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Subject Verb Agreement: Making the Subject and Verb Match

In one line: Subject verb agreement means the verb (the doing or being word) must match its subject (who or what the sentence is about): one subject takes a singular verb, and more than one takes a plural verb, as in 'the dog barks' but 'the dogs bark'.

Why it works

When the subject and verb match, sentences sound right and are easy to understand. Mixing them up, as in 'the children was late', makes writing look careless and can confuse readers about how many people or things you mean. Getting agreement right is one of the quickest ways to make school writing clearer and more correct.

Think of it like: Think of the subject and verb as two jigsaw pieces. A singular subject (one person or thing, like 'the cat') only clicks with a singular verb ('sleeps'). A plural subject (more than one, like 'the cats') only clicks with a plural verb ('sleep'). If the pieces do not fit, the sentence looks wrong. (Where this breaks: Jigsaw pieces have obvious shapes, but verbs can trick you: in the present tense, an -s on a noun usually means plural (cats), while an -s on a verb usually means singular (sleeps). Also, 'I' and 'you' are special. They take the plural-looking form ('I sleep', 'you sleep') even though 'I' is just one person.)

Worked example

Choose the correct verb: 'The basket of apples (sit / sits) on the kitchen table.'

  1. Find the verb choices: 'sit' or 'sits'.
  2. Find the subject by asking 'What sits on the table?' The answer is 'the basket', not 'the apples'.
  3. Notice that 'of apples' is an extra describing phrase. It tells us what kind of basket it is, so it is not the subject.
  4. 'Basket' is singular (just one), so it needs the singular verb 'sits'.
  5. Check by covering the extra phrase: 'The basket sits on the kitchen table.' It sounds right.

Answer: The basket of apples sits on the kitchen table.

Common mistakes

  • Matching the verb to the nearest noun instead of the real subject (for example, 'The box of pencils are'); fix it by covering phrases like 'of pencils' and checking the subject on its own: 'The box is'.
  • Thinking an -s on a verb means plural; remember that in the present tense, singular subjects usually take the -s verb ('she walks') and plural subjects do not ('they walk').
  • Using a singular verb when two subjects are joined by 'and' (for example, 'Mia and Sam is here'); fix it by remembering that 'and' makes the subject plural, so use 'are'.
  • Treating words like 'each', 'everyone' and 'one of' as plural; fix it by remembering they mean one at a time, so they take a singular verb ('Each of the players has a shirt').

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Choose the correct verb: 'My dog ___ around the garden every morning.'

Questions parents ask

What year do kids learn subject verb agreement?

Children start using matching subjects and verbs as they learn to write simple sentences, and it is taught more directly from around Year 2 to Year 4 in the UK and Australia, and around Grade 3 in the US. Trickier cases, such as long subjects, 'each' and 'neither...nor', are usually practised through Years 5 to 7 (Grades 4 to 6).

How can I help my child with subject verb agreement at home?

When you read together, pause on a sentence and ask, 'Who or what is this about, and is it one or more than one?' You can also play a quick game of swapping the subject between singular and plural ('the bird sings' / 'the birds sing') and asking your child to fix the verb each time.

Is it 'the team is' or 'the team are'?

Words for groups, called collective nouns, such as 'team', 'class' and 'family', usually take a singular verb in American English ('the team is'). In British and Australian English, both are accepted: use 'is' when you think of the group as one unit and 'are' when you think of the separate members.

My child says 'we was' because that is how people talk locally. Is that wrong?

'We was' is common in some spoken dialects, but in Standard English, which is expected in school writing, the correct form is 'we were'. It helps to explain that both ways of speaking exist, and that formal writing uses the standard form.