G6 Subject-Verb Agreement
subject The part of a clause that identifies who or what is being discussed.
verb A word or phrase that expresses action or being and, along with a subject, is a basic component of a sentence.
person The form of a word that shows whether it refers to I or we (first person), to you (second person), or to he, she, it, or they (third person).
number The form of a word that shows whether it refers to one thing (singular) or more than one (plural): parent, parents; child, children.
Use subjects and verbs that agree in person and number. Agreement problems often occur when a sentence has a complicated subject or verb, especially when the subject and verb are separated by other words.
The plural subject, amounts, requires a plural verb, are. (See also R2-a to check the correct forms of be and other irregular verbs.)