Hello! In our last lesson, we explored correlative conjunctions and touched upon an important grammar rule: subject-verb agreement. We saw how with either/or and neither/nor, the verb agrees with the subject closest to it. Today, we're going to dive deeper into this topic and tackle a common challenge in writing.
Our focus will be on making sure your subjects and verbs agree even when they are separated by other words or phrases. These "intervening phrases" can sometimes be confusing, but by the end of this lesson, you'll have a clear strategy to identify the true subject of a sentence and make your verbs match perfectly, making your writing much more precise and professional.
The Challenge: Phrases Between the Subject and Verb
The basic rule of subject-verb agreement is simple: a singular subject takes a singular verb, and a plural subject takes a plural verb.
- The cat sleeps. (Singular)
- The cats sleep. (Plural)
However, sentences are often more complex. Writers add descriptive phrases to provide more information. When these phrases come between the subject and the verb, it can become tricky. Your ear might get confused by a noun in the descriptive phrase that is closer to the verb.
For example:
The box of chocolates is on the table.
The subject here is "box" (singular), not "chocolates" (plural). Therefore, the verb must be the singular "is," not "are." The phrase "of chocolates" is the intervening phrase—it adds detail, but it doesn't change the subject.
The Strategy: Isolate the Subject
The key is to learn how to ignore these intervening phrases. Test makers and complex sentences often use this structure to trip you up. A great strategy is to mentally "bracket off" or remove the phrase that comes between the subject and the verb.
Let's watch a video that explains this common trick and how to handle it.
ACT Subject Verb Agreement - This Comes Up a Lot!
This video from Magoosh explains how phrases are intentionally placed between subjects and verbs to make sentences more difficult. It offers a very practical way to deal with them.
Focus on the first part of the video, from the main explanation. The instructor shows how to find the real subject by removing the extra information (prepositional phrases and other clauses) that gets in the way. Notice how he crosses out the phrases to simplify the sentence.
As the video demonstrates, if you can get rid of the "noise" between the subject and verb, the correct verb choice often becomes obvious.
Applying the Strategy to Complex Sentences
This strategy works for all kinds of intervening phrases, including prepositional phrases (like "of books"), appositive phrases (which rename a noun), and clauses that add extra detail.
Let's watch another video that gives excellent examples of how to apply this rule in more advanced sentences. This will be very useful for your creative writing.
Subject-Verb Agreement in English | Part 7: Advanced Rules
This video from Sparkle English provides clear, complex examples and directly compares sentences to show how intervening phrases work.
Pay close attention to the section on phrases between subjects and verbs. The instructor explains why "The director, along with the actors, is attending..." is correct. Also, focus on the example "The pile of books... belongs to Sarah." This demonstrates how to find the true singular subject ("pile") and ignore the plural noun ("books") in the phrase.
The key idea is that words like along with, as well as, and in addition to do not make a subject plural in the way that the word and does. The true subject remains the noun that comes before these phrases.
- The captain, along with his crew, was exhausted. (Subject: captain)
- The captain and his crew were exhausted. (Compound subject: captain and crew)
A Simple Trick: "Cross Out" the Phrase
To make this even more practical, you can use a simple mental trick: whenever you see a prepositional phrase after a subject, just "cross it out" to see the core sentence.
Let's look at this strategy in more detail.
Subject Verb Agreement, High School, High School, Language Arts, English
This guide explains a very effective and simple method for ensuring subject-verb agreement: physically or mentally crossing out the prepositional phrase that separates the subject and verb.
Read the section that begins with this key rule. Then, follow the examples provided. Pay attention to how the author explains the example: "The school...receives." This shows exactly how crossing out "of students" makes the correct verb choice clear.
Creative Writing Task
Now, let's put this into practice. Imagine you're editing a paragraph from a friend's short story about a mysterious neighbor. Your job is to find and correct the three subject-verb agreement errors.
The Draft Paragraph:
The list of his strange habits grow longer every day. The old man, who owns dozens of antique clocks, live all alone. One of his cats, a black one with bright green eyes, often sit on the fence and watch me.
Take a moment to read the paragraph carefully. Identify the true subject in each sentence, cross out the intervening phrases in your mind, and then choose the correct verb.
...
Corrections and Explanations:
Here is the corrected version of the paragraph:
The list of his strange habits grows longer every day.
Explanation: The subject is "list" (singular), not "habits." The phrase "of his strange habits" is the intervening phrase.
The old man, who owns dozens of antique clocks, lives all alone.
Explanation: The subject is "man" (singular). The clause "who owns dozens of antique clocks" describes the man but is not the subject.
One of his cats, a black one with bright green eyes, often sits on the fence and watch me.
Explanation: The subject is "One" (singular). The phrase "of his cats" and the description "a black one with bright green eyes" are extra information.
Notice how much clearer and more professional the writing becomes with the correct grammar!
Conclusion
Great job today! You've tackled one of the most common grammar hurdles in English writing. By learning to look past the intervening phrases, you can ensure your subjects and verbs always agree, making your sentences strong and clear.
Here are the key takeaways:
- A verb must always agree in number with its true subject.
- Phrases that come between the subject and the verb (intervening phrases) do not change the subject's number.
- A powerful strategy is to mentally "cross out" or ignore these phrases to see the core sentence and choose the correct verb.
In our next lesson, we'll continue to refine your sentences by learning how to apply parallel structure. This means making sure that items in a list or series have the same grammatical form, a technique that creates rhythm and elegance in your writing.