Do you ever notice some kind of incompatibility in your sentences? When you read your sentences, do you hear a jarring ring that tells you that something's wrong? The problem may be that you have disagreement between your subjects and verbs. To smooth out the situation, all you need to do is be sure that you follow the rule about subject-verb agreement: You must make verbs agree with their subjects in number and in person.

Okay, that's the rule, but what does it mean? The first part (make the verb agree with its subject in number) is just this simple: If you use a singular subject, you have to use a singular verb; if you use a plural subject, you have to use a plural verb. Nothing hard about that, is there?

Well, as you probably suspect, a number of situations can arise to make the rule tricky.

The Problem of Prepositions

One problem comes with using the wrong word as your subject. To keep from making this mistake, remember this hint: Mentally disregard any prepositional phrases that come after the subject. Prepositional phrases will just distract you. Take a look at these sentences:

Since you know to disregard the prepositional phrase of ice cubes, you then have:

Now, you're left with the subject of the sentence (tray). Of course, you would say,

Look at another example:

Again, mentally cross off the prepositional phrase — no matter how long it is — and you have:

You'd have no problem saying “Katie and Matt were walking down Hill-crest Boulevard,” so that lets you know the correct verb to use.

Pinpointing the Pronouns

If an indefinite pronoun is the subject of your sentence, you have to look at the individual pronoun. Sometimes this is a snap, as with the plural pronouns that take a plural verb (both, few, many, others, several). Look at these sentences:

Just as some plural indefinite pronouns are easy to spot, so are some singular indefinite pronouns (another, anybody, anyone, anything, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything, much, neither, no one, nobody, nothing, one, other, somebody, someone, something). The problem with indefinite pronouns is that a few of them are considered to be singular, even though they indicate a plural number (e.g., each, everybody, everyone, everything).

For example:

Now comes a tricky rule: Five pronouns (all, any, most, none, and some) sometimes take a singular verb and sometimes take a plural verb. How do you know which one to use? This is the time — the only time — you break the rule about disregarding the prepositional phrases. Take a look at these sentences:

In each case, you have to look at the object of the preposition (money, people, coworkers, jewelry) to decide whether to use a singular or plural verb.

Seeking Solutions to Some Special Situations

Here are some more oddities of English grammar (as if you haven't seen enough of them already):

The phrase the only one of those uses a singular verb; however, the phrase one of those uses a plural verb. (Is your head spinning?) Maybe these examples will help:

If you have a sentence with every or many a before a word or group of words, use a singular verb. For example:

When the phrase the number is part of the subject of a sentence, it takes a singular verb. When the phrase a number is part of the subject, it takes a plural verb. Look at these sentences:

When the phrase more than one is part of the subject, it takes a singular verb:

Another time that subjects may be singular or plural is with collective nouns. Collective nouns (cast, fleet, or gang) name groups. Use a singular verb if you mean that the individual members of the group act or think together (they act as one unit). Use a plural verb if you mean that the individual members of the group act or think separately (they have different opinions or actions). For example:

(The two people were donating as a unit.)

(The two were cleared separately.)

Still another problem with singular and plural verbs comes with expressions of amount. When the particular measurement or quantity (e.g., of time, money, weight, volume, food, or fractions) is considered as one unit or group, then use a singular verb:

Some nouns look plural but actually name one person, place, or thing, and so they're singular:

(Although fifty states are in the United States, it's one country; therefore, you use a singular verb.)

(Even though six words are in the title, The Everything® Grammar and Style Book is one book; use a singular verb.)

(Economics looks as if it's a plural word, but since it's one subject it needs a singular verb.)

Here's another special situation: When you use the words pants, trousers, shears, spectacles, glasses, tongs, and scissors alone, you use a plural verb:

But put the words a pair of in front of pants, trousers, shears, spectacles, glasses, tongs, or scissors, and then you need a singular verb:

If you think about it, the logic behind the usage is strange since pair means two, and two denotes a plural. Oh, well …

Compounding the Problem: Using Compound Subjects

The first rule in this part is easy. Compound subjects (subjects joined by and) take a plural verb:

Here's an exception: If you have two or more subjects joined by and — and the subjects are thought of as one unit — then use a singular verb.

The second rule is almost as easy. Singular subjects joined by or or nor take a singular verb:

Rule number three is along the same lines as rule number two (and it's also almost as easy as the first rule). Plural subjects joined by or or nor take a plural verb:

Did you notice the word almost in the second and third rules? The first rule was easy; all you had to do was look at subjects joined by and; then use a plural verb. The second and third rules require just a little more thought because you have to be sure that the subjects joined by or or nor are either all singular or all plural:

• If all the subjects are singular, use a singular verb.

• If all the subjects are plural, use a plural verb.

That covers all the examples in which the subjects are the same, but what if you have one singular subject and one plural subject joined by or or nor? Do you use a singular or plural verb? Simple: You go by the subject that's closer to the verb. So you would write:

Or, if you inverted the subjects, you'd write:

Here, There, and Everywhere

Sometimes writers and speakers have a hard time with sentences that begin with here or there. Writing either

or

is fine because if you changed the contractions into the two words each represents, you'd have “Here is the money Vincent owes Regina” and “There is plenty of time left.”

No problem, huh? Now look at these sentences:

Here's the books Marsha and Morris said they'd bring.

There's lots of sandwiches left, so help yourself.

In these examples if you change those contractions, you have “Here is the books Marsha and Morris said they'd bring “ and “There is lots of sandwiches left, so help yourself.” Obviously, you'd never say, “Here is the books” or “There is lots of sandwiches” (you wouldn't, would you?), so the verb form is wrong. Since each of those subjects is plural, you need the plural verb (are).

So the rule is this: If you begin a sentence with here or there and you have a plural subject, be sure to use a plural verb (usually the verb are).

Inside Out

In order to provide originality to their sentence structure or to keep their paragraphs from being too monotonous, good writers often change the word order of their sentences from the normal subject-verb pattern. Instead of writing the sentence as in the first example that follows, you might change the word order and present your sentence as it appears in the second example:

Both sentences have the subject (soldiers) and the verb (came), but the second sentence is written in what is called inverted order — the verb before the subject. The caution here is to be sure that the subject agrees with the verb, no matter in what order you write the sentence.

The same rule holds true for questions and for sentences that begin with here or there:

In both sentences, the normal pattern of subject-verb is reversed. In the first sentence, the subject is friends and the verb is are. In the second sentence, the subject is friends and the verb is go.

Mixed Numbers

If you have a sentence with a plural subject and a singular predicate nominative (or vice versa), use the verb that agrees with the subject, not the predicate nominative. For example:

In the first sentence the subject (present) is singular, so use the singular verb (is). In the second sentence the subject (roses) is plural, so use the plural verb (are).