Tips to solve Subject-Verb Agreement along with Practice Questions - Notes | Study English for CLAT - CLAT

What is Subject Verb Agreement? 

A Subject is said to be in Agreement with the Verb when the plurality of both is on the same terms. This means that a Singular Subject takes a Singular Verb and a Plural Subject takes a Plural Verb.

Note:

• A singular verb is the verb which has an ‘s’ or an ‘es’ with it.
• A plural verb is without an ‘s’ or an ‘es’.

How To Solve Subject-Verb Agreement Quickly? 

A sentence is made up of two parts:
Subject and Verb.

• SUBJECT that tells us what the sentence is about. It can be either a noun (book, cars, Mary, etc)or a pronoun(they, she, etc). It can be either singular or plural.
• VERB represents the action of a sentence (is, went, will place, have taken, etc)

How to make the subject and verb agree:

1. Identify the subject of the sentence.
2. Decide if the subject is singular or plural.
3. Lastly, decide which verb form will match the subject.

Below are some tricks and tips that can help you to solve Subject Verb Agreement efficiently 

Tricks 
Trick 1

• Collective nouns may take either a singular or a plural verb, depending on their use in the sentence.

Trick 2

• Some words, such as news, measles, physics, etc. are extremely deceptive. They end in -s and appear to be plural but are really singular and require singular verbs.

Trick 3

• After many/a great many/a good many, etc., the noun is always plural, which is followed by a plural verb.

Trick 4

• Use a singular verb with distances, periods of time, sums of money, etc., when considered as a unit.

Trick 5

• In sentences beginning with here or there, the true subject follows the verb.

Trick 6

• Sometimes the subject is separated from the verb by such words as along with, as well as, besides, not, etc. These words and phrases are not part of the subject. Ignore them and use a singular verb when the subject is singular.

Trick 7

• As a general rule, use a plural verb with two or more subjects when they are connected by and.

Trick 8

• The verb in an or, either/or, or neither/nor sentence agrees with the noun or pronoun closest to it.

Some Sample Questions

Q.1. The cost of grocery these days ___ rose.
(a) Has
(b) Have
(c) Is
(d) Are

Correct Answer is option (a)
The subject is singular that is a cost which is why “has” is the right answer.

Q.2. He and his sister were carried by his father on his shoulders.
(a) His father carried his sister and him on his shoulders.
(b) On his father’s shoulders, he and his sister were carried.
(c) His father carried him and his sister on his shoulders.
(d) No change

Correct Answer is option (a)
The sentence is correct as the subject comes before the verb (father carried), also it uses “his sister and him” which is grammatically the right form.

Q.3. Choose the right sentence:
(a) Each one of the pants have a pocket.
(b) Each one of the pants has a pocket

Correct Answer is option (b)
‘Each one’ is an appositive that always takes singular form with it. Therefore, has is the correct choice.

Q.4. Identify the error in the sentence:
This artist, along with some other, plays the guitar on stage.
(a) This artist
(b) Along with
(c) Other
(d) Plays

Correct Answer is option (c)
The subject does not agree with the verb here as the sentence use ‘along with’ where “others” should be used instead of “other.”