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Subject Verb agreement is the most commonly tested question type on the GMAT.
Every sentence has a subject and a verb which must agree in number.
The GMAT tries to make the subject of sentence as confusing as possible, so that you do not know whether the
subject is singular or plural.
The key to making subjects and verbs agree in GMAT sentence is to first determine whether the subject of
each sentence (or clause) is singular or plural.
There are two important review points pertaining to the Subject-Verb agreement
There are three types of interrupters commonly placed between the subject and the verb.
Appositives: Appositives are nouns, pronouns, or noun phrases that are placed next to nouns to further
describe them.
Consider this Sentence: [i]The concert, featuring the Oak City Bango Kings, begin at 7.00.
Here the phrase featuring the oak.kings describes the subject The Concert. The sentence tries to
confuse us by ending the phrase with the plural kings.
To avoid such confusion, omit the part between commas, and the error will immediately become
obvious.
Correct: The concert, featuring the Oak City Bango Kings, begins at 7.00
[ii] Relative Clauses: A part of the sentence preceded by relative pronoun modifying the antecedent.
Incorrect: The Spanish artist, who is one of the worlds leading exponents of salsa and is known to have
taught thousands of students, are living in exile.
Here the relative clause ends with the plural students confusing us whether to use are or is. We should
note that the main subject is Artist and main verb must agree with it.
Correct: The Spanish artist, who is one of the worlds leading exponents of salsa and is known to have
taught thousands of students, is living in exile.
[iii] Prepositional Phrases: Phrases beginning with preposition and ending with noun/pronoun modify
the first word (a noun or verb) in the relationship.
Incorrect: The Animals in the zoo is hungry.
The subject is the plural Animals, so the verb must be the plural are.
Correct: The Animals in the zoo are hungry.
[2] By putting Additives after subject.
In English, only the word "and" can give a plural subject. All other phrases (such as as well as,
including, in addition to) merely add extra information to the subject.
So when you see the sentence like one below, do not fall in to the trap. Eliminate the additive
phrase and then check Subject-verb agreement.
Incorrect: John, as well as his friend, are coming for dinner
Correct: John, as well as his friend, is coming for dinner.
Incorrect: Mathematics, in addition to history and science, are a required subject.
Correct: Mathematics, in addition to history and science, is a required subject.
Correct: Mathematics, history, and science, are required subjects.
Some common Additives:
in addition to
along with
as well as
together with
including
IMPORTANT NOTE: In the following two cases, even though two subjects are connected
by and they will be considered singular subject.
Case 1: If the parts refer to the same person or thing, or works as a single unit, then the verb
should be singular
e.g. Strawberries and cream is a high calorie snack.
Case 2: If the compound subject is preceded by each or every (thus referring to each subject
individually), then the verb should be singular
e.g. Every freshman and transfer student is required to take student life.
A hint is to look at the word that follows the verb. If this word is singular, the verb most probably
will be singular. For example, in the sentence in Case 1, the singular word snack follows is and this
implies that strawberries and cream is a singular subject.
[3] Either or / Neither nor.
In either..or and neither ..nor structure, the verb always agree with the subject that is closer to it.
e.g. Neither the president nor his cabinet members are in Washington this week.
e.g. Neither the cabinet members nor the president is in Washington this week.
IMPORTANT NOTE: When either or neither is used in a sentence without the or or nor, then the
verb has to be singular.
e.g. Neither of johns friends is here.
[4] Collective Nouns.
A collective or group noun identifies a single entity that is composed of more than one unit: class,
team, faculty, majority, family, series, committee, audience, crowd.
Collective nouns are singular when they act as one unit.
e.g. The committee meets Friday at noon.
e.g. A majority is needed to pass the bill.
But if the context of the sentence emphasizes the individual members of the group, collective
nouns are plural.
e.g. The committees meet each Friday at noon.
NOTE: On the GMAT, collective nouns are almost always considered singular and therefore
require singular verb forms. (Reference :- (1) Aristotle SC Grail, 3rd Edition, Page No 55.
(2) MGMAT SC Guide 4th Edition, Page No 40.)
[5] Commonly confused singular subjects.
Each/Every
Anyone/Everyone/Someone
Anybody/Everybody/Somebody
Anything/Everything/Something
Whoever/Whatever
Either/Neither (unless accompanied with or/nor)
Nobody/Nothing/No one
NOTE: each following a subject has no bearing on the verb form.
e.g. They each are great tennis players
[6] The number/A number
The number is singular: The number of acres destroyed by wildfires has increased dramatically over
the past several years.
A number is plural: A number of students are standing outside the office.
[7] Quantity Words and Phrases
When discussing fractions or percentages, always get the verb to agree with the subject after the
preposition. This is an exception to the preposition rule discussed earlier.
e.g. Half of the money is stolen
e.g. Half of the books are stolen
IMPORTANT NOTE: Majority by itself is singular but when majority refers to a set of people it is
plural.
e.g. A majority is always right.
e.g. A majority of students are right.
[8] Subject Phrases and Clauses: Always Singular
Sometimes the subject of a sentence is an -Ing phrase or even a whole clause. This sort of subject
is always singular and requires a singular verb form.
Examples:
Having good friends is a wonderful thing.
Whatever they want to do is fine with me.
Delivering pizzas is not a glamorous job, but it pays my bills.
[9] Indefinite Pronouns
Most of the indefinite pronouns are considered singular except for SANAM pronouns
SANAM: Some, all, none, any, most.
In case of SANAM pronoun, it can be singular or plural depending on the context of the sentence.
e.g. Some of the students are in the class.
e.g. Some of the water is in the glass.
[10] Inverted Sentences
Usually in a sentence the subject always precedes the verb, but sometimes the GMAT can reverse
this order, so that the verb comes before the subject.
Incorrect: Through the Golden Eagle Bridge passes thousands of vehicles every day.
In the above sentence, the singular verb passes is not referring to the singular Golden Eagle
Bridge but to the plural thousands of vehicles. Hence, the correct verb will be the plural pass.
Correct: Through the Golden Eagle Bridge pass thousands of vehicles every day.
Summing Up All