Subject-verb agreement on the FTCE

You already know that a singular subject takes a singular verb. That is not what is being tested. What is being tested is whether you can find the subject when the sentence has been built to hide it.

Section 82 lists this as its own skill: "Determine and select agreement between subject and verb." It sits under Knowledge of standard English conventions, alongside eleven other skills, and that competency is the bulk of the subtest.

The five shapes that hide a subject

Four of those five are solved by the same move. Cross out everything between the subject and the verb, then read what is left. "The box is." "The committee meets." The fifth needs a rule of its own.

The or rule, which is the one people get wrong

Subjects joined by and are plural. Subjects joined by or or nor agree with whichever half is nearer the verb. That is why "Neither the students nor the teacher was ready" is correct and "Neither the teacher nor the students were ready" is also correct. Same two nouns, different order, different verb.

Indefinite pronouns

These carry their own agreement and the exam likes them because the answer is memorized rather than reasoned.

• Always singular: each, either, neither, everyone, everybody, someone, somebody, anyone, nobody, one
• Always plural: both, few, many, several
• Depends on the noun that follows: some, any, none, all, most

"Each of the teachers has a key." Singular, because each is the subject and of the teachers is a prepositional phrase. That sentence catches people every time.

What we would drill and what we would skip

Drill the prepositional-phrase case until it is automatic, because it is the most common one and the fix is mechanical. Learn the or rule as a sentence you can recite. Learn the always-singular indefinite list.

Skip the deep end. British-style collective plurals, agreement with fractions and percentages, and the the number of versus a number of pair come up in grammar textbooks more often than they can plausibly come up on 30 questions. On our estimate the whole conventions competency is about 19 questions across twelve skills, so agreement is likely one or two of them.

The forty-minute problem

This subtest gives you 1.33 minutes a question on our division of the published figures, which is the tightest pace of the three multiple-choice subtests. An agreement question you have to reason through will cost you two minutes and you do not have them. Recognition is the goal, not analysis.

Find the true subject before choosing the verb

A verb agrees with its subject in number and person. The subject is not always the noun closest to the verb. In “The stack of practice tests is on the desk,” stack is singular; tests appears inside a prepositional phrase and does not control is. Ignore interrupting phrases such as along with, as well as, and together with when identifying the grammatical subject.

With a compound subject joined by and, use a plural verb in most cases: “The instructor and the tutor are available.” A single idea or title joined by and can be singular: “Research and development is a department name.” With either-or and neither-nor, standard editing convention often uses proximity agreement, matching the nearer subject. Recast mixed-number pairs if the sentence sounds awkward.

Check indefinite pronouns and phrases after the subject

Indefinite pronouns such as each, everyone, anybody, neither, and somebody are generally singular: “Each of the answers is plausible.” The phrase of the answers does not change the subject. Both, few, many, and several are plural. Some, all, most, and none can be singular or plural depending on the noun or amount they refer to: “Some of the water is gone” but “Some of the books are missing.”

There and here at the beginning of a sentence do not serve as the subject in ordinary existential constructions. In “There are three options,” options is the subject and takes are. In “There is one option,” option is singular. For a sentence with a compound postverbal subject, the most natural formal revision may move the subject to the front.

Use care with collective nouns, titles, and amounts

A collective noun such as team, committee, or class is usually singular in American English when treated as one unit: “The class begins at nine.” If the sentence emphasizes members acting separately, identify them as a plural noun: “Class members submit their own reflections.” Avoid shifting from a singular group noun to plural agreement without a clear change in meaning.

Titles, subjects, and amounts can be singular even when they contain plural-looking words: “Mathematics is challenging,” “The United States is a country,” and “Five dollars is the fee.” The verb agrees with the grammatical head or with the amount considered as one sum. Read the sentence’s meaning as well as the noun ending.

• Locate the main subject and ignore nouns inside interrupting phrases.
• Use plural agreement for ordinary subjects joined by and.
• Check indefinite pronoun categories and the noun after of.
• In existential sentences, match the verb to the subject that follows.
• Treat titles and amounts according to their grammatical meaning.