Identify the Subject
This word is the person, place, thing, or idea that performs the action in a sentence.
What is the subject?
She (walk / walks) to school every day.
What is “walks”?
Everybody in the room (is / are) listening.”
What is “is”?
"Everybody" is an indefinite pronoun that is always treated as singular.
Even though it refers to a group of people, the word itself takes a singular verb (is, was, has).
“They goes to the store.”
What is “They go to the store”?
In “The cat sleeps,” this word does the action.
What is “cat”?
In the sentence “The dogs run fast,” this is the subject.
What is “dogs”?
“The players (was / were) excited for the game.”
What is “were”?
“The scissors (is / are) on the table.”
What is “are”?
Scissors is plural, so the right word is are.
“The group are meeting today.”
What is “The group is meeting today”?
In “There are five cookies,” this is the subject.
What are cookies?
In the sentence “My family goes on vacation,” this is the subject.
What is “family”?
“Neither of the answers (is / are) correct.”
What is “is”?
The news (is / are) surprising.”
What is “is”?
Although "news" ends with an "s," it is treated as an uncountable, singular noun in English, necessitating the singular verb "is" rather than the plural "are".
“My mom and dad loves cooking.”
What is “My mom and dad love cooking”?
In “Here comes the bus,” this is the subject.
What is “bus”?
Each of the students is ready,” this word is the subject.
What is “each”?
Although "students" is a plural noun, the subject is the singular, distributive pronoun "each" (meaning one by one), which requires the singular verb "is".
The team (has / have) a new coach.”
What is “has”?
The data (shows / show) improvement.”
What is “shows” or “show”?
Both "The data show" and "The data shows" can be correct depending on whether "data" is treated as a plural or singular noun.
The pack of wolves run fast.”
What is “The pack of wolves runs fast”?
In “On the table sits a small key,” this word is the subject.
What is “key”?
In “Reading books helps you learn,” this is the subject.
What is “reading books”?
It is a gerund phrase (a verb acting as a noun) that functions as the complete subject of the sentence and takes the verb "helps".
Ten dollars (is / are) enough to buy lunch.”
What is “is”?
Fifty miles (is / are) a long distance.”
What is “is”?
"Is" is correct because the distance is treated as a single unit or total quantity. When amounts of money, time, or distance are considered as a whole, they take a singular verb.
Either the teacher or the students needs help.”
What is “Either the teacher or the students need help”?
In “Along the road run the athletes,” this is the subject.
What is “athletes”?