CAT 2025 Lesson : Grammar Rules - Subject-Verb Agreement

1. Subject-verb agreement

The subject is the main noun or pronoun about whom or which the sentence is giving information. The subject can be a verb as well, though this is rare. Typically any sentence describes the subject or tells us about any action which the subject is performing. The subject will often be followed by a verb. The form of the verb has to match the subject, which means:

- the subject and the verb should have the same number (singular/plural)
- the verb should be aligned to the subject based on whether the subject is in the first, second or third person

1.1 Number (Singular and Plural)

Singular means one, while plural means more than one. A singular noun or pronoun (Nandita, he, she, it, gold) should be followed by a singular verb (is, has, was, will works, dances). A plural noun or pronoun (we, people, the, countries) should be followed by a plural verb (are, have, were, will, work, dance). Will is used for both plural and singular nouns. An easy way to remember is that singular noun or pronoun is usually followed by the verb form ending with s or es (e.g., he teaches, she surfs, Junaid sings), whereas the plural form does not end with s or es (e.g., they teach, they surf, Ram and Junaid sing). The exception is I, where we use I am (not I is or I are), and I have (not I has).

1.1.1 Conversion from singular to plural:

Most nouns have a singular and plural form. Use the following rules to convert the singular form to plural:

1

) Adding “s” at the end.
E.g., book and books, cow and cows, girl and girls, piano and pianos, umbrella and umbrellas.

Note that the noun should be pluralised, e.g. daughters-in-law, letters-of-undertaking etc. Sometimes the entire word is considered as a noun (e.g., spoonfuls, not spoons full; break-ins, not breaks-in).

2) Adding “es” at the end.
E.g., buffalo and buffaloes, class and classes, peach and peaches, tax and taxes, watch and watches.

3) Replacing “y” with “ies”.
E.g., Army and armies, city and cities, story and stories.

4) Replacing “f” with “ves”.
E.g., calf and calves, hoof and hooves, knife and knives, loaf and loaves, wife and wives.

5) Adding “en” at the end.
E.g., Child and children, ox and oxen.

6) Replacing “oo” with “ee”.
E.g. foot and feet, goose and geese, tooth and teeth.

7) Replacing “a” with “e”.
E.g. Man and men, woman and women.

8) Replacing “ou” with “i”.
E.g. louse and lice, mouse and mice.

9) Replacing “us” with “i”.

E.g. fungus and fungi, radius and radii.

10) No change
E.g. deer, fish, sheep.

Note that fishes is used only to describe many different types of fish, not many fish of the same type.

Some nouns are typically used in plural form - mathematics, measles, scissors, trousers.

Example 5

Identify the correct sentence or sentences from the following.

A) My two son-in-laws are working for my company.
B) My two sons-in-law are working for my company.
C) Womens' clothes are arranged in the first rack.
D) John's dogs' nails are being trimmed.

(1) A and D
(2) B and D
(3) B, C and D
(4) A and C

Solution

Let us use the method of elimination to answer this question.
Statement A is incorrect, as son-in-laws has been written instead of sons-in-law. This leaves us with options (2) and (3), as we can eliminate options (1) and (4).

Statement B is grammatically correct.

Statement C is incorrect. Women being plural, an apostrophe (') simply signifies the clothes of women – the correct usage is women's clothes.

Statement D is correct. Here, the apostrophe (') follows the dogs to imply that John has more than one dog.
This example shows how basic concepts in grammar can be twisted to confuse you.

Answer: (2) B and D

Example 6

Which of the following sentences are incorrect?
A) The press conference turned out to be an absolute shamble.
B) His trousers didn't match the shirt that he was wearing.
C) Owing to his past disciplinary record, he was not allowed inside the academy premises.
D) One dice was enough to play that board game.

(1) A only
(2) A and B only
(3) A and D only
(4) C and D only

Solution

Statement A is incorrect, as shambles has been misspelt as shamble. This word is always spelt as vshambles (meaning a condition of disorder or mess). Statement D is also incorrect as 'dice' is the plural of the word 'die'. It should be One die instead of One dice.

Statements B and C are grammatically correct. Hence, the correct answer is option (3).

Answer: (3) A and D only

1.1.2 Subject and verb

The verb should be singular or plural based on the subject. The main rules are given here.

Rule	Example
A singular subject has a singular verb	She takes the metro to school every day.
A plural subject has a plural verb	They take the metro to school every day. The pages of the book have fallen everywhere.
The first noun or pronoun is considered while selecting the verb form	A group of boys is approaching. (the verb is corresponds to the singular noun group). The brown dog, playing with the black ones, is mine.(the verb is corresponds to the singular noun dog).
A noun/pronoun in the first person has a plural verb	I have to study. (vs. he has to study OR she has to study.)
A noun/pronoun in the second person has a plural verb	You have to study. (vs. he has to study OR she has to study.)
Nouns/pronouns joined by and are plural	Ram and Shyam open the school each morning.
Nouns/pronouns joined by along with, as well as, added to, combined with, along with, together with have verbs based on the initial noun.	The mountain, coupled with the blue sky, is paradise. A piece of bread along with butter makes for a good snack. The students, as well as the teacher, desperately want to win.
Nouns/pronouns joined by or will have a verb based on the last noun	Ram or Shyam opens the school each morning. (the verb is singular based on Shyam.) Either rice or potatoes will taste good with this dish. (the verb is plural based on potatoes.)
Collective nouns are taken as singular	A pack of wolves is in the jungle. The team is practising for the final daily. The jury is still out.
Each, every and no use a singular verb	Each one of us was scared. Everyone wants to go to the beach. No one is going to the beach.
Several, few, many, both, all or some use a plural verb	Several cars are parked in the garage. All of us are going to the beach. Many of them want to help. All of us have to help out. Few were left in the old city
More than uses a singular verb	More than one car is gone from the garage.
The verb following none depends on the accompanying noun	None of it makes sense. None of us were able to jump over the gate.
The verb following fractions depends on the accompanying noun	Half of the books are rare. Half of the book is torn.
Measurements use a singular verb	Three litres of water is in the bottle.
If the noun is money, the verb is singular is the amount is known	Five thousand rupees is spent. Thousands of rupees were spent.
A book/movie uses a singular verb	The Land of Two Suns is a great book.

Example 7

Identify the incorrect sentence or sentences from the following.

A. The dense vegetation of Isla de Mona, an uninhabited speck in the Caribbean,
B. hide car-sized boulders studded with corals.
C. Scientists first reported spotting them in the early 1990s,
D. but the strange rocks slipped back into obscurity before anyone could investigates their origin.
E. Now researchers think that massive tsunami waves heaved them from the sea.

(1) A and B only
(2) B only
(3) B and D only
(4) D and E only

Solution

These sentences tell us that a tsunami was responsible for huge boulders (large rocks) on the Isla de Mona. Let us consider the individual statements.

Statement A is grammatically correct, and hence, we can eliminate option (1).

Statement B is incorrect, as it should have the word hides instead of hide. This is because the verb hide is being used for the dense vegetation mentioned in statement A, which is in singular. At this point, we can save time by considering only statement D, given the options.

Statement C is also grammatically correct, but statement D is incorrect. This is because we should use investigate, not investigates, for the word anyone.

Statement E is also correct, and hence, we can select option (3) as the correct choice.

Answer: (3) B and D only

Example 8

Identify the error in the sentences given below.
[IIFT 2018]

(a) While luminaries of the dance world
(b) has no dearth of opportunities to display their art
(c) upcoming dancers suffer from
(d) an unfortunate lack of exposure.

Solution

This sentence is speaking about luminaries (meaning prominent people, here, meaning prominent dancers). The author tells us that prominent dancers get plenty of opportunities, unlike new ones.

Statement (b) is incorrect – as the clause refers to luminaries, the verb following should be have and not has. All other options are grammatically correct, and hence, statement (b) is the correct choice.

Answer: (b) has no dearth of opportunities to display their art

1.2 First, second, third person and Illeism

Nouns and pronouns are used with different perspectives based on the speaker (or writer).

1.2.1 First person

The first person is the speaker (or writer).

For instance,
I am excited to move to a new city.
We are going to the concert tomorrow.
Don't hesitate to reach out to me if you have any questions.

1.2.2 Second person

The second person is the one being addressed by the speaker (or writer).
For instance,
Are you excited to move to a new city.
You are going to the concert tomorrow.
Make yourself at home.

1.2.3 Third person

The third person describes the people whom the speaker (or writer) is describing.

For instance,
He is excited to move to a new city.
They are going to the concert tomorrow.
Shalini won the first prize in the science competition.

1.2.4 Illeism

Sometimes, people refer to themselves in the third person for effect, or during formal writing.

Most authors hate book signings, but not this one.
This is the best thing anyone can do in these circumstances.
What is a guy to do?

Example 9

Identify the error in the sentences given below. Note that the sentences are interconnected.

(1) I recently gave a college lecture about climate anxiety.
(2) One of the students said that she’d be willing to submit to a pro-green dictator.
(3) It would be tragic and dangerous if this generation of climate advocates become willing
(4) to sacrifice democracy and human rights in the name of climate change.

Solution

The statements warn us that we should not give up fundamental rights or freedom to solve climate change. Statements 1, 2 and 4 are grammatically correct, but statement 3 is not. It speaks about this generation (which is singular), and hence, the verb following this phrase should be becomes, not become. Become is used only for plural nouns or pronouns.
Make sure that you do not miss that the verb should correspond to the initial noun (generation) and not the second noun (climate advocates) in such questions.

Answer: (3) It would be tragic and dangerous if this generation of climate advocates become willing

Want to read the full content

Unlock this content & enjoy all the features of the platform

Subscribe Now