In this article we will learn the basics of subject-verb agreement. Before understanding subject-verb agreement we will understand what is subject and verb in the sentence and how to identify subject and verb in any sentence.
We also make a separate article about subject and verb if you have not checked yet go and have a look on it.
What is the subject in the sentence?
Subject is a part of a sentence which names the person or thing we are talking about is known as a subject.
What is a verb in the sentence?
Verb is the action performed by the subject or state of being such as eat,went,write etc.
Lets see some examples of both:-
- Roni plays cricket regularly.
So, as our above definition says who is performing the action of playing it’s Roni and what action is he doing plays.
So in the above sentence Roni is the subject and the verb is play.
We also notice that the subject may be in first person, second person or third person.
| First person | I and WE |
| Second person | YOU |
| Third person | HE,SHE,IT,THEY |
What is subject-verb agreement for making a sentence grammatically perfect?
Subjects and verbs will must agree with each other in number (singular or plural). When the subject is singular in a sentence then it’s verb must also be singular; if the subject is plural then it’s verb must also be plural.
Note:- A singular subject must have a singular verb and a plural subject must have a plural verb.
Lets see some Examples to make things clear:-
Singular subject with singular verb:-
- Shivaji was a great fighter.
- He had a good memory.
- Martin eats his lunch quickly.
- You write neatly in your notebook.
- The chimpanzee eats bananas.
Plural subject with plural verb:-
- We went to the shopping mall.
- They thought about 1st prize in the competition.
- The monkeys eat bananas.
- These sports cars go fast.
Rule of Subject-verb agreement:-
In Simple Present Tenses, nouns and verbs plural forms are opposite from each other.
It means in a sentence if the subject is singular then after the verb we must ADD ‘s’ and if the subject is plural then verb will not ADD ‘s’.
For example:-
- Shamik eats chocolate.
Here, ‘Shamik’ is a singular form for which we add ‘s’ after the verb.
- They play carrom.
Here, ‘They’ is a plural form for which we don’t add ‘s’ after the verb.
There are some exceptions like You / I, these two are singular but we don’t add ‘s’ after the verb.
Let’s see more examples to make things clear:-
- My sister goes to the gym every day.
- She loves to play volleyball.
- I run every weekend.
- We play basketball every morning.
- Does he write an email?
- They talk too much.
- Does he go to school?
- She thinks he is very handsome.
- It usually rains every day here.
- It smells very delicious in the kitchen.
I hope after reading this article you have cleared all doubts about Subject-verb agreement. If you have any doubt about Subject-verb agreement you can comment below.
