Concord: Subject-Verb Agreement

Hello, welcome to Dissecting Grammar. Today, I will like to discuss a very important topic in grammar. I have titled it as “Concord: Subject-Verb Agreement.” Concord is one of the aspects of English grammar that often poses a serious challenge to non native speakers of English language, especially to Nigerian learners of the language. In fact, it is one of the most confused topics in grammar which, indeed, occupies a central place in the grammar of English. One, therefore, needs to master it properly.

What, then, is “concord”?

Concord has to do with agreement between parts of a sentence. For instance, if a subject consists of a noun phrase and it is singular, e.g. ‘the boy’ then, the verb phrase in the same clause also has to be in the singular form, e.g. ‘hits’. So you can now have:
1.  The boy hits the table.

  Not
2. The boy hit the table.
3. The boys hit the table.

       Not
4. The boys hits the table.

I want you to know that plural verbs do not appear with ‘s’ as it is with plural nouns. What this means is that, when a verb is singular, it normally appears with an ‘s’, e.g. ‘hits’ and when it is plural, the ‘s’ disappears, e.g. ‘hit.’ So, we talk of subject – verb concord when there is an agreement between the subject of a sentence and the verb in that sentence.  In (1), the subject of the sentence is ‘the boy’, and it is singular. It agrees with the verb ‘hits’ which is also singular. In the same manner, the subject of the sentence in (3) is ‘the boys’ which is a plural noun. It has to agree with the verb ‘hit’ which is also plural.

As we can see in the sentences above, there is subject-verb agreement in (1) and (3), making them grammatically acceptable, while there is lack of such agreement in the (2) and (4), making them grammatically unacceptable.

The presence of concord is felt in:

Number      Whether a constituent is in singular form or plural form.

Person        Whether a constituent is in 1^st, 2^nd or 3^rd person form.

Gender       Whether a constituent is masculine, feminine or neuter.

Apart from subject- verb concord which is being discussed now, there are other areas or cases of concord which are also very important. They are: Noun-Pronoun Agreement (e.g. Cockroaches are in this room, look at them), Subject-Subject Complement Agreement (e.g. Fayose and Wike are governors), Object-Object Complement Agreement (e.g. we see them as speakers), and Demonstrative-Head Noun Agreement (e.g. this man is a writer). As I mentioned earlier, I will, in this article, focus more attention on Subject – Verb Agreement because it poses a lot of challenges to most people.

You will agree with me that English language, like other languages, is rule governed. For us to understand some basic things in English grammar, we must first acquaint ourselves with the basic rules that govern the use of the grammar. I shall be exploring some of the rules that apply in Subject –Verb Agreement in this piece. Follow me.

1.     Indefinite pronouns like anyone, everyone, someone, no one, and nobody are always singular. They, therefore, require singular verbs.

• Everyone has arrived here.
• Somebody has left her purse.
• Nobody indicates interest to contest for the post.

However, some indefinite pronouns such as all, some are singular or plural depending on what they are referring to. Before you use them, ask yourself the question ‘Is what I am referring to a countable noun or not? Be careful when you choose a verb to accompany such pronouns.

Examples:

• Some of the beads are missing.
• Some of the water is gone.
• All is well.
• All the vehicles were damaged.

2.  Whenever the subject is detached from the verb by some intruding words or phrases like along with, as well as, alongside, besides, not, together with, with, etc., always use the verb that agrees with the subject. If the subject is singular, use a singular verb and vise versa. Try to ignore those intruding words. They are not part of the subject.

• The student as well as his brothers is going home.
•  The lecturers, together with the student, are being punished.
• Aisha, alongside her parents, has arrived.
• The players, not their coach have entered the pitch.

3. Please note that the conjunctions ‘or’ and ‘nor’ do not conjoin (as ‘and’ does). So, whenever ‘nor’ or ‘or’ is used, the subject closer to the verb determines the number of the verb. It does not matter whether the subject comes before or after the verb. What matters here is the proximity, that is, the nearness of the verb to the subject. This proximity determines the number.

Examples:

Neither the students nor their father is here.
Neither the student nor his parents are here.

Take a look at other examples:

·         Are either my brothers or my father responsible?

·         Is either my father or my brothers responsible?

As you can see from the examples above, the verbs agree with the subjects close to them, even when there are other subjects that are still very important.

4. Though it is generally agreed that a plural verb is used when two or more subjects are connected by ‘and’, the case is, however, different when compound nouns are used.

Normal examples:

 A car and a bike are my means of transportation.

Peter and Paul sing beautiful songs.

Now, note these exceptions:

Aiding and abetting  crime is against the law.

The bread and breakfast was charming.

Bread and tea is good for breakfast.

The underlined phrases above are compound nouns, so the traditional rule does not apply.

 5.  Please note, also, that the words ‘there’ and ‘here’ are never subjects. Whenever they begin any sentence, the true subject follows the verb.

Examples:

There are four hurdles to jump.

There is a high hurdle to jump.

Here are the keys.

As can be seen above, the real subjects in the sentences are ‘hurdles’, ‘hurdle’ and ‘keys.’ They follow the verbs but still determine the number of the verbs. This kind of construction is called expletive constructions.

 6.  Always use a singular verb with distances, periods of time, sums of money, etc., when considered as a unit.

Examples:

Three miles is too far to walk.

Twenty one years is the maximum sentence for exam malpractice. 

Ten dollars is a high price to pay.

7. Some collective nouns, such as family, couple, staff, audience, etc., may take either a singular or plural verb, depending on their use in the sentence.

Examples:

The staff is in a meeting.

The couple disagrees about disciplining their child.

               OR

The staff are in a meeting.

The couples disagree about disciplining their child.

Please note that consistency is the watchword here. If you decide to use them as either singular or plural, then you have to stick to the one you use. They must be used accurately and carefully. Also note that the use of ‘staffs’ and ‘couples’ as plural is allowed in American English. Take a look at the following flawed sentence:

The INEC staff is deliberating on how they will tackle the issue of over voting.

It would be wrong to assign the singular ‘is’ and the plural ‘they’ to ‘staff’ in the same sentence. If you feel this rule is stringent to you and you want to escape it, fine. There is a way out. What you need to do is simple.  Try to re-write or re-order the sentence thus:

The members of staff of INEC are deliberating on how they will tackle the issue of over voting.

 8.  Sometimes modifiers will come between a subject and its verb. These modifiers should not confuse the agreement between the subject and its verb.

Example:

The former governor, who has been convicted along with his two sons on four counts of various crimes, is finally going to jail.

9.  If a sentence combines both a positive and a negative subject and one is plural, the other singular, the verb should agree with the positive subject.

 Example:

• The cabinet members, but not the President, have decided not to hold the weekly FEC meeting after Easter holiday.
• It is not the cabinet members, but the president who decides this issue.
• It was the Vice Chancellor, not his ideas, that has provoked the students to riot.

I need to explain this point clearly. In the first example, ‘the cabinet members’ is a positive subject while ‘not the President’ is a negative one. The plural verb, which is ‘have’, has to agree with the positive subject by jumping the subject close to it. This is what happens in both the second and third sentences.

10.The word ‘were’ replaces ‘was’  in sentences that express a wish or are contrary to fact:

Example:

If Abdul were here, you'd be out of the game.

This implies that Abdul is not actually here, so we say ‘were’, not ‘was.’

This sentence demonstrates what is called the subjunctive mood in English. The subjunctive mood is used to express things that are hypothetical, wishful, imaginary, or factually contradictory. The subjunctive mood pairs singular subjects with plural verbs.

Examples:

I wish it were Friday.

She requested that he raise his hand.

11. Some words naturally end in -s and appear to be plural. These words are, in real sense, singular and they require singular verbs.

Examples

• The news about the fight against corruption is good.
• Measles is a dangerous disease.
• Economics is my favourite subject.

Note:  The names of sports teams that do not end in "s" take plural verbs:

Examples:

 Enyimba FC have arrived the camp ahead of the match.

The Bafana Bafana of South Africa are expected to top the group.

I believe you have learnt a lot of things from this article. Your comments and suggestions are welcomed. Hit me up on the comment section here and on the following handles:

Twitter: @godwinowojecho

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Let’s keep the conversation going. Thank you.