Chapter 40: Subject-Verb Agreement

CHAPTER 40
Subject-Verb Agreement

CONNECT: How can you determine which verb forms to use with which subjects? 39a, 40a

CREATE: Start a log to record any subject-verb agreement issues that you have found (or that others have identified) in your writing.

REFLECT: Write or record a reflection about the subject-verb agreement questions you find most puzzling. When do you think subject-verb agreement is most and least important?

IN EVERYDAY TERMS, the word agreement refers to an accord of some sort: friends agree to go to a movie; the United States and Russia negotiate an agreement about reducing nuclear arms. In most sentences, making subjects and verbs agree is fairly simple; only a few subject-verb constructions cause confusion.