Subject-Verb Agreement: Guidelines and Examples

When relating the subject of a sentence with the main verb, the basic rule is that a singular subject takes a singular verb, while a plural subject takes a plural verb. The difficulty lies in knowing whether the subject and verb are singular or plural.

Here are some specific rules together with examples of usage. Note that this is by no means an exhaustive list.

(1) When the subject of a sentence is composed of two or more nouns or pronouns connected by and, use a plural verb. For example:

The attorney and her assistant are in court today.

(2) Two singular subjects connected by or or nor require a singular verb. For example:

My lawyer or my accountant is attending the meeting today. 

(3) Two singular subjects connected by either/or or neither/nor require a singular verb. For example:

Neither my lawyer nor my accountant is available.

(4) When a singular subject is connected by or or nor to a plural subject, put the plural subject last and use a plural verb. For example:

Your signature as well as those of the other parties go at the bottom of the document. 

(5) In circumstances where the subject is separated from the verb by words such as along with, as well as, besides, or not, disregard these expressions when deciding which verb form to use. For example:

My lawyer, along with my accountant and one of his colleagues, is expected to arrive later. 

(6) Ignore these expressions when determining whether to use a singular or plural verb.

(7) The pronouns each, everyone, every one, everybody, anyone, anybody, someone, and somebody are singular and require singular verbs. For example:

Each of the candidates is capable of the doing the job well.

(8) The phrase the number should be followed by a singular verb, but the phrase a number should be followed by a plural verb. For example:

The number of different companies involved in this process is five.

But:

A number of different companies are involved in this process.

(9) A singular verb should be used with sums of money or time periods. For example:

Five years is a long time to wait for a court hearing.

(10) Nouns ending in ‘s’ normally require plural verbs but not always. The words news, mathematics, and dollars (among others) require singular verbs. For example:

I'm afraid the news is bad.