Verbs: Agreement and Challenges
Agreement of Verbs
Before You Begin: What Is a Subject?
Before you get started with this lesson, you'll need to understand what a subject is. Every complete sentence has a subject (person or thing) and a verb (action). The subject is the person or thing that does the action in a sentence.

EXAMPLE
Sandra raced across the finish line. Sandra is the subject. She is the person who raced.
Kelly is getting his driver's license next week. Kelly is the subject. He's the one getting a driver's license.

Subject-Verb Agreement
Whether you're writing or speaking, it's important to use the verb form that matches with a sentence's subject. This is called subject-verb agreement. In the present tense for example, singular nouns and plural nouns each require a different verb form.

EXAMPLE
One bird flies across the sky.
Two birds fly across the sky.

Keep in mind that subject-verb agreement usually only matters in tenses that use the present, such as the simple present, present perfect, and present progressive. That's because the present has two forms while most other tenses only have one. Let's compare the simple present and simple past tenses.

EXAMPLE
To Run
Subject	Present	Past
I, you, we, and they	run	ran
he, she, and it	runs	ran

You can see that to run has two present tense forms but only one past tense form. The same is true for most other verbs.

The Exception: To Be
You've probably noticed by now that the verb to be is often the exception to the rule, and this case is no different. It's the only verb that has two past tense forms, so you'll have to pay extra attention to it.

EXAMPLE
He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
They were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Beware of Contractions
Contractions can throw people off when it comes to subject-verb agreement, so let's break one of them down.

Does + not = doesn't
Do + not = don't

Subject	Verb
I, you, we, and they	don't
he, she, and it	doesn't

Agreement: Subjects with And, Or, or Nor
Subjects and verbs must agree with each other in number—if the subject is singular, the verb will be singular, and if the subject is plural, the verb will be plural.

Sounds easy, right? But sometimes it's hard to decide which type of verb to use.

One challenge you'll encounter is when two nouns or pronouns are connected by the word and. Sometimes you'll need a plural verb, but other times you'll need a singular verb.

Use Plural Verbs for Compound Subjects
Some sentences have two or more subjects joined by the word and. This is called a compound subject, and it always requires a plural verb.

EXAMPLE
My mother and father both come home from work at the same time.
Red, orange, and blue are my favourite colours.

Use a Singular Verb When And Joins Two Nouns That Make One Object
When and joins two nouns to make a single object, use a singular verb.

EXAMPLE
Macaroni and cheese is my favourite food. It's not that macaroni is one of my favourites and cheese is my other. Macaroni and cheese is the name of a single dish.

Subjects Joined by Or or Nor
If two subjects are joined by 'or' or 'nor', you match the verb to the last subject in the list.

EXAMPLE
My parents or my sister is in the kitchen.
My sister or my parents are in the kitchen.
Neither my parents nor my sister is in the kitchen.

Agreement: Collective Nouns
Collective nouns name a group, so it can be difficult to tell whether to use a singular or plural verb. In American English, these nouns are typically singular, but sometimes they can be plural if you're referring to the individuals in the group rather than the group as a whole.

When the group acts as a whole, use a singular verb.

EXAMPLE
My family is going to Germany for Christmas. The whole family is acting as one group. They're all going to Germany together at the same time.

When the members of the group act as individuals, use a plural verb.

EXAMPLE
My family usually buy their clothes at Jerry's Fine Fashions. The individual family members are acting separately. They all buy their own clothes at different times.

Hint:
Pay attention to your pronouns, too. If you use a singular verb, use a singular pronoun; if you use a plural verb, use a plural pronoun. Let's take another look at our second example above.

EXAMPLE
My family usually buy their clothes at Jerry's Fine Fashions.

Notice how both buy and their are plural. It would be incorrect to say My family buy its clothes or My family buys their clothes.

Agreement: Nouns that End in s
Some nouns end in s even though they are considered singular. These include words such as mathematics, civics, measles, news, physics, mumps, and molasses.

EXAMPLE
My family usually buy their clothes at Jerry's Fine Fashions.

Other nouns that end in s, such as scissors, acoustics, pants, trousers, and shorts, are plural and always take a plural verb.

EXAMPLE
These scissors are mine. Josh's pants are getting too short.

Note:
 If the phrase pair of comes before a noun ending in s, always use a singular verb, even if the noun is usually plural.

EXAMPLE
This pair of pants fits perfectly.

There are some nouns ending in s that can be singular or plural. Some examples are series, species, means, chassis, corps, and headquarters.

EXAMPLE
This species of fish lives in freshwater. (just one species)
These species of fish live in saltwater. (many species)

Agreement: Titles of Creative Works
Sometimes a publication or movie, or a work of literature, art, or music has a plural noun or pronoun in the title. This makes it seem like you should use a plural verb, but if you're talking about only one work, use a singular verb.

EXAMPLE
The New York Times has been around since 1851.
The Hunger Games is my favorite book.
The song Jingle Bells was written in 1850.
Irises is a famous painting by Vincent van Gogh.

Don't let words like games and bells confuse you. Each of the sentences above talks about only one publication, book, song, or painting, so use a singular verb.

Agreement: Proper Nouns Different types of proper nouns follow different agreement rules.

Names of Companies and Organizations
Organization and company names are similar to collective nouns, and they typically take singular verbs even though they refer to a group.

EXAMPLE
The World Health Organization has worked hard to eradicate smallpox.
Toyota builds very reliable cars.

Team Names
After reading all of this information about collective nouns, you might think that you can use a singular noun with specific team names, but they actually require plural verbs.

EXAMPLE
The New England Patriots have been to the Superbowl ten times.
The Miami Heat were in the NBA playoffs in 2018.

The only exception is when you use a team's city name instead of their team name. In this case, you always use a singular verb.

EXAMPLE
Vancouver has never won the Stanley Cup.

Musical Groups
If a musical group's name is singular, use a singular verb. If the name is plural, use a plural verb.

EXAMPLE
Maroon 5 has released six platinum albums.
Twenty One Pilots have spent 140 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 list.

Geographic Names Ending in s
Geographic locations ending in s usually follow the same rule. Occasionally, however, you'll use a plural verb when you're referring to a region's separate states, provinces, or islands. Let's take a look at the examples below to get a better grasp of this concept.

This sentence refers to the United Arab Emirates as a one country, not as individual emirates. (Emirates are similar to states or provinces.)

EXAMPLE
The United Arab Emirates is located in Western Asia.

Here, we're referring to the separate emirates, not to the country as a whole.

EXAMPLE
The United Arab Emirates form a single government.

In this sentence, the Cayman Islands is a single location. The Cayman Islands is the official name. We're not referring to the populations of the individual islands.

EXAMPLE
The Cayman Islands has a population of approximately 60,765.

This sentence refers to each of the three Cayman islands separately, not to the territory as a whole.

EXAMPLE
The Cayman Islands are known for their beauty.

Challenging Verbs: Lie/Lay
Lie: to lie (yourself) down.
I lie down on my bed when I am tired.

Lay: to lay something else down.
I lay down my backpack in the hallway when I get home.

EXAMPLE
	Lie (self)	Lay (object)
Present	lie	lay
Present Participle	lying	laying
Past	lay	laid
Past Particle	lain	laid

Notice that the transitive verb (the one you do to an object) is more regular than the intransitive verb (the one you do to yourself). Lay adds -ing and -ed (with a spelling change). Lie adds -ing, but changes to lay and lain.

EXAMPLE
I lie down on my bed when I am tired. I am lying down on my bed right now. I lay down on my bed yesterday. In the past I have lain down on my bed.
I lay my backpack down in the hall. I am laying my backpack down. Yesterday I laid my backpack down. In the past I have laid my backpack down.

Challenging Verbs: Sit/Set
Sit: to sit (yourself) down.
I sit down on my bed when I am tired.

Set: to set something else down.
I set down my backpack in the hallway when I get home.

EXAMPLE
	Sit (self)	Set (object)
Present	sit	set
Present Participle	sitting	setting
Past	sat	set
Past Particle	sat	set

Notice that the transitive verb (the one you do to an object) is more regular than the intransitive verb (the one you do to yourself).

Set adds -ing to the present progressive, but the present, past, and past progressive are the same. Sit adds -ing, but changes to sat in the past and past progressive.

EXAMPLE
I sit down on my bed when I am tired. I am sitting down on my bed right now. I sat down on my bed yesterday. In the past I have sat down on my bed.
I set my backpack down in the hall. I am setting my backpack down. Yesterday I set my backpack down. In the past I have set my back pack down.

Challenging Verbs: Rise/Raise
Rise: to rise (yourself). I rise from my bed when I am no longer tired. Raise: to raise something else. I always raise my hand in class.

EXAMPLE
	Rise (self)	Raise (object)
Present	rise	raise
Present Participle	rising	raising
Past	rose	raised
Past Particle	risen	raised

Notice that the transitive verb (the one you do to an object) is more regular than the intransitive verb (the one you do to yourself). Raise adds -ing and -ed. Rise adds -ing, but changes to rose and risen.

EXAMPLE
I rise in the morning when my alarm goes off. I am rising from my bed right now. I rose from my bed late yesterday. In the past I have risen as early as 5:00.
I raise the window shade every morning. I am raising the window shade now. Yesterday I raised the window shade. In the past I have raised the window shade.