SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT - Lesson 2: Prepositional Phrases & Relative Clauses + Quiz

Hello and welcome back.

In this lesson, I will teach you how to apply subject-verb agreement rules correctly in

tricky situations.

These situations involve prepositional phrases or relative clauses that occur between the

subject and the verb in a sentence.

I’ll show you how to identify the subject in situations like this, so that you can avoid

making the most common mistakes.

As always, there is a quiz later on to test your understanding.

So, let’s start.

If you want to learn the basic rules of subject-verb agreement, watch lesson no.

1 in this series, which is an introduction to this topic.

You will find a link in the description.

But to quickly recap the basics, here’s a chart from the previous lesson.

With singular nouns such as monkey, boy, car and so on, and with the pronouns he, she and

it, we add -s to the verb in the present tense: monkey eats, boy walks, he goes, she speaks

etc.

With plural nouns and with the pronouns I, You, We and They, we don’t add -s to the

verb.

Now, I and You are not plural pronouns; it’s just a rule that with I and You, we don’t

add -s to the verb.

These two rules work with all verbs except for “be”.

The verb “be” has five forms.

We say “I am”, He, she, it or any singular noun is, and You, We, They or any plural noun

are.

This is in the present tense.

In the past tense, We say, I, He, She, It or any singular noun was, and You, We, They

or any plural noun were.

These are the very basic rules of subject-verb agreement.

So, now let’s discuss some more advanced topics.

Let’s start with prepositional phrases.

Here’s an example.

I want you to do this as an exercise.

You see there are two places where you have to choose between is and are . The cookies

is for Amanda or the cookies are for Amanda?

And the box of chocolates is for Tom or are for Tom?

What do you think?

Well, here’s the answer: The cookies are for Amanda and the box of chocolates is for

Tom.

But how come?

“Cookies” is a plural noun and “chocolates” is also plural, yet we have “are” in the

first place and “is” is the second.

So, what’s going on here?

Well, with “cookies” it’s easy – plural subject, so we say “are”.

But, in the second sentence, we have “box of chocolates”.

Here, we see a preposition “of” and we see that it has an object “chocolates”,

so “of chocolates” is a prepositional phrase.

This phrase gives information about the box.

It tells us what type of box it is.

It’s a box which has chocolates inside.

So, the real subject of this sentence is the “box”.

This is a singular noun; that’s why we have “is”.

The prepositional phrase is just extra information, so you can mentally block it out; now it’s

easy: “The cookies are for Amanda.

The box is for Tom.”

What box?

The box of chocolates.

Here’s another example.

“A wallet with four credit cards was or were found lying in the grass?”

Which is correct?

Pause the video and think about it for a moment.

OK, did you identify the prepositional phrase in this sentence?

That phrase is “with four credit cards”.

So, what thing had four credit cards inside?

It was the wallet.

So “wallet” is the subject of the sentence.

The credit cards are not the subject.

“Wallet” is a singular noun, so “A wallet with four credit cards was found lying in

the grass.”

If the sentence was just about credit cards, we might say “Four credit cards were found

lying in the grass”.

But here, since the real subject is “wallet”, we say “was”.

OK, here’s the next one: “Some students in my class speak or speaks French as their

first language.”

Well, what’s the subject of this sentence?

I see a preposition “in”, so I know that “in my class” is a prepositional phrase.

It gives us information about the noun “students”.

So, the subject here is “students”.

This is a plural noun, so we need a plural verb; that is, a verb without -s added to

the end.

So, “Some students in my class speak French as their first language.”

Even though the noun “class” is singular and it’s right next to the verb, it’s

just part of the prepositional phrase.

The real subject is the plural word “students”.

Here’s one last example: “Small business owners throughout the state have or has voiced

their displeasure with the government’s new tax proposal.”

OK, let me explain this one a little bit.

“Small business owners” means people who own shops, restaurants or other companies

that are small.

“throughout the state” means not just in one place, but in every place across the

state.

To “voice your displeasure” is a common expression.

It means you’re not happy with something; displeasure is the opposite of pleasure.

To voice your displeasure is to express your disappointment or dissatisfaction; this expression

is used in more formal situations like this.

A “tax proposal” is a tax plan that the government has announced.

So, many business owners are not happy with this plan, maybe because it’s going to raise

taxes on their businesses.

OK, so now you decide – “have” or “has”.

Now, what’s the subject here?

Do you see a prepositional phrase?

Yes, “throughout the state” is a prepositional phrase because “throughout” is a preposition.

So, what does this phrase give you information about?

It gives you information about “small business owners”.

This is the subject.

Within this subject, the noun is “owners”.

Because the word “business” just tells you what type of owner.

Owners of what?

Owners of business.

What type of business?

Small business.

So, the real subject is the word “owners” which is a plural noun.

So, we need a plural verb without “s”.

So, “small business owners throughout the state have voiced their displeasure with the

government’s new tax proposal.”

Did you get it right?

OK, now the important question is how do we identify prepositional phrases?

Well, the first step is to know the most common prepositions in English.

These are words like of, in, on, at, by, with, to, for, from, etc.

You see some of these on the screen.

Of course, there are many more.

When you see a preposition in a sentence, it will always be part of a phrase, that is

a group of words – “of chocolates”, “with four credit cards”, “in my class”,

“throughout the state” and so on.

If such a phrase occurs before the verb in a sentence, it will act just like an adjective

– to give information about a noun.

So, identify that noun – like “box”, “wallet”, “students”, “owners”

etc.

If the noun is singular, then add -s to the verb; if it’s plural, then don’t add an

-s to the verb.

If the verb is “be”, then choose the correct form – “am”, “is”, “are”, “was”

or “were”.

Now, just like prepositional phrases, relative clauses can also cause problems with subject-verb

agreement.

Take this example: “This vintage watch, which I received as a wedding gift from my

grandparents, is or are one of my most prized possessions.”

Let me explain the vocabulary here.

A vintage object is an old object that’s attractive or of high quality.

Like vintage furniture, vintage cars etc.

So, a vintage watch is an attractive old watch that’s still in good condition.

The word “possession” means something you own, and a prized possession is a thing

that is very important to you.

Alright, so what do you think – “is” or “are” here?

OK, look at the clause “which I received as a wedding gift from my grandparents”

– what is the purpose of that clause?

What did I get as a wedding gift from grandma and grandpa?

I received the watch, the vintage watch.

So, this clause only gives information about the watch; it gives you some details about

it.

So, in fact, this whole clause acts like an adjective.

For this reason, it’s called an adjective clause.

More commonly it’s referred to as a relative clause.

So, that means the real subject is “watch”.

“Grandparents” is not the subject.

The word “watch” is a singular noun.

So, “This vintage watch, which I received as a wedding gift from my grandparents, is

one of my most prized possessions.”

The verb “is” agrees with the subject “watch”.

Relative clauses usually start with words like who, which, that, where or when.

These words are called relative pronouns.

Alright, here’s another example: “The architect who designed some of this city’s

biggest skyscrapers live or lives in a modest two-bedroom apartment downtown.”

“Modest” means “simple”.

So, is it live or lives?

The first thing that you should notice is the word “who”, so you know you have a

relative clause.

“who designed some of this city’s biggest skyscrapers” is the relative clause.

It tells us something about the architect.

So, “architect” is the subject here.

“Skyscrapers” is not the subject.

“Architect” is a singular noun, so “The architect who designed some of this city’s

biggest skyscrapers lives in a modest two-bedroom apartment downtown.”

Next one: “The only books that I actually enjoyed reading when I was a kid was or were

superhero comics.”

Stop the video and think about this one.

OK, first of all, did you find the relative clause?

Actually, there are two relative clauses here.

The first one is “that I actually enjoyed reading” and the second is “when I was

a kid”.

The first clause tells us about the books; I’m talking about books that I enjoyed reading.

And the second clause says that we are not talking about now; we’re talking about the

period when I was a child, in the past.

You can have two relative clauses like this that give different types of information.

But of course, the subject here is “books”.

This is a plural noun, so “The only books that I actually enjoyed reading when I was

a kid were superhero comics.”

This might sound a little strange to you because we have the word “kid” which is singular.

So, we feel like the verb should be “was”.

Because in conversation, we normally say, “The kid was running, the kid was playing”

and so on.

But, the important thing is that “kid” is not the subject here; it’s just part

of that relative clause.

The verb should agree with the subject of the sentence, which is “books” in this

case.

One last example: “Prescription drugs, which cannot simply be obtained over the counter,

require or requires a doctor’s prescription in order to be purchased.”

The sentence means that there are certain medicines that if you want to buy them, you

have to get a doctor’s prescription.

“Over the counter” means going to the store and buying something just like that.

You pay money over the counter and you receive the product over the counter.

You cannot do that with prescription drugs; you need a doctor’s prescription.

So, what do you think – “require” or “requires”?

OK, where’s the relative clause here?

The relative clause is “which cannot simply be obtained over the counter” and that clause

gives information about “prescription drugs”.

That’s a plural noun, so we don’t add -s to the verb: “Prescription drugs, which

cannot simply be obtained over the counter, require a doctor’s prescription in order

to be purchased.”

So, looking at all these sentences, how do we identify relative clauses?

Well, watch out for the relative pronouns: who, which, that, where, when etc.

Once you identify the relative clause, check to see whether that clause comes between the

subject and the verb.

If it does, just ignore the clause; look at the subject and decide whether it is singular

or plural and then use the correct form of the verb based on that.

Now, if you want to know why two sentences here have commas and two sentences don’t

have commas, then see my lesson on punctuation where I explain all about it; I’ll leave

a link in the description below.

Alright, if you’re ready, it’s now time for the quiz. all right I have ten sentences

for us to practice with we’ll do the first four r now and then we'll move on to the next

set all right in each of these sentences I want you to choose the correct verb form from

the two options that are given pause the video take a moment to think about these sentences

then play the video and continue alright in number one athletes from over 200 countries

compete or competes in the Olympics we have a prepositional phrase here so what's the

preposition preposition is from so from over 200 countries is the prepositional phrase

this tells us about the athletes so the subject is athletes this is a plural noun so athletes

from over 200 countries compete in the Olympics number two the prepositional phrase here is

with blue eyes and this phrase tells you about the puppy so that puppy with blue eyes is

the cutest little animal I have ever seen puppy is singular so is the correct verb form

in number 3 we have a relative clause remember that relative clauses start with words like

who which that so on here we have that so that affect the heart is the relative clause

so that means the subject is diseases the relative clause is telling you what kind of

disease we’re talking about so diseases is a plural noun diseases that affect the

heart are called cardiovascular diseases number four is a little tricky because what we have

here is a relative clause it starts from the word standing standing at the counter is the

relative clause now you might be thinking well there is no relative pronoun like who

which or that that's because it's hidden here this is basically that guy who is standing

at the counter in a lot of places the relative pronoun and the verb that comes right after

that will be dropped like this and when the clause starts with an -ing verb like you have

here like standing it's called a participle clause it's basically just a reduced relative

clause but it's still a relative clause so then that means that the subject here is that

guy that guy is a singular noun that guy standing at the counter looks like a bodybuilder all

right here are the next three sentences we're going up in difficulty a little bit here stop

the video think about them then play the video again and continue all right number five a

documentary about the possibility of aliens from outer space visiting earth in the 21st

century was or were awarded a special prize at the film festival now the reason this sentence

looks confusing is actually because there's one big preposition phrase here we see a number

of prepositions in this sentence about of from and in but if you start reading from

the first preposition about the possibility of aliens from outer space visiting earth

in the 21st century you realize this whole phrase just tells you the topic of the documentary

so the subject is documentary here which is a singular noun so the correct verb form is

was so a documentary about the possibility of aliens from outer space visiting earth

in the 21st century was awarded a special prize at the film festival in number six there

are two places where you have to choose the correct verb form but both verbs relate to

the same subject the sentence starts with emails and then we see the word blocked this

is actually a relative clause the sentence is trying to say emails that are blocked by

a spam filter but the words that are are left out so this is a reduced relative clause that

means the subject is emails which is a plural noun so emails blocked by the spam filter

don't show up in your inbox but those emails are instead moved to the spam folder in number

seven there are three verbs but this one should be easier because there's just a straightforward

prepositional phrase starting with in so in this neighborhood is a preposition phrase

which means that the subject is the plural word kids most kids in this neighborhood walk

or bicycle to school but don't spend much time doing other physical activities such

as playing sport all right here are the last three stop the video think about them then

play the video again and continue all right number eight a language learner’s ability

and then we see the word to which means this is the start of a prepositional phrase and

this phrase is going to tell you about the ability so a language learner’s ability

to comprehend comprehend means to understand difficult real-world reading material meant

for native speakers that's a relative clause so reading material which is meant for native

speakers now even though this is a relative clause it doesn't tell you anything about

the subject of the sentence this relative clause gives you information about reading

material so this clause is actually within the prepositional phrase so the phrase starts

at to and it goes all the way up to native speakers this whole phrase gives you information

about ability which is the subject of the sentence this is a singular noun so the right

verb form is increases increases with regular and sustained practice sustained means you

keep doing it ok in number 9 we have the longest sentence in the quiz Sheila said that Julien's

negative remarks about her appearance about as a preposition so about her appearance is

a prepositional phrase and then we see the word which that means it's a relative clause

which he made at the meeting in the presence of several board members so we've seen a prepositional

phrase with about her appearance and then a long relative clause all of this is about

the noun remarks remarks is a plural noun so were offensive and completely unacceptable

and finally we come to number 10 I find it strangely amusing now amusing means funny

so strangely amusing means funny in a strange or in a weird way I find it strangely amusing

that Matt and Kylie neither of whom now who is a relative pronoun so from neither we see

the start of a relative clause don't worry about the correct verb form within the clause

for now we'll come back to that so neither of whom have or has any baking experience

whatsoever the relative clause ends here so that means the subject of the sentence is

Matt and Kylie this is a plural subject because Matt and Kylie are two people so Matt and

Kylie have agreed to bake a cake for the party all right now as for the verb form within

the relative clause we have to apply subject verb agreement rules within the clause itself

so the subject of this clause is the word neither this is considered a singular pronoun

in English because it's like saying not Matt or Kylie so neither of whom has any baking

experience whatsoever I'll read the whole sentence once again I find it strangely amusing

that Matt and Kylie neither of whom has any baking experience whatsoever have agreed to

bake a cake for the party if you didn't get this last one right that's okay I made it

difficult just to show you how subject verb agreement difficulties can appear in unexpected

places all right how many of these 10 sentences did you get right let me know in the comments

below if you enjoyed this lesson give it a thumbs up don't forget to subscribe to this

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soon.