Agreement Of Nouns And Verbs Birmingham AL

Agreement is an important concept in grammar and a source of many writing errors. Verbs must agree with their nouns, which means that a singular noun requires a singular verb, and a plural noun requires a plural verb.

• The dog jumps up and down. (singular)

• The dogs jump up and down. (plural)

Remember that a noun ending in - s is often a plural, whereas a verb ending in - s is usually singular: runs in my pantyhose (plural noun); he runs (singular verb).

Nouns with Latin or Greek endings and nouns that look plural but sometimes take singular verbs can cause agreement problems.

• The data indicate that the test samples are more affected by heat than the control group samples.

Since data is the plural form of datum, use the plural form of the verb (in this case, indicate). In the following example, criteria is plural. Use the plural form of the verb (are).

• The criteria for judging an entry are listed in the brochure.

Rights, which is a plural form, is treated as singular in the following example because human rights is a unit, an issue of concern.

• Human rights is an issue that affects everyone.

If you wanted to emphasize the rights individually, you could use the plural verb:

• Human rights are ignored in many countries.

In the next example, miles is the plural form, but fifty miles is used here to name a unit of distance and therefore takes a singular verb:

• Fifty miles is not such a long distance.

Statistics looks plural, and in many situations would be treated as plural, for example,

• Statistics is the subject I most want to avoid.

• Statistics are being gathered to show that women are better drivers than men.

In the first example, statistics refers to a subject of study, so the singular is appropriate.

Among other frequently used nouns that can take either a singular or plural verb, depending on whether the emphasis is on a single unit or individual items, are number, majority, and minority.

• The number of people coming is surprising.

• A number of people are coming.

• A number like five thousand is what he had in mind.

With number, use this rule. If it is preceded by the, always use the singular. If it is preceded by a, use the singular or plural, depending on whether you are thinking of a single unit or individual items.

With majority and minority, the key is to decide whether you want to emphasize individual people or things or whether you want to emphasize the single unit.

• The majority is opposed to the measure. (singular = single unit)

• A minority of the younger people refuse to concede the point. (plural = individuals)

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