Practicing Subject-Verb Agreement in English

In English, subject-verb agreement means that when making a sentence, the subject and verb must “agree” (be the same). 

You can read more about it here:

• Subject-Verb Agreement
• Subject-Verb Agreement Worksheets

Here is a short story + exercises to demonstrate this important principle:

---

A singular subject requires a singular verb.

Examples:

• He grills the steaks for dinner.
• The cat drinks the milk. 
• It makes a sound.
• The girl tastes the soup.
• She is funny. 

Remember, these words and phrases are also singular and require a singular verb: each, each one, either, neither, anybody, anyone, everybody, nobody, someone, somebody, no one. 

Examples:

• Each person needs to bring a check for $35.
• Nobody deserves the prize.
• Neither Mom nor Dad knows the answer to my question. 

Collective nouns also take a singular verb. Some examples include family, group, and team, herd, and flock.

Examples:

• Our family likes traveling to new places. 
• The flock of birds rests in the trees across from my house.
• Did your group decide on a name?  

A plural subject requires a plural verb.

Examples:

• They grill the steaks for dinner.
• The cats drink the milk
• They make a sound.
• The girls taste the soup.
• They are funny. 

Practice:

Part A: Identify the subject/verb pair as singular or plural.

Part B: Write the correct form of the verb in parentheses

Part C: Read this story. Identify and correct the subject-verb agreement errors.