Subject-Verb Agreement (sv)

Subject-verb agreement is not hard to understand but often hard to remember.  If the subject is he, she, it, or an equivalent noun, the verb, in many tenses, must be in the -s form:

    1.  She needs a tutor.
    2.  John was eating tofu when I saw him.
    3.  It has never been easy to understand Mary.

There are some special cases that are trickier:

Some constructions that are plural in meaning are grammatically  singular:

    4.  Every child deserves love.

In some constructions the verb agrees with the following noun:

    5.  There are many children in need.

The verb usually agrees with the first noun when two nouns are linked with a preposition:

    6.  The flight of stairs was steep.

After "one of" use a plural noun and a singular verb:

    7.  One of the boys is failing math.

Links:

   
     Explanation and exercises:  eslsubverb.html
     Another exercise:  svagreement.html
    Another:  Subject-Verb Agreement
     More advanced:  subject-verb agreement