Back to: ACT English
Every sentence has a subject, the noun or noun phrase carrying out an action, and a verb, a word or phrase representing the action being carried out. Subjects and verbs must always agree in number—in other words, a singular subject must have a singular verb and a plural subject must have a plural verb.
| Correct ✅ | Incorrect 🚫 |
My mother works in a school.
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My mother work in a school.
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The children play soccer during recess.
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The children plays soccer during recess.
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In some cases, it can be difficult to tell whether a noun is actually singular.
The table below reviews some of the most common confusing situations.
| Examples That Seem Plural but Are Actually Singular | ||
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Each On its own, this word is obviously singular. However, since it’s often used in a phrase with a plural noun, things can get tricky. Remember: each ONE is… |
Correct ✅ | Incorrect 🚫 |
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Either…or Neither…nor Since these phrases create a subject with two nouns, it can be easy to think the verb should be plural. Remember, though, that the verb applies to each noun individually, not both. If each noun is singular, the verb should be too. However, if even ONE of the nouns is plural, then the verb must also be plural! |
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Collective nouns Collective nouns can be confusing because they describe groups of people. However, remember that even though a collective noun refers to multiple people, the word itself is singular. Examples (not comprehensive):
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| Weird Words That Are Lawless and Support Anarchy (they don’t follow the rules above…) | |
| There are many words in the English language that defy conventional rules. The ACT will probably not give you subject-verb agreement questions with words in this category. However, if it does, use context to decide whether to use singular or plural verbs. | |
| Many words ending in -ics are singular; therefore they agree with singular verbs. |
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| Some words ending in –s are treated as singular, even if they are not collective nouns. |
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| I and you are singular pronouns but agree with plural verbs. |
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| Gerunds | |
| Gerunds are verbs acting as nouns. They can sometimes make subject-verb agreement confusing, so keep the following in mind. | |
| Gerunds ALWAYS end in -ing. Be careful though, not every word ending in -ing is a gerund! |
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| Gerunds are SINGULAR |
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| Use the possessive before gerunds |
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| How Will the Test Try to Trick You? | |
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You might encounter sentences in which the subject and verb are separated by several words or phrases. The ACT frequently tries to use singular subjects with plural verbs or plural verbs with singular subjects. Read the passage, question, and answer choices carefully. |
🚫 The collection of short stories—many of them written by authors in 19th century England, including Jane Austen and C.S. Lewis—contain some of the preeminent works of fiction to date. The subject is the singular noun collection and the verb is contain, which takes the plural form; therefore the subject and verb do not agree. ✅ The collection of short stories—many of them written by authors in 19th century England, including Jane Austen and C.S. Lewis—contains some of the preeminent works of fiction to date. |
| Tips and Strategies | |
When determining whether or not the subject agrees with the verb, ask yourself three questions:
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Underline the subject and its verb, and draw arrows to connect them. Determine whether they agree and, if not, determine how to make them agree. |
The restaurant, although catering primarily to seafood aficionados, offers a wide selection of vegan options. |
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Don’t get bogged down by unnecessarily wordy sentences. Focus only on the essentials—the subject and verb in question.
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Watch for gerunds. Be sure to use possessive pronouns or nouns with them. |
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