Let's Agree To Agree - The Grammar-Us Blog - Grammar-Us

It has been a very long time since my first grammar lesson in school, but I would venture to guess that it might have involved conjugation of verbs. In addition to using the correct tense to communicate when something occurred, it is also important to indicate the singular or plural form of a verb, to clarify how many subjects are performing the action. In other words, subjects and verbs must AGREE. If you have a singular subject, the verb should be singular. If you have a plural subject, the verb form used should be plural.  

When the sentence is simple and declarative, devoid of dependent clauses, it is usually quite easy to determine the correct verb form. That is because the subject and verb are next to each other. Nothing (such as a dependent clause) comes between them.  An example of a simple declarative sentence is, “These apples are delicious.”  The subject of the sentence is “apples” – plural. Therefore, the verb needs to match and be plural, also.  If the subject and verb do not match, you end up with this:  “These apples is delicious.”  I hope that sounds wrong, to you!  

It is when the subject and verb are not in such close proximity to each other that most grammar errors occur.  Here are three sentences in which the subject and verb are separated from each other:

1. Neither of us has ever been to Biloxi.

2. Each of the events of the last few months is chronicled in my journal.

3. One out of ten women admits to feeling inadequate.

Now, let’s look at the examples in more detail.

1. Neither of us has ever been to Biloxi. It is, unfortunately, not uncommon to hear someone say, “Neither of us have ever been to Biloxi.” The speaker has misidentified “us” (plural) as the subject of the sentence and has matched the verb to it.  Actually, the subject of this sentence is “neither,” and “neither” is singular.  The word “us” is merely part of a description of the subject – not the subject itself.  That is why “has” – the singular form of the verb – is necessary.

2. Each of the events of the last few months is chronicled in my journal.  This sentence is even more complex than the first one.  The phrase “of the events” describes “each.”  The phrase “of the last few months” describes the events.  With so many words intervening between the actual subject of the sentence, which is “each,” and the verb, it is understandable (but incorrect) to pick up on the plurals in the descriptive phrases and use a plural verb form in error.  The result would be the following incorrect sentence: “Each of the events of the last few months are chronicled in my journal.”

3. One out of ten women admits to feeling inadequate.  Again, the phrase “out of ten women” describes the actual subject of the sentence, which is “one.”  But, because the descriptive phrase separates the subject from the verb, it is easy to pick up on the word closest to the verb (“women”) and erroneously match the verb to it.  The result would be “One out of ten women admit to feeling inadequate,” which is incorrect.

My famous “elimination rule” can help you when you want to test your sentence to make sure the subject and verb agree.  Simply omit anything between the subject and the verb, and “test” the sentence to make sure they agree, then reinsert the intervening words.

BONUS TIP:  

Collective nouns are words that imply more than one of something.  For example, “family” is a group of related persons.  “Herd” is a group of animals.  “Bunch” is a collection of more than one item, such as a bunch of grapes.

Even though collective nouns are used for more than one person or thing, the noun itself is treated as singular when it comes to making sure it agrees with the verb.  For example:

1.  The family is going on vacation next week.

2. The herd of cows was transported to the feed lot.

3. A bunch of flowers is growing in the pot on my patio.