’t so clear-cut.  So what do we do for a pronoun when we find ourselves in this predicament? We will use indefinite pronouns. "Indefinite pronouns refer to nonspecific persons or things" <ref>Hacker, Diana. ''A Writer's Reference''. New York, Boston: Bedford/St.Martin’s, 2003. [http://books.google.com/books?id=g489u9j0XAMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Hacker,+Diana.+A+Writer%E2%80%99s+Reference&hl=en&sa=X&ei=U_1GU4yDO6vnsASEoIHQDw&ved=0CEQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Hacker%2C%20Diana.%20A%20Writer%E2%80%99s%20Reference&f=false]</ref>.Some of these indefinite pronouns are always singular or always plural. But some can change their number—they can be either singular or plural, depending on the context.

 

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