SUBJECT AND VERB AGREEMENT
4 SUBJECT AND VERB AGREEMENT
Subjects in English have certain features in common with verbs. his relationship is usually referred to in English grammar as concord or agreement. And the most important agreement between grammatical units in English occurs between singular subjects and singular verbs, and plural subjects and plural verbs. his type of concord, which is a source of trouble for many learners of English, occurs when the verb is in the present tense. he following examples show grammatical concord, i.e., the verbs formally agree with the number (singular or plural) of their subjects:
Irish budget airline Ryanair reports an increase in annual proit of 23%. (BBC) Asian leaders agree nuclear pact. (BBC headline)
he leaders have met on an informal basis for a decade. (BBC) hailand has been trying to boost growth after civil unrest last year. (BBC)
he election is expected to be closely fought. (BBC) New promises are being made in election campaign literature. (BBC)
he inal votes were being counted. (BBC)
he eruption was on a diferent scale to the one in Iceland last year. (BBC)
But in today’s English, the rules determining grammatical concord are not enough. Learners must be made aware that we have other types of concord, namely notional concord and concord of proximity. In notional concord the verb agrees with the singular or plural meaning of the subject and not its form. In concord of proximity, the verb agrees with the singular or plural noun that is nearest to it. Note the following examples:
he government describes them as independent, state-funded schools. (BBC)
he US government have deemed the BBC worthy recipients of the money due to their ability to reach a broad base across the globe. (NewStatesman)
he family have got a new song to reveal their Christmas wishes. (BBC) His family have been informed. (BBC) Family Works to Prove Its Ties to Jeferson (NY Times headline)
he Assad family has ruled Syria for 40 years. (AP) In the following, the verb agrees with the number (singular or plural) of the nearby noun:
Hunger strikes harm no one except the person who denies food to themselves. Hunger strikes harm no one except the persons who deny food to themselves.
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One major source of diiculty for learners of English regarding subject and verb agreement is the tendency to apply the rule of concord or proximity to the nearby noun instead of the head noun in a complex noun phrase. Many of these errors occur when the verb in the sentences they write is far removed from its subject and one or several other nouns intervene. In dealing with sentences like these, learners usually fail to identify the subject or the main noun. Note the following examples:
Workers at Honda plants take 14 days of.
A worker at Honda plants takes 14 days of.
he exercises in this book include several tips on how to avoid these errors. his chapter speciically deals with erroneous samples containing such errors.
EXERCISE Here are some examples of the most frequent subject and verb agreement errors English
language learners may make when writing English along with the necessary tips on how to correct them:
4.1 One important tip is that the verb agrees with the head noun of the main noun phrase. In the following example, the head noun is use and not properties:
he use of properties are important. Q
he use of properties is important. R
4.2 Two successive names coordinated by and are treated like a plural noun, i.e. they agree with a plural verb. he sentence below is a bit hard to read mainly because it starts with what. It is not wrong to use what for non-question sentences provided they are short and clear:
What Lave and Wenger points out to be important when building a CoP is that learning should be situated and contextual. Q Lave and Wenger (year of publication of the book or journal is necessary in academic writing) point out that it is important to situate and contextualize learning when building
a CoP. R
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4.3 Here is a sentence which is too long. At the same time it has an error in agreement. For better reading, I irst advise that you divide the sentence into two parts and then correct the error related to subject and verb agreement:
As the delimitations for the change and the speciications of goals inluences the possibilities for results and ergonomic improvements in diferent ways there is a need to discuss the underlying assumptions for the change efort with arrangement involved. Q Change delimitations and goal speciications inluence the possibilities of improving ergonomic results. hus, there is a need to discuss the underlying assumptions for change. R
4.4 Here is another example of lack of agreement. Remember the verb agrees with the head of the noun phrase; in this case picture. For better reading, try to bring the agent Eakin to the beginning of the sentence. he shift in the position of the agent solves the problem and makes reading easier:
A striking picture of the main components in these attitudes were described by Eakin (1992). Q
A striking picture of the main components in these attitudes was described by Eakin (1992). R Eakin (1992) gives a striking picture of the main components in these attitudes. R
4.5 Always remember that the verb agrees with the main noun or the head of the noun phrase, which is factors in the following sentence:
he factors in the equation ofers no proof. Q
he factors in the equation ofer no proof. R
4.6 It is sometimes diicult to tell which is the head noun when the noun phrase is very long. In the following sentence, the noun phrase, written in bold, is 11 words with three nouns of which chapters is the head:
hese chapters which are concluded in a number of research questions represents the framework for the thesis. Q hese chapters, concluded in a number of research questions, represent the framework of the thesis. R
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4.7 Identifying the head of a noun phrase is very important to address pitfalls in subject- verb agreement in English. One main clue is that the noun immediately preceding the preposition in a complex noun phrase is usually the head noun. parts in the noun phrase written in bold is the head noun and immediately precedes the preposition of:
In this chapter the brand concept and parts of its history is presented. Q In this chapter the brand concept and parts of its history are presented. R
4.8 he following sentence is hard to read, partly because of the way that and what are used. Also, note that the sentence has two errors in agreement between subject and verb:
he following quote suggest a very basic logic for understanding marketing communications towards industrial customers that does not proclaim limits for what tools are useful. Q
he following quote suggests a basic logic for the understanding of marketing communication with industrial customers that sets no limit for the tools they see as useful. R
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