Subject-Verb Agreement: Test your knowledge of English Grammar!

Hello everyone. It's Jennifer. I'd like to ask you a question. Do you have a favorite season?

Truthfully, I love every season. New England is a great place for me to live because I can enjoy all four seasons.

Each season has something special to offer.

There are beautiful snowfalls in the winter. There are flowers in the spring.

There are picnics in the summer, and there's the start of the hockey season in the fall.

One of my favorite times of the year is when the leaves change color. They turn red, orange, yellow...

We call it fall foliage or "FOH-lee-ij" as some say.

What you absolutely must see if you visit New England is the fall foliage. The colors are amazing.

I really do like the fall. The cooler weather makes me feel productive.

Maybe that's why I'm in the mood to study grammar right now.

How about if you take a quiz with me? See if you can answer ten questions

about subject verb agreement.

You can tell me your score at the end of the lesson. Okay?

Subject-verb agreement means that the subject and the verb agree in number.

A singular subject takes a singular verb. A plural subject takes a plural verb.

That's why I said: I love/New England is/ Each season has/

The colors are...

But subject verb agreement isn't always so simple and clear, at least not at first.

So let's start our quiz and see how well you handle tricky grammar.

Do you know why I like the fall?

Sentences with There is/ There are put the subject after the verb. We're stating what exists.

There are at least three reasons.

There's the fall foliage.

Uncountable nouns like "foliage" take a singular verb.

If we have a list of items,

many American English speakers will use a singular verb if the first noun is singular.

This pattern is all about proximity it has to do with what kind of noun is closest to the verb.

This pattern is especially common in spoken English with the contraction "there's."

There's the fall foliage, the start of the hockey season, and the day we turn our clocks back one hour.

You'll see similar patterns with Here.

You might also hear:

Our house can get chilly in the fall and winter.

With the structures Neither...nor and Either...or we also have to consider proximity.

If you have two singular nouns, use a singular verb. If you have two plural nouns use a plural verb.

But if you have a mix meaning, if you have a singular noun and a plural noun in the subject,

the verb agrees with the noun that is closest to it.

You can tell what season it is if you look around our house.

Sometimes proximity is a problem. The subject and the verb can be far from each other, so it can get confusing.

Just remember that any phrase or clause that comes between the subject and the verb doesn't change subject-verb agreement.

It may be helpful to see it like this.

Here's another example.

So, you know that I like the weather in New England, but it's probably not fair to say that one climate is better than another

Pronouns can be tricky. It's easy to remember subject-verb agreement with subject pronouns.

But what about indefinite pronouns?

Pronouns ending with -body or -one are singular.

That includes...

But the funny thing is that in conversation we often use plural reference words because it's easier and more concise.

In more formal English, we would probably say:

Quantifying pronouns can be singular or plural. You have to consider the whole context.

So be careful with pronouns like a lot, some, and none.

Hockey is a good sport for a cold climate

The conjunction AND is easy to understand. It can join two or more nouns together to form a compound subject.

Compound subjects are plural.

Conjunction OR is different. Here are the usual patterns.

How are you doing so far? How many questions have you answered correctly?

Keep track of your score. Okay? Let's go on to the next question.

Actually, I didn't start watching hockey until my son started playing the sport several years ago

The conjunction AND helps us form a compound subject, but sometimes

the notion or the idea of the subject is more important than the grammatical structure.

In other words, we can consider a compound subject singular

if we perceive the subject as one activity, one situation, one thing...

It's like saying egg and sausage on a biscuit is really yummy.

I consider egg and sausage on a biscuit as one thing -- one thing I eat sometimes.

So as a family we sit, we watch, and we cheer for the Pittsburgh Penguins. It's one activity.

This is something we do as a family.

Have you ever watched a hockey game?

Gerund subjects are singular. They refer to one activity.

We saw an exception in Question 6, but now in Question 7

we have a compound subject and the two activities are distinct. They're separate.

You can watch and cheer at the same time, but you can't really watch and play at the same time.

You can't be a spectator and a player at the same game.

So watching hockey and playing hockey are two of my son's favorite activities.

He watches professional hockey games on TV, and he plays on a local team.

Infinitives as subjects follow the same pattern.

Do you like sports with physical contact?

Okay, there's a lot going on in this example. First, let's talk about embedded questions.

They're a type of noun clause, and we can use them as a subject. To learn more about embedded questions,

see the link in the video description to an older lesson.

As I said, embedded questions are a type of noun clause.

They start with a question word and then they follow statement word order:

subject + verb.

These noun clauses can be a subject of a sentence. As a subject, they're usually singular.

But sometimes the verb can be plural. Look at these examples.

This pattern is similar to simple questions with WHAT.

Finally, remember that "a number of" is a quantifying phrase with the meaning "several."

"The number of" is a phrase we use to refer to a specific number.

That player has had a number of head injuries. Has had several head injuries.

The number of players who have suffered concussions has increased. The number has increased.

So look again at my example for Question 8.

When you understand the game more you can appreciate the skill of each player

Remember earlier I mentioned the notion or idea of a subject.

If we perceive the subject to be one thing, one amount, or one unit,

we use a singular subject.

When I talk about 30 saves by a goalie, I'm not talking about

individual actions. I'm talking about one whole performance in a game.

So plural subjects with numbers can take a singular verb if we perceive the subject to be one unit...

one whole.

We do this with simple math equations as well.

Let me tell you about the U.S.

Some nouns may look plural because they end in -s, but if we consider it to be one unit,

It takes a singular verb.

Countries that end in -s are a good example.

The United States, the Bahamas.

Each one is a country. Each one is a nation.

It's the same thing for titles of movies, TV shows, or other artistic works.

Subjects of study may also end in -s, but they're one subject of study. So they take a singular verb.

Politics often divides a family, but sports can unite them again.

Of course, there are exceptions, but a lot of it has to do with how we perceive a subject.

I said, "Politics divides a family sometimes."

Politics divides... This subject divides them. So here "politics" is singular.

Another example can use "politics" as a plural subject.

On the other hand, just because a noun doesn't look plural doesn't mean it's singular and takes a singular verb.

Remember that we have a lot of irregular plural nouns.

These plural nouns take plural verbs.

A final group of nouns that can cause confusion with subject verb agreement is

collective nouns, nouns that refer to a group.

I'll put a link to one of my older lessons on this topic in the video description.

Just know that in American English collective nouns like "family" and "team" are usually singular.

The noun refers to a group, but we perceive that group as one unit.

Look again at my example for Question 10.

So, how did you do in the quiz?

You can give yourself a half point if you got half of a question correct. Okay?

Don't worry about your score, though. The important thing is that you understood all the correct answers.

To review the patterns we studied, go to the video description. I'll copy and paste the transcript of my opening talk.

I want you to complete that transcript with the correct verb forms.

You can correct your work by listening again. Okay?

Well, that's all for now. Please remember to like this video.

I'll see you again soon for another lesson. As always, thanks for watching and happy studies!

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