Does the subject agree with the verb?

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 677.

The subject (S) and the verb (V) must agree in person and number.

___________________ S_____________________ _V_

Entertainment, personal care, or college supplies are optional expenses for a student.

Note the following subject-verb agreement rules:

a. A prepositional phrase does not affect the verb.

__S__ _____V______

All sources of money in the budget have been listed.

b. The following expressions do not affect the verb:

__________S____________ _V_

Allowance and part-time jobs, along with interest on savings, are money resources.

c. Subjects joined by “and” or “both ... and ...” take a plural verb.

Both rent payment and hire purchase installments are
fixed expenses.

d. When “several”, “many”, “both” and “few” are used as pronouns, they take a plural verb.

Several keep track of their actual income and expenses for a month.

e. When the following phrases are used, the verb agrees with the subject that is closer to the verb in the sentence: either ... or, neither ... nor, not only ... but also.

Neither rent nor transportation costs have been included into the
list of spending.

f. When a word indicating nationality refers to a language, it is singular. When it refers to people, it is plural.

Japanese was a difficult language for me to learn.

The Japanese are very inventive people.

g. When clauses, infinitives or gerunds are used as subjects, they usually take a singular verb.

What it takes is not worth money or effort.

Investing in capital resources is wise.

h. Some words are often confused by students as being plural. The following words must be followed by singular verbs and pronouns in formal written English.

Either and neither are singular if they are not used with or and nor.

Everybody who has not sorted an import licence should apply for it.

If either of you takes a leave now, we will not be able
to complete the task.