English Grammar: Subject-Verb Agreement – all, most, some, none

When you first started learning English, you probably learned a

very basic rule, which is that in an English sentence the

subject and the verb must agree. What does that mean? Let's have

a look.

So, basically, it's quite simple. When you have a singular

subject, you have a singular verb; when you have a plural

subject, you have a plural verb. Okay? And most of the time,

that's pretty easy. For example, we say: "The chair is black",

singular subject, singular verb. Right? Or we say: "The chairs

are black", plural subject, plural verb. Okay? So, most of

the time, it's quite easy for you to decide which verb to use

with the subject.

But sometimes it's not that clear; it's not that obvious.

And in this lesson, I'm going to focus on four words that

sometimes cause students a little bit of confusion in this

area of subject-verb agreement. Those four words are the

pronouns: "all", "most", "some", and "not".

Now, why are these a little bit confusing? Because sometimes

they take a singular verb and sometimes they take a plural

verb. It depends on the context; depends on the sentence, depends

on the situation. Okay? But by the end of this lesson, you're

going to know 100% which one to use; when to use the singular

verb and when to use the plural verb. Okay?

To get you started thinking about this subject, look at this

sentence. Okay? "All of the equipment is on sale." Is that

correct? Or should we say: "All of the equipment are on sale"?

Think about that for a second, and I'll be back to explain.

Okay, so let's look at some pairs of sentences to see how

this works. The first one is the one that I'd asked you to think

about. So, the correct answer is: "All the equipment is on

sale." Okay? Another way we could say this is: "All the

computers are on sale." Okay? I'm going to explain the

principle to you in a minute. In the meantime, try to see if you

see any patterns here.

"Most of the information is true, but most of the reports

are true." Okay? Good. Think about that. Let's look at

another example: "Some of the advice is useful. Some of the

ideas are useful." Okay. Are you starting to see a little

pattern, there? Okay? And the last one: "None of the jewellery

is missing" or "None of the rings are missing."

So, what's going on here? Did you see the pattern? So,

basically, what's happening is when we have the pronoun and we

match it with an uncountable noun, such as "equipment", then

we use a singular verb. Okay?

So, if you're not sure what an "uncountable noun" is or what a

"countable noun" is, then, of course, you can watch my other

video where I explain to you exactly what uncountable and

countable nouns are. And you can also get our resource; the r

source that I've written on t is subject. Okay? But I'm g

ing to explain to you in short s you understand right now.

So, an "uncountable noun" is something which we cannot count.

Right? Smart. Like what? For example: "sugar". I can't really

count, right? All of those grains of sugar, or salt, or

flour. That's something uncountable. Also, sometimes

when we look at collective words, like "furniture", that we

consider uncountable because we look at the whole group, but

something that's countable is "tables" because we can count

tables. Right?

Also, a general word, like "food". Okay? "Food" is a

general word, so we consider it something that we cannot count,

but "pizzas" are countable because you can count the

individual pizzas. Okay? There is a long list of uncountable

nouns, and you should know that. You need to know that in

English, so check the resource and it'll... I've classified it

for you. Okay?

But for now, let's look at the patterns. So: "The equipment

is"... Right? Uncountable and singular, but "The computers

are" -- countable; plural. "The information is" -- uncountable;

singular. "The reports are" -- countable; plural. Right? "The

advice is" -- singular. "The ideas are" -- plural. "The

jewellery is" -- singular, right? Because "jewellery" is

considered a collective, uncountable word or noun, but:

"The rings are". Okay?

So, that's the rule that you have to follow. And if you

follow that rule with these pronouns: "all", "most", "some",

and "none", then you will always be right. And why is it

important? Because this mistake -- subject-verb agreement is a

very basic mistake. And if you make that kind of mistake, it's

really going to bring down your score if you're doing an exam,

like the IELTS or TOEFL, or any English exam. And also if you

use this kind of language or you make this kind of mistake in

your business writing, it doesn't look good for your

employer or for a client. Okay? So, let's practice a little bit

more now to make sure that you've really got it.

All right, so let's practice what we've learned. Okay? So,

what I would like you to do is: While we're doing these

sentences, decide whether to use the verb "was" or "were". "Was",

of course, is the singular and "were" is the plural; it's the

verb "to be", but of course, it's in the past just to change

things a little bit. Because we don't only have to use the verb

"to be"; we can use any verb. I'm just using this one to make

it simpler for you to see the difference between the singular

and the plural.

Okay, so let's give it a go. Number one: "Most of the

vocabulary was easy" or "Most of the vocabulary were easy"? What

should it be? "Most of the vocabulary was easy".

"Vocabulary" is considered one of those collective, uncountable

words. Okay? And, therefore, we use the singular. If it said:

"Most of the words", then it would be "were easy". "Most of

the words were easy." Good.

Next: "All of the suitcases _____ heavy." What should it be?

"was" or "were"? "All of the suitcases were heavy", because

"suitcases" is a countable noun. If it said: "All of the

luggage", then we have to say: "was heavy". "All the luggage

was heavy". "Luggage" is considered an uncountable noun.

All right? I know it can be a little bit annoying, but once

you look at some of the examples and you sort of really put them

into your mind, it'll come much more easily. Okay? I promise you.

Next: "Some of the news _____ disturbing". "was" or "were"?

"Some of the news was disturbing." Okay. Now, you're

saying: "But Rebecca, there's an 's' there. And when there's an

's', I noticed it's usually plural." Yes, you're 100% right.

Usually it is, but not always, like in words, like "the news".

Okay? "News" is considered singular; it's uncountable. All

right. So, therefore, we use the singular. But if it said: "Some

of the reports were disturbing", okay? Then it would be plural.

All right? You got it.

Next, number four: "None of the people _____ hurt." "was" or

"were"? "None of the people were hurt." Okay. Now, what happened

this time? This one is plural and there is no "s". Okay? This

one was singular and it had an "s"; this one plural. Know this.

Sometimes English is funny. Right? We know that. So, this is

a plural word. Okay? But if he said... Yeah. Okay? It's plural.

That's all.

All right. Number five: "Some of the bands _____ excellent."

"Bands" like rock bands. Okay? Music groups. "Some of the

bands" -- yes -- "were excellent". Okay? "Bands", here

it's a regular plural word.

Next. Sorry, here we could say, for example: "Some of the

music". If we said: "Some of the music", it's an uncountable, so

then it would be: "Some of the music was excellent." Okay? Good.

Next: "Most of the training _____ helpful." "was/were"?

Okay? This is uncountable. So, when we have uncountable, what

do we use? The singular. "Most of the training was helpful."

Very good. But if we said here: "Most of the courses were

helpful." Okay? "Courses" would be countable, and then plural.

Next: "All the developments _____ positive." "was" or

"were"? "All the developments were positive." Okay? This is a

regular plural word, so we need a plural verb. All right? If we

said, for example: "All the progress" or "All the progress

was positive." That's an uncountable word. Okay?

And the last one: "None of the homework _____ difficult." "None

of the homework", what should it be? "was difficult". Okay. So,

"homework" is another uncountable noun. Okay? "None of

the homework was difficult." But, for example: "None of the

math problems were difficult." Okay? So, you have to change it

according to this noun; whether this noun is uncountable or

countable. All right?

Now, you spent time, you watched this video, and you want to get

this once and for all; you don't want to keep on learning this

again and again. So, if you want to master it once and for all,

do a few things. Okay? First of all, make sure that you

understand clearly what "countable" and "uncountable

nouns" are. Right? And if you have any uncertainty, which is

possible because it can be a little bit confusing, go and

watch that lesson of mine on countable and uncountable nouns.

Then go to our website, do a quiz on this so you can get some

more practice. Okay? Practices makes you much better. Okay?

Practice will really take you forward. Get that resource on

countable and uncountable nouns; make your own sentences, maybe

take some of those examples from there and write some sentences

in your comments using these pronouns and you using these

uncountable and countable nouns. Okay? You can do it. It's really

not that complicated, but you need to practice it so that your

time watching this video was really worthwhile. Okay?

And, last of all: Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube

channel so you can keep on getting lots of other lessons

that will help you learn English much more quickly and

effectively. Okay? Thanks very much for watching, and all the

best with your English. Bye for now.