Practice Questions: Subject- Verb Agreement | English for CLAT PDF Download

• When using 'nowhere' at the beginning of a sentence, it is common to use an inverted word order. The verb comes before the subject.
• The verb 'does' should be used to fit with the singular subject 'it' and maintain tense consistency.
• The phrasing should therefore be "Nowhere does it state..." indicating that there is no place in the document where it states that the company is filing for bankruptcy.
  Correct Sentence: Nowhere does it state that the company is filing for bankruptcy.

Therefore, the correct answer is 'Option 3'.

• According to subject-verb agreement, a singular subject takes a singular verb and a plural subject takes a plural verb.
  Example: Ram goes to the temple every day.
  She is one of the best artists who have ever lived.
• There are certain nouns that are singular in form but plural in meaning. Such nouns must take a plural verb.
  • cattle, poultry, peasantry, children, gentry, police, people, cavalry, infantry, etc.
  • Example: The police have caught the thieves.
• The given sentence is a general fact and so, it should be in the simple present tense.
• Thus, 'are' is the correct answer.
  Complete sentence: The peasantry are the most vulnerable to climate change impacts.

• As the rule says that when a plural noun denotes a specific sum, distance, quantity, time, or period as a whole, it takes a singular verb with it.
  • Example- Two thousand rupees was a large amount fifty years ago.
• Similarly, in the given sentence, helping verb "is" will be used with "Fifty miles".
• Hence, option 2 is correct.
  Correct Sentence: Fifty miles is a long distance.

• "Unless" means the same as "if...not."
• "Unless" is followed by a present tense, a past tense, or a past perfect tense (never by a conditional).
• Therefore, for the first blank, the subject "she" is a singular pronoun, "has" is the correct answer.
• "Will, would, and shall" are always followed by the base form of the verb.
• "Unless" is a conditional word, so we don’t use "will or would" in the subordinate clause.
• So the options "will, would not appreciating", "have, shall not appreciate" and "shall, will not appreciated" are grammatically incorrect and can be ruled out.
• Therefore, the correct answer is Option 4.
  Correct sentence: Unless she has done the work to my standards, I shall not appreciate her.

• The given blank needs a linking verb.
• To select the correct linking verb from the given options we first need to understand the noun in the given sentence. 
• 'My friend, a philosopher and guide' represents the same person and hence is a singular noun.
• To maintain subject-verb agreement we need to use a singular linking verb in the given blank. 
• Hence, the most appropriate option for the given blank is the singular linking verb 'is'. 
• So, option 2 is the correct answer.
  Complete sentence: My friend, a philosopher and guide is going abroad.

• Prepositional phrases such as with, together with, along with, as well as are not part of the subject and, therefore, have no effect on the form of the verb.
• The verb needs to agree in number only with the subject of the sentence.
  • Example: Mr. Ram, along with his wife Sita and brother, was banished to the forest.
• Here, the subject is "Mother" which is a singular subject, so according to Subject-Verb agreement, we have to use a singular verb/helping verb with it.
• Now, since the given sentence shows a habitual action so it must be in the Simple Present Tense.
• Let us explore the given options:
  • Has played: Present Perfect Tense
  • Have playing: Incorrect structure
  • Play: Simple Present Tense (For plural subject)
  • Plays: Simple Present Tense (For singular subject)
• So, the correct answer is Option 4.
  Correct sentence: The mother, along with her daughter, plays tennis on Sundays.

• In a sentence, the verb is used according to person and number.
• In the case of the following words, the verbs used will be singular:
  • Each, every/everyone, someone/somebody, none/ nobody, one, no one, any, many a, more than one, etc.
• Example:
  • Everyone are addicted to smartphones nowadays.✖
  • Everyone is addicted to smartphones nowadays.✔
• The usage of the determiner 'each' suggests that the verb will also be singular i.e. is (the 1st option) in the blank part of the sentence.
  Correct Sentence: Each of these boys is intelligent.

• In the given sentence, the noun subject 'President' is a singular subject.
• We know that a singular subject always takes a singular verb.
• From the given options, only the third option 'was' is the first and third-person singular past verb.
  Hence, the correct answer is option 3.
  Complete Sentence: The President of the United States, accompanied by his advisors, was en route to Europe.

Q11: At the end of the tube there ______ two lenses: one which gathers light and the other which magnifies the image.
(a) have been
(b) is
(c) are
(d) are being
Ans: (c)
Key Points

• We can see that the second part of the given sentence is in Present Tense.
• So, the first part will be in Simple Present tense as it describes a general fact/truth.
• Now, here we are talking about "two lenses" which is a plural subject.
• So, according to Subject Verb agreement, we need a plural helping verb "are" with it.
• Therefore, the correct answer is Option 3.
  Correct sentence: At the end of the tube there are two lenses: one which gathers light and the other which magnifies the image.

Q12: Ram as well as his brothers _________coming today.
(a) are
(b) were
(c) is
(d) have been
Ans: (c)
Key Points