Before embarking on the awe-inspiring, horror-inducing grammar topic of subject-verb agreement (the sheer sound of it!), let me ask you a question: Have you ever heard someone say something along the lines of: ‘Everyone get what they deserve,’ or ‘The police has arrested two suspects’? You have? Well, there is your subject-verb agreement error right there. Alien as it may sound, subject-verb agreement is one of the most common grammar errors Norwegian, and indeed all ESL learners make in everyday life. I cringe each time I hear a Norwegian politician or an executive make it, which entails a lot of cringing on my part. This is the bad news. Now, the good news is that the agreement issue is relatively easy to fix. Let us take a closer look at it together and hopefully get rid of the nuisance once and for all.
The rule is that in English a singular subject demands a singular verb, and a plural subject demands a plural verb e.g.
The vase (singular subject) was (verb) damaged.
The vases (plural subject) were (verb) damaged.
Here is how it works in present tense regular verbs:
Singular | Plural | |
First person | I have a house | We have a house. |
Second person | You have a house. | You have a house |
Third person | He/she/it has as house. | They have house. |
- Everyone, anyone, somebody and anybody
The above may be straight forward cases, but consider this:
Everyone have/has the right to pursue happiness.
Which one is right, do you think? Has or have? The right answer is has because everyone may be plural semantically, that is to say refer to more than one person on the level of meaning, but it is grammatically plural. Always! The same is true for someone, anyone, anybody, and everyone e.g.
Has anyone called?
Has any of you been to the National Theatre yet?
Someone is responsible for this mess.
Each of the project participants has to be held accountable for their contribution.
- None
None is normally regarded as singular but can be used in plural sense e.g.
‘None of them said where she/he was going’ but ‘None of them said where they were going.’
- Fractions and Decimal Equivalents
With fractions or decimal equivalents, it is the number of what is being measured that determines the verb e.g.
One fifth of the population is poor.
A majority of the students are unhappy with this year’s exam.
- Either or, Neither nor, Neither and Either
Another tricky aspect of subject-verb agreement is that neither and either, when they occur without or and nor (the full expression being neither nor and either or), are always singular, even when they refer to several items:
Neither of those dresses is elegant enough.
You can lend me your book or your CD. Either is fine with me.
However, with expressions either or and neither nor it is so-called proximity rule that decides the number of the verb. This means that the part of the subject closer to the verb governs whether the verb will be plural or singular e.g.
Neither the Prime Minister nor his councilors were to blame.
Has either the owner or his employees been in touch with you?
- Collective and Plural Nouns
A group of words called collective nouns can be both singular and plural depending on whether they are being referred to as an entity or a group consisting of many individuals (the latter is more common in British English) such as team, family, audience, committee etc. e.g.
‘Our team is well prepared’ but ‘Our team are disappointed by the loss.’
‘My family is important to me’ but ‘My family support me.’
On the other hand, some words that look like collective nouns, called plural nouns, can only be plural such as police, cattle and people e.g.
The police are investigating the case.
‘People are angry’ but ‘This people has survived survived for centuries.’ (folkeslag)
- Nouns Ending in -s
Nouns ending in –s, for instance statistics, politics, mathematics can be both plural and singular depending on whether they are being referred to as a discipline (singular) or as a set of specific data, beliefs or skills (plural) e.g.
‘Mathematics is an interesting subject’ but ‘His mathematics are weak.’ (skill, knowledge)
‘Politics is an interesting subject’ but ‘Does anyone know what his politics are? (belief)
The examples given in this post represent only a part of somewhat comprehensive list of subject-verb agreement cases that ESL learners as well as native speakers find challenging. I think this should do for now. I hope you find this post useful and that I have not muddied the waters. 😉
- Exercises
Here are a few exercises for you to test and digest what you have learned today:
- Has/have either of you been there?
2. The cattle were/was grazing peacefully.
3. Neither you or your boss is/are wrong.
4. Manchester are/is a good team.
5. My collection of paintings is/are worth a fortune.
Additional online check-your-answer exercises can be found here.
Send me an email if you have any questions.