Concord (Subject-Verb
Agreement)
A Singular Subject takes a
Singular Verb. A Plural subject
takes a Plural Verb.
E.g. He Works Very hard.
(Singular Verb)
They Work Very hard. (Plural
Verb)
When Two subjects are joined by ‘and’ The Verb is plural.
• E.g. Tom and his brother work hard.
• His Wife and children are in Madras.
When two Singular Subjects are joined by ‘or’, ‘either…
or’, ‘Neither…nor’ the subject is Singular.
When two plural subjects are joined by ‘or’ , ‘Neither…
nor',' either…or’ the subject is plural.
• Singular Subjects • Plural Subjects
• E.g. John or his • Cows or Oxen are grazing
brother goes home every in the field.
week. • Either Oranges or apples
• Either he or his wife has to are required.
help me. • Neither the boys nor the
• Neither the boy nor his girls are reading now.
sister has passed.
When a singular subject and a plural subject
are joined by ‘or’ , ‘Either…or’ , ‘neither…nor’
the verb agrees with the second subject or
subject nearer to the verb.
• E.g. John or his brothers go home every week.
• Either the boys or their father has come.
When two subjects are joined by ‘as well as’, ‘rather
than’ , ‘more than’, ‘as much as’ the verb agrees
with the first subject.
• E.g. The boys as well as their teacher have left.
• John rather than his brothers is involved in the
activity.
When two subjects are joined by ‘with’ , ‘along
with’, ‘together with’, ‘in the company of’ , ‘in
addition to’, ‘accompanied by’, ‘besides’ etc the
verb agrees with the first subject.
• E.g. My friend with all his children has returned.
• The Student along with his guardian is waiting outside the
room .
A Sentence starts with One of, Each of,
Either of, Everyone of, followed by a plural
noun the Verb is singular.
• One of the boys has lost his pen.
• Neither of them has passed.
• Each of them is known to me.
Each, Every, Either, Neither followed
by a noun take a singular verb.
• E.g. Each boy Works hard.
• Each girl has passed the Exam.
Expressions like Five pounds, Ten rupees, Two
weeks, Three miles etc are singular and take
singular verb.
• E.g. Two Rupees is not a big sum.
• Two weeks is not a long time.
If a sentence begins with a word “There” it
may take the singular or plural verb according
to the number of the subject.
• E.g. There is some coffee in the pot.
• There are some apples in the table.
Certain nouns like deer, sheep,counsel,and
nationality names like Indians ,Africans etc are both
singular and plural.
• E.g. A deer is grazing in the field.
• A few Deer are grazing in the field.
• A Chinese boy is waiting near the tree.
• A few Chinese boys are waiting for the bus.
Numerical expressions like dozen, thousand, lakh,
million,etc have plural form when they are preceded
by number words.
• E.g. Two dozen oranges are packed in this
basket.
• Five hundred books have been ordered.
Nouns like Furniture, Machinery, equipment,
luggage etc are called Class collectives. They
are followed by a singular verbs.
• E.g. The furniture was old and it has to be
repaired.
• The luggage was carried by a boy.
Some nouns have plural endings but they are
singular and take singular verb.
• E.g. The News is too good to be.
• Measles is not a dangerous disease.
Subject names ending in ‘-ics’ take singular
verb.
• E.g. Physics is easy to understand.
• Mathematics is hard to learn.
Things made of two equal parts are always
plural.
• E.g. My Scissors are old.
• His Trousers are torn.
• My Spectacles are broken.
Name of a book or is plural it takes singular
verb.
• E.g. The Arabian Nights is an interesting book.
• Gulliver’s Travels was written by Swift.
Thank You
Satheesan Punyam
