HOW TO USE ENGLISH ARTICLES

SINGULAR and PLURAL SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT

1. REVIEW OF BASICS

SINGULAR VERB PLURAL VERB

(a) My friend lives in Chicago. (b) My friends live in Chicago.

[verb + s = singular noun + s = plural]

(c) That book on political parties (d) The ideas in that book are interesting. is informative.

[Be careful. It is easy to make a mistake when the subject and verb are separated by a prepositional phrase.]

(e) There is a book on the shelf. (f) There are some books on the shelf.

[The subject follows to be when there is used.]

2. MULTIPLE SUBJECTS

(a) The boy and the girl are here. (b) Both the man and the women are here.

[Two subjects connected by and require a plural verb.]

(c) Either the teacher or the student has the (d) Either the teacher or the students book. have the book.

(e) Neither the boy nor the girl is here. (f) Neither the boy nor the girls are here.

(g) Not only John but also Mary wants to come. (h) Not only John but also his parents want to come.

When two subjects are connected by either...or, neither...nor, and not only...but also, the subject which is closest to the verb determines whether the verb is singular or plural.

3. EXPRESSIONS OF QUALITY

SINGULAR VERB PLURAL VERB

(a) Some of the book is good. (b) Some of the books are good.

(c) A lot of the equipment is new. (d) A lot of my friends are here.

(e) All of it is mine. (f) All of them are here.

[The verb is determined by the noun or pronoun which follows the expression of quantity.*]

(g) The number of students in the (h) A number of students were late. class is twenty.

[In (g): 'the number' is the subject. It is singular.

In (h): 'a number of' is an expression of quantity.

It is followed by a plural noun and a plural verb.]

4. MEASUREMENTS

(a) Eight hours of sleep is enough.

(b) Five dollars is the price.

(c) Nine thousand miles is too far to travel by car.

[Quantities or measurements of time, money, distance, and weight usually take singular verbs.]

5. SINGULAR WORDS

(a) Every student has been invited.

(b) Every man, woman, and child needs love and understanding.

SINGULAR VERB PLURAL VERB

(c) Each book and magazine in the library is listed in the card catalog.

(d) Each of the books is listed in the card catalog.

[Every and each require singular verbs.]

(e) One if my friends needs some help.

[one of + plural noun + singular verb.]

(f) None of those reasons is valid INFORMAL USAGE: (g) None of those reasons are valid.

(h) Either (one) of those books (i) Either (one) of those books are adequate. is adequate.

(j) Neither (one of the girls (k) Neither (one) of the girls are here. is here.

[Subjects with none of, either of, and neither of are considered singular in formal English; but in spoken English (and informal writing) plural verbs are frequently used.]

6. IRREGULARITIES

(a) The news is interesting.

(b) Those people are from Canada.

c) The police have been called.

[news = singular; people = plural; & police = plural.]

(d) Mathematics is easy for her. (f) The statistics in that report are not correct.

(e) Statistics was a very difficult course for me.

[Words ending in -ics take singular verbs when they refer to a general area of study. In (f): Some words ending in -ics take plural verbs if they refer to a particular situation.]

(g) The United States is a big country.

SINGULAR VERB PLURAL VERB

(h) The New York Times is a newspaper.

[The United States takes a singular verb. The title of a book, newspaper, etc., take a singular verb.]

7. THE + ADJECTIVE

(a) The young sometimes want to change society. (b) The poor need our help. (c) The rich get richer.

[Sometimes a word that is usually an adjective is used as a noun. It is preceded by the and usually means "people". the poor = people who are poor. the old = people who are old.]

8. LANGUAGE vs. PEOPLE

(a) Chinese is a difficult (b) The Chinese are friendly. language.

(c) French is spoken in many (d) The French make good wines. countries.

(e) English is easy to learn, (f) The English drink more isn't it? tea that Americans do.

[In (a): Chinese = language. In (b): The Chinese = people note: This pattern exists with nouns of nationality which end in -ese, -ch, or -sh. (Other examples: Japanese, Vietnamese, Swedish).]

9. ARITHMETIC

(a) Two and two is four. (b) Two and two are four.

(c) Three plus three equals six. (d) Three plus three equal six.

(e) Two times six is twelve.

(f) Three subtracted from seven is four.

(g) Twenty divided by five equals four.

[Usually a singular verb is used in arithmetic statements.]

SINGULAR VERB

PLURAL VERB

10. (a) Everyone is invited.

(b) Somebody is coming.

(c) Nothing has been done.

[Pronouns ending in -one, -body, or -thing are singular.*]

*Note on singular-plural pronoun agreement:

Formal English:

Everyone has his own ideas. Everyone has his or her own ideas. Someone left his book on the desk. Someone left his or her book on the desk.

Informal English:

Everyone has their own ideas. Someone left their book on the desk.