Subject/Verb Agreement Questions | Grammar & Writing: Question Types

Introduction

Subject/verb agreement on the CLT could also be called “singular/plural agreement.” Questions in this category invariably ask you to identify whether the verb’s subject is singular or plural. Once you have determined the nature of the subject, don’t forget this added feature of English: while -s on the end of a word pluralizes a noun, it actually “singularizes” a verb. Think about the verb “to love” and conjugate the verb completely, starting with “I love”, then “you love”, etc. Where do you see the singular form? Only in the third-person singular, with a subject of he, she, or it. This form is really what you need to know for CLT subject/verb agreement questions; either the answer will be a third-person singular with “-s” that the test will try to disguise a plural form, or it will be a plural form that the context might deceptively make you think is actually singular with “-s”. Read on to learn more and practice!

Approach Question

Should you leave the sentence below as it is or opt for one of the three alternatives listed in the answer choices?

The students, all crowded around the phone of their class president, watch the viral video.

A. NO CHANGE
B. watches
C. watching
D. was watching

This example involves a classic distraction used by standardized tests: putting lots of words between the subject and verb of a sentence. Your study of punctuation should remind you that the part between the commas can be lifted out (think Handlebar Rule) so you can see the subject more clearly. The subject is not “phone” or “president” (for those nouns are not in the central part of the sentence and do not point to those doing the watching).

Once we realize that the subject of the “watching” happening here is “students”, the answer becomes clearer. Is it “students watch,” “students watches,” or “students was watching”? (It can’t be “students watching” because we need a main verb for this sentence and an “-ing” form can’t be our main verb. Hopefully “students watch” sounds best to you; notice that there is not an “-s” on the end of the verb; according to what was said above in the introduction, that means we have a plural verb. And since “students” is plural, that’s exactly what we want. The answer is NO CHANGE.

General Strategy

Identify the subject and verb.

First, isolate the subject and verb of the sentence. Ignore intervening phrases that do not affect agreement.
Example: The pack of wolves was howling at the moon.

(Subject: pack, which is singular; → singular verb: was)

Try this question now.

Should you leave the sentence below as it is or opt for one of the three alternatives listed in the answer choices?

If you leave your food out in the open at the beach, an eager flock of seagulls peck at it in no time.

A. NO CHANGE
B. pecked
C. pecks
D. has pecked

(spoiler)

Everything rides on the identification of the subject in this case. Is it “flock” or “seagulls”? It’s a tricky question because our mind’s eye no doubt shows us seagulls doing the pecking. But if we apply the rule that the subject of a sentence cannot be located in a prepositional phrase, we see that something following “of” won’t work. The subject is “flock”, which is singular.

Remember that a present verb form ending in “s” is actually singular, so “pecks” is an option, as is “has pecked.” NO CHANGE is out since “peck” is a plural form, and the past tense “pecked” doesn’t fit with the time of the verb. Between the two singular choices, we choose “pecks” over “has pecked” because the sentence lacks an action starting in the past. The sentence is simply present tense through and through. The answer is C.

Handle compound subjects carefully.

When two subjects are joined by “and,” they usually take a plural verb. Exceptions include when they form a single idea.
Example: The president and the vice president are in the Oval Office.
Example: Spaghetti and meatballs is a classic dish. (Singular idea)

Account for intervening phrases.

Example: There are several reasons for this mistake.

Try this question now.

Should you leave the sentence below as it is or opt for one of the three alternatives listed in the answer choices?

The Pritzker Architecture Prize, for which only living architects are eligible, awarded for “talent, vision, and commitment.”

A. NO CHANGE
B. was awarded
C. is awarded
D. are awarded

(spoiler)

The intervening clause, which introduces the plural form “architects”, is just a distraction when it comes to subject-verb agreement in this phrase. If we identify the main verb as some form of “awarded”, we can see that “Pritzker Prize” must be the subject. That allows us to rule out “are awarded.”

Simply using “awarded” can’t work, because the sentence would then lack a full main verb. So we once again choose the singular form, and again we opt for present tense over past, as the sentence calls for present tense. The answer is C.

If the verb comes before the noun, keep reading until you find the noun.

Words between the subject and verb, like prepositional phrases or appositives, do not change the agreement.
Example: The leader of the teams is arriving soon.

Pronouns like “everyone” and “each” are always singular.

Example: Each of the players is prepared.

Try this question now.

Should you leave the sentence below as it is or opt for one of the three alternatives listed in the answer choices?

Everyone who follows the life of Harriet Tubman and other conductors on the Underground Railroad are inevitably amazed by their course.

A. NO CHANGE
B. is
C. were
D. have been

(spoiler)

“Everyone” is a tricky subject because it sounds plural; it certainly refers to more than one person. But grammatically it is singular. That leaves us with only one option here: “is”. Notice that we can quickly rule out all three wrong answers because they share the characteristic of being plural. The answer is B.

For Reflection

Rate the difficulty of CLT Subject/Verb Agreement questions for you from 1 (no problem) to 5 (problem!). This will help you decide how much time to spend preparing for this passage.
Are there words that you find confusing to identify whether they are singular or plural? Look out for these sorts of words as you read in general, making special note of them.
Do you need to add anything to your grammar flashcards from this lesson–perhaps the rule about prepositional phrases never containing a sentence’s subject?