Subject-verb agreement is a grammatical rule that requires the verb in a sentence to agree with the subject in number and person. In other words, the verb must be singular if the subject is singular, and the verb must be plural if the subject is plural. In addition, the verb must be in the correct form to match the person of the subject.
For example:
- “The dog barks loudly.” (singular subject, singular verb)
- “The dogs bark loudly.” (plural subject, plural verb)
- “I am eating breakfast.” (singular subject, singular verb)
- “We are eating breakfast.” (plural subject, plural verb)
Subject-verb agreement can be a challenge for English learners because there are many exceptions to the rules, and the correct verb form can depend on the specific context and the meaning of the sentence. Some common problems with subject-verb agreement include:
- Using the wrong verb form with collective nouns (e.g., “The team are playing well.”)
- Using the wrong verb form with indefinite pronouns (e.g., “Everyone are here.”)
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