A
"Our customer service representatives (handles, handle) a high volume of inquiries daily."
handle
Rule: Plural subjects take plural verbs.
"She (respond, responds) promptly to customer complaints."
responds
Rule: Third-person singular subjects (he, she, it) take singular verbs (often ending in -s or -es).
"He (has, have) experience in international trade."
has
Rule: Auxiliary verbs (helping verbs like is/are, has/have, does/do) must agree with the subject.
"There (is, are) a delay in customs processing."
is
Rule: When a sentence begins with "Here" or "There", these words are not the subject. Instead, the real subject comes after the verb, and the verb must agree with that subject in number (singular or plural).
"Planning a marketing strategy (requires, require) competitive analysis."
requires ("Planning a marketing strategy" is the subject, which requires a singular verb)
Rule: When a phrase or clause serves as the subject, the verb should be singular.
"The importer and the freight forwarder (is, are) working together."
are
Rule: Subjects joined by "and" usually take a plural verb. Subjects joined by "or" or "nor" take a verb that agrees with the subject closer to the verb.
"Either the invoice or the packing list (is, are) missing."
is
Rule: Subjects joined by "or" or "nor" take a verb that agrees with the subject closer to it. This is known as proximity agreement.
"Each (has, have) their own login credentials."
has
Rule: The pronouns each, everyone, everybody, anyone, anybody, someone, somebody, either, neither one, another and much are singular.
"All of the packages (is, are) ready for delivery."
are (plural - packages are countable)
Rule: With proportions—such as percent, fraction, part, majority, some, all, none, remainder, more, most, etc.—look at the noun governed by the preposition to determine whether the verb should be singular or plural.
The noun usually occurs in the “of” phrase that follows the proportion.
If the object of the Preposition is singular, use a singular verb.
If the object of the preposition is plural, use a plural verb.
"The board members but not the CEO (has, have) decided to merge with HP."
have (Positive subject: "The board members"/ plural)
Rule: If your sentence compounds a positive and a negative subject and one is plural, the other singular, the verb should agree with the positive subject.
Note: A negative subject preceded by the word 'not' is not the true subject.
"UPS, along with FedEx and Maersk, (offer, offers) logistics training programs for career development."
offers ("UPS" is the true subject - singular)
Rule: When a subject is separated from the verb by words such as along with, as well as, besides, not, etc., ignore these phrases when determining whether the verb is singular or plural.
Note: The intervening phrase is not part of the subject.
"Everyone on the team (handle, handles) logistics with care and precision."
handles
Rule: The pronouns each, everyone, everybody, anyone, anybody, someone, somebody, either, neither one, another and much are singular.
"The customer service team (is, are) dedicated to resolving issues quickly."
is (singular - team as a unit)
Rule: Group nouns (like team, company, group, committee) can be singular or plural depending on whether they are thought of as a single unit or as individual members. If the group is acting as a single unit, the collective noun is singular.
"Neither the delay nor the extra charges (was, were) expected."
were (plural - "charges" is closer to the verb)
Rule: Subjects joined by "and" usually take a plural verb. Subjects joined by "or" or "nor" take a verb that agrees with the subject closer to the verb.
"Thirty percent of the company (is, are) under the strategic control of XYZ Logistics."
is (object of preposition: "company"/ singular)
Rule: With proportions, such as percent, fraction, part, majority, some, all, none, remainder, more, most, etc., look at the noun being referred to by the pronoun to determine if the verb should be singular or plural.
"The information (is, are) readily available online."
is
Rule: Many uncountable nouns (like information, advice, luggage, freight, equipment) are generally treated as singular even though they refer to a quantity of something.
"The customer service team (is, are) divided on how to handle this particular complaint."
are (plural - members of the team acting individually)
Rule: Group nouns (like team, company, group, committee) can be singular or plural depending on whether they are thought of as a single unit or as individual members. If the members of the group are acting individually, the collective noun is plural.
Note: This is an example of notional agreement, where the verb agrees with the meaning rather than the number.
"The luggage (belong, belongs) to the passengers."
belongs (luggage is a non-countable noun)
Rule: Many uncountable nouns (like information, advice, luggage, freight, equipment) are generally treated as singular even though they refer to a quantity of something.
"Here (is, are) the freight documents."
are
Rule: When a sentence begins with "Here" or "There", these words are not the subject. Instead, the real subject comes after the verb, and the verb must agree with that subject in number (singular or plural).
"Some of the documents (is, are) missing."
are
Rule: With proportions, such as percent, fraction, part, majority, some, all, none, remainder, more, most, etc., look at the noun being referred to by the pronoun to determine if the verb should be singular or plural.