Subject Verb Agreement (Class 8th, 9th)

SGJ DAV. SR. SEC. PUB. SCHOOL, HARIpURA

Class – 8^th, 9th Subject - English

Chapter – Subject-Verb Agreement

Brief Synopsis

Verbs must agree with their subject in number and person. We call this Subject-verb concord.

1. When two subjects are joined by ‘and’, the verb is plural.

2. Compound subjects joined by “and”

Ò If there are two or more subjects joined by and, the subject must be plural, so the verb will not get an “s”.

Example

Ò The boy and the girl dance.

(= They dance.)

3. When two nouns convey the same idea or meaning , we also use a singular verb for e.g.

1.Fish and meat is the food of the Bengalis.

2.Rice and curry is my favorite food.

Neither ,either ,each ,everyone , one of the ,much ,little ,less generally takes singular verb e.g.

1.Neither of the two brothers was selected.

2.Either of the two brothers is going.

4. Compound subjects joined by “or”

If there are two or more subjects joined by or, the verb agrees with the part of the subject closest to it.

Examples:

Ò The professor or the students walk the halls.

Ò The students or the professor walks the halls.

Home Assignment :

Ò Mohan and Sohan ________ brothers. (are)

Ò Two and two ________ four. (make)

Ò Milk and Banana ______ my favourite food. (is)

Ò Either you or she ______ broken this slate.(has)

Ò Politics _______ a game of liars. (is)

Ò Each of the players ______ rewarded. (was)

Ò If I _____ a king. (were)

Ò The poet and Philosopher ______ dead. (is)

Ò Slow and steady______ the race. (wins)

Ò One thousand rupees _____ not big amount for this cow. (is)

Ò The whole class ______ absent. (is)

Ò The crew _______ arrested. (is/ was)

Ò Bread and butter ______ my only breakfast. (is)

English