| Subject-Verb Agreement Introduction Some of the questions in the Writing Test will check your knowledge of subject-verb agreement, or using the verb that matches the subject. Briefly, every complete sentence must have a subject and a verb. The subject is the person or thing the sentence tells about, and the verb is the action (what the subject does) or state of being (what the subject feels, is, or has). All subjects can be placed into categories labeled 'persons'. If a subject can be replaced by the pronoun we, it is in the first-person plural; if a subject can be replaced by she, he, or it, it is in the third-person singular. The note to the left lists all the person-categories and their corresponding pronouns. It is essential that the verb form agrees with the subject. For most present-tense verbs, this means adding an s to the end of the third-person singular verb, as in I laugh, you laugh, she, he or it laughs, we laugh, you laugh, and they laugh. The verbs to be and to have are irregular. Their conjugations - the way the verbs change in each person - can be found in the right-hand border of this page. Please take a look at the picture to the right to practice subject-verb agreement. The woman has a ring. In this sentence, woman is the subject, and has is the verb; woman is a third-person singular subject, so it requires a third-person singular verb. Next, consider this sentence: The man and the woman have smiles on their faces. The subject of this sentence is the man and the woman. This is a third-person plural subject, so it requires the third-person verb have in order for the subject and the verb to agree. It is somewhat easy to decide what the subjects are and what person-category they belong to in sentences like the two above. The subjects are both at the beginning of the sentence, and the verbs come directly after the subjects. Let's look at a different sentence. In the picture are a woman and a man. Is there subject-verb agreement in this sentence? There is only one verb in the sentence, are, but what is the subject? Is it picture? There is a grammar rule that can help you answer this question: the subject of a sentence is almost never part of a prepositional phrase. An exception to this rule is when the preposition is part of a title, as in this sentence: After Midnight is the title of a popular song. The word picture is part of the prepositional phrase in the picture, so picture can't be the subject. The subject of the sentence is the woman and the man, which is third-person plural. Are is the correct form of the verb for this sentence. Here's a similar sentence; which form of the verb to be would you use? In the picture ____ a woman with a man. What's the subject of the sentence? If you say woman, you're right, because man is part of the prepositional phrase with a man. The sentence should read: In the sentence is a woman with a man. The subject is third-person singular, so the verb must be third-person singular as well. |
| For more on subject-verb agreement visit Capital City College's Guide to Writing and Grammar. |
| What Person? When deciding what 'person' a subject is in, ask yourself what pronoun could be used in place of the noun or nouns. In the sentence "The woman has a ring" the noun woman can be replaced by the pronoun she. Thus, the subject is third-person singular. Singular 1st person - I 2nd person - you 3rd person - he, it or she Plural 1st person - we 2nd -person - you 3rd person - they |
| Can you find the subject of a sentence? Try this quiz. You can take the quiz as often as you like; it will always be a little different. |
| The man loves the woman. |
| Prepositional Phrase A prepositional phrase is a group of words that begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or adjective. |
| To be: I am you are he, it, she is we are you are they are |
| Prepositions Prepositions are words that show place, direction, time or relationship. Some prepositions: place - in, on, under direction - to, from time - by, since relationship - about |
| The man and the woman love each other. |
| Remember! The subject of a sentence is almost never part of a prepositional phrase. |
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