thumbnail Subject-Verb Agreement thumbnail

Make subjects and verbs agree

In the present tense, verbs agree with their subjects in number (singular or plural) and in person (first, second, or third).  The present-tense ending -s is used on a verb of its subject is theird-person singular; otherwise the verb takes no ending.  Consider, for example, the present tense forms of the verb give:

                                                   SINGULAR                                        PLURAL

FIRST PERSON                        I give                                                  we give

SECOND PERSON                 you give                                              you give

THIRD PERSON                     he/she/it gives                                    they give
                                                    Yolanda gives                                    parents give

    The verb be varies from this pattern, and unlike any other verb it has special forms in boththe present and the past tense.

PRESENT-TENSE                                           PAST-TENSE
FORMS OF BE                                                 FORMS OF BE

I am                  we are                                       I was                  we were
you are             you are                                     you were            you were
he/she/it is       they are                                    he/she/it was     they were

    Problems with subject-verb agreement tend to arise in certain tricky contexts, which are detailed in this section.

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The material found in "Reading and Writing Central" came from:

Hacker, Diana.  A Pocket Style Manual.  New York:  Bedford/St. Martin's.  2000.