STEP 1: DEFINITION

Subject-verb agreement is a grammatical rule that states that the verb must agree in number with its subject. In English, present tense verbs change to show agreement in the third person singular form (subjects represented by the pronouns HE, SHE, IT) by adding an S or ES.

  • I live
  • you live
  • he liveS
  • she liveS
  • it liveS
  • we live
  • you live
  • they live

The irregular verb BE has three forms in the present tense and two forms in the past tense:

Present: I am

Past: I was

Present: you are

Past: you were

Present: he is, she is, it is

Past: he was, she was, it was

Present: we are

Past: we were

Present: they are

Past: they were

Subject-verb agreement often causes problems when a noun rather than a pronoun is the subject of the verb.

Incorrect: The class meet at 10.

Correct: The class meets at 10.

Incorrect: The boys in front of the store wants to buy magazines.

Correct: The boys in front of the store want to buy magazines.

STEP 2: PRACTICE EXERCISES

Practice 1 - Recognizing s-v agreement errors in sentences
Practice 2 - Recognizing s-v agreement errors in paragraphs

STEP 3: LEARNING MORE

For more information on subject-verb agreement, follow these links:

http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/subject.htm
http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/sv_agr.htm
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/grammar/subverag.html