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Subject-Verb Agreement (A final -s or -es is added to a noun to make the…
Subject-Verb Agreement
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A final -s or -es is added to a simple present verb when the subject is a singular noun or third person singular pronoun.
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Exception: Every and each are always followed immediately by singular nouns. In this case, even when there are two (or more) nouns connected by and, the verb is singular.
Every man, woman, and child needs love.
Each book and magazine is listed in the bibliography.
Sometimes a phrase or clause separates a subject from its verb. These interrupting structures do not affect basic agreement.
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In most expressions of quantity, the verb is determined by the noun that follows of.
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One of, each of, and every one of take singular verbs.
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Subjects with none of used to be considered singular in very formal English, but plural verbs are often used in informal English and sometimes even in formal writing.
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"The number" is the subject.
"A number of" is an expression of quantity meaning "a lot of". It is followed by a plural noun and plural verb.
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Sometimes a proper noun that ends in -s is singular.
In the examples, if the noun is changed to a pronoun, the singular pronoun it is used because the noun is singular.
The United States is big.
The Philippines consists of more than 7,000 islands.
The United Nations has its headquarters in New York City.
Harrods is a department store.
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Certain illnesses that end in -s are singular: diabetes, measles, mumps, rabies, rickets, shingles.
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Expressiones of time, money, and distance usually require a singular verb.
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People, police, cattle, and fish do not end in -s, but they are plural nouns in the example sentences and require plural verbs.
Those people are from Canada.
The police have been called.
Cattle are domestic animals.
Fish live under water.