Subject Verb Agreement

In English, every verb must agree with its subject. This lesson
shows you how to make all your subjects and verbs agree.
First, let’s think about what subjects and verbs are. A verb is an
action. You already know many verbs, like go, walk, play, and
run.

The subject is the person or thing that does the action. Take a
look at this example:

 The girl plays volleyball.

Girl is the subject and plays is the verb. You know to use plays
because the subject is the third person.

When you first started studying English, you used this chart to
learn basic subject verb agreement.

 I play
 You play
 He/She/It plays
 We play
 They play
 I play hockey
 You play hockey.
 She plays hockey.
 We play hockey.
 They play hockey.

But, now you need to learn more difficult situations. The next two
sections show you when subjects are singular and when they are
plural.
Singular Subjects

The categories below are subjects that are singular even though
they may look plural.

INDEFINITE PRONOUNS

All indefinite pronouns are singular. Here is the list:

Someone Somebody Something

No one Nobody Nothing

Everyone Everybody Everything

Anyone Anybody Anything

Here are some examples:

 Someone is dancing.
 Everything is cold.
 Nothing looks new.
 Does anybody want a drink?

Either and Neither

Two subjects joined by “either” or “neither” are singular because
only one of the subjects does the action.
  Either Mary, Eva, or Jaden has the books.
 Neither the green nor the pink book is for math class.

Each and Every

These are more examples of indefinite pronouns that are singular:

 Each of the boys lives in an apartment.

 Every boy and girl in the class is from Japan.

GROUPS

Groups are singular. In the examples below you have one family
and many brothers:

 My family lives in California.

 My brothers live in California.

In the examples, you have one family and many brothers. That is
why family uses the third person verb. Here is a list of common
group words with examples:

Family Team Orchestra Herd Staff Government

Band Class Flock Company Club Group

 My family is going to go on vacation.

 The band plays every Saturday night.

 
GERUNDS AND INFINITIVES

Gerunds and infinitives are one action, so they need singular

verbs.

 Working as a chef is fun.

 To work as a chef is fun.
 Cooking food makes me hungry.

UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

Nouns that are not counted are singular. Here are a few
examples:

 The sugar is in the kitchen.

 The water goes in the refrigerator.

Be careful! Don’t be confused when you have a lot of one

uncountable noun. It is still singular.

 There is a lot of water on the floor.

 Most of the sand is hot.

COMPOUND SUBJECTS

Compound subjects can be considered singular if they act as one

thing.

 Peanut butter and banana is my favourite sandwich.

 Spaghetti and meatballs is for dinner.

 
Plural Subjects

The subjects below are plural even though they may sometimes
seem like they are singular.

SUBJECTS JOINED WITH “AND”

The word and always shows you the subjects are plural, like in
these examples:

 The man and woman are shaking hands. 

 Tom and Carol have a meeting today.

IRREGULAR PLURALS

Not all plurals end in “s”. This is a list of irregular plural words:

Children men women people

police mice feet teeth fish

Here are some examples:

 The children are playing.

 My feet are cold.

Widget not in any sidebars

Exceptions

Some subjects look plural, but they are actually singular.

  Mathematics is a difficult subject
 Ten dollars is not a lot of money.
 The news was on at 9 pm last night.

Look out for phrases that do not affect the subject, especially
prepositional phrases: accompanied by, along with, among,
as well as, in addition to, together with, joined by, or.

 The man, but not his wife, was at the party.

 Tom, along with Bob, is going to the party.
 The coach, in addition to the players, was late for the
game.

The subject closer to the verb affects the verb.

 The teacher or the students are going to bring the

money.
 The students or the teacher is going to bring the money.

Nationalities for people are plural, but languages are singular.

 The Spanish people are very friendly.

 Spanish is an interesting language.

Would you like to practice subject verb agreement?Try these

tests:

Las principales preposiciones de movimiento son:  at, to, into, across,

from, through, between, toward, around, over, along.

At, to. Ambas expresiones se traducen como a o hacia. Como

preposiciones de movimiento, expresan la idea de alcanzar un lugar u
objetivo; de a dónde se dirige la acción:

Yes, I’m going at home.

We will back to school.

Into significa en, y expresa la idea de entrar en algún lugar o de introducir

algo en otra cosa:

When she arrive, she come into the room.

Put the salad into  the bowl.

Across  significa a través de, atravesar:

Harry goes to school across the market.

He was looking for her across the beach.

Through expresa de idea de ir o estar en medio de algo:

That dog ever walk through the traffic.

I love walk through the trees.

Between también significa pasar en medio de algo. Through da la idea de

algo grande, que es parte del camino, mientras que between se refiere a
algo más pequeño, tal vez un obstáculo o algo no permanente, aunque en
términos generales pueden usarse como sinómimos:

Harry must pass between a meeting.

We need to cross between  the cars

From se traduce desde, y como preposición de movimiento, indica un

contexto de desplazamiento desde un punto de origen:

Jake comes from France, only to see you.

I walk to my job from my home.

Around  es una preposición que nos transmite la idea de movimiento

alrededor de algo. Aunque en primera impresión pareciera referirse un
movimiento circular, también puede interpretarse como “car una vuelta” o
“´pasear en las cercanías”:

The Earth spins around it’s own axe.

James was walking around the school until was opening hour.

Over significa sobre, encima de, y expresa la idea de pasar sobre o atrasar

algo:

The dog jump over the fence.

Along significa a lo largo. Sirve para referirse a algo que está o que sucede
a lo largo de un trayecto:

Along the way was too many corn fields.

The kids play in the car along the road.

Up expresa la idea de un movimiento hacia arriba:

The prophet goes up the mountain.

Help me to pick up the baggage.

Down en cambio, expresa la idea de un movimiento hacia abajo:

Joan take down his pictures.

Wait, I bring down my album.

10 ejemplos de oraciones con preposiciones de movimiento en

inglés:

I was slept along the boulevard.

We come from Australia.

Sara entered into her house.

We passed between two mountains.

Your sister is walking down the street.

I sailed over the seas only to find you.

We pass our vacations in a house with a road through the forest.

Mary, help me to pick up this picture.

My brother came across the square.

They must go to school at Raccoon City.