Subject-Verb Agreement Rules
What is a verb? or
How do you find the verb(s) in a sentence?
An action or a state of being.
I walk to school.
I am happy.
(Is, Are) there any candy left?
Is
This bag (look, looks) like yours.
Looks
The dogs (do, does) not want another walk.
Do
How do you find the subject of a sentence?
Ask who or what is performing the verb.
At 9:00am, she (take / takes ) a break and ( check / checks ) her e-mail.
takes / checks
I (do, does) a lot of reading every evening.
Do
Both of the boys (has, have) a soccer ball.
Have
True or False?
If the subject is third person singular, the verb gets an -s
True
Example: Marijn showers every week.
The tree ( has / have ) red leaves.
has
One of my favourite movies (begin, begins) at 10pm.
Begins
You (is, are) supposed to be in class.
Are
True or False?
Gerunds (-ing words used as nouns) are singular.True
Example: Sleeping is my favorite hobby.
My book ( has / have ) 2 pages left.
has
He (eat, eats) lunch at 11:45.
Eats
Two of the dogs (is, are) black.
Are
Collective nouns (e.g., team, couple, group) are usually singular and get the third-person singular form of the verb.
True
Example: This group is great!
This team wins a lot!
Swimming (is, are) something I (love , loves) to do.
is , love
There (was, were) many cars on the road.
Were
One of the men (do, does) the shopping.
Does