Lesson 5
Parts of Speech: Verb Agreement
To use verbs correctly you must make decisions about verb forms based on the number represented by the
subject. Take, for example, the present tense of the verb vote:
Singular:
I vote
you vote
he/she/it votes
Plural:
we vote
you vote
they vote
In the present tense, a regular verb like vote takes a final s or es to agree with the singular pronouns he, she,
and it or with any singular noun.
Other verbs are not so easy to deal with. Consider the present tense of these irregular verbs:
be:
I am, we are
you are
he/she/it is, they are
have:
I have, we have
you have
he/she/it has, they have
apply: I apply, we apply
you apply
he/she/it applies, they apply
can:
I can, we can
you can
he/she/it can, they can
In the following exercises, write in the present tense of each verb:
1. You (be) _____________ eligible for a promotion already.
2. Dave (have) _____________ another telephone line.
3. How (be) _____________ supposed to know when we've reached that point?
4. She (do) _____________ her work quickly and accurately.
5. They (be) _____________ sometimes difficult to deal with.
Getting the verb to agree with the subject in sentences like these is relatively simple. But problems arise when
the sentence is complicated.
Each sentence is made up of at least one clause, a group of words with both a subject and a predicate.
Sentences may also contain phrases, which do not have a subject-predicate set. Notice the difference here:
Clause: he sent an invoice
Clause: because he sent an invoice
Phrase: with an invoice
Phrase: after sending an invoice
The clauses have subjects and predicates; the phrases do not have subjects and predicates.
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English Essentials
A simple sentence has only one clause like the first clause above, but many sentences combine clauses and
phrases, like this:
He sent an invoice, and then he entered the amount in the books.
Because he sent an invoice, he decided not to call T&T Sales.
He presented the client with an invoice.
After sending an invoice, he began another project.
Notice that all the verbs in these examples are in the past tense; in other words, they agree. Only if there were
a good reason for the verbs to be in different tenses would they not agree. For example:
Yesterday she prepared a sales report, today she is listing all her potential clients, and tomorrow she will
call them.
In some sentences with two or more verbs, the helping verbs or the main verbs are sometimes identical. In
that case, the duplicated word or words can be dropped:
Consumers have been saving and (have been) spending.
But do not drop any part of a verb that is not an exact duplicate. For example, this sentence is wrong:
They have not and will not be attending the workshops.
It becomes correct when part of the helping verb is restored:
They have not been and will not be attending the workshops.
Here is another type of agreement problem:
The building is attractive, economical, and has beautiful surroundings.
Because is and has are different and no verb is included with economical, this sentence is awkward. It can be
improved by adding another verb:
The building is attractive, is economical, and has beautiful surroundings.
An even better idea is to change one of the items in the series so that it is the same type of word as the other
two:
The building is attractive, economical, and beautifully situated.
In the following exercises, fill in the correct verb form:
6. They identified the source of the problem, and then they (look) _____________ for ways to solve it.
7. When success (seem) _____________ imminent, he panics.
8. Jason Beaudry never has gone to Europe and probably never (go) _____________.
9. Why (do) _____________ she ignore John when he talks?
10. We (take) _____________ that point into consideration before we decided what to do.
Lesson 5: Parts of Speech: Verb Agreement 185
Another problem of verb agreement relates to the subject (noun or pronoun) of a sentence. The verb should be
in the plural form when the subject is plural. Otherwise, the verb should be singular. When a phrase separates
the subject and the verb, the task of deciding whether to use a singular or plural verb becomes more
complicated. Look at this example:
The analysis of existing documents takes a full week.
Although documents is plural, the verb is in the singular form. That's because the subject of the sentence is
analysis, a singular noun. The phrase of existing documents can be disregarded. Here is another example:
Their answers to the questions are in the minutes.
Take away the phrase to the question and you are left with the plural subject answers. Therefore the verb
takes the plural form.
Circle the correct verb form in the following exercises:
11. Each of the managers turn/turns in a monthly report.
12. The receptionist, not the clerks, take/takes all the calls.
13. Everyone upstairs receive/receives mail before we do.
14. The reasons for her decision sound/sounds logical.
15. All the products sell/sells well.
Verb agreement is also complicated when the subject is not a specific noun or pronoun and when the subject
may be considered either singular or plural. In these cases, you have to analyze the surrounding sentence to
determine which verb form to use. Observe carefully which of the following sentences contain are (plural
form of be) and which contain is (singular form). The noun that controls the verb form is underlined in each
sentence:
The staff is quartered in the warehouse.
The staff are at their desks in the warehouse.
The computers and the staff are in the warehouse.
Neither the staff nor the computers are in the warehouse.
Every computer is in the warehouse.
Many a computer is in the warehouse.
Did you notice that words like every use the singular verb form? In addition, when a neither nor phrase
combines singular and plural nouns, the verb takes the form that matches the noun closest to it.
Circle the correct form of the verb in the following exercises:
16. Brenda and Bill has/have responsibility for the project.
17. Neither the main office nor the branch offices is/are blameless.
18. Each programmer and analyst report/reports to Jennifer.
19. Your whole family enjoy/enjoys credit privileges at Mo's.