- Agreement of person: first person, second person and third person
- Agreement of number:
1). Subjects and verbs that don’t agree in number appear frequently on the SAT.
- WRONG: The children catches the school bus every morning.
- RIGHT: The children catch the school bus every morning.
2). The SAT test makers love to separate nouns and verbs with prepositional phrases. Whenever you see a prepositional phrase, read the sentence without those words, and then determine the subject-verb relationship.
- WRONG: Wild animals in jungles all over the world is
- RIGHT: Wild animals in jungles all over the world are
3). Trust your ear: Singular verbs sound correct with the subject it — it goes. Plural verbs sound correct with the subject they — they go.
Example: Despite an intensive campaign to encourage conservation, there is many Americans who have not accepted recycling as a way of life.
- Since Americans is plural, the singular verb is should be replaced by the plural verb are.
- If question contains the phrase there is or there are, check for a subject -verb agreement error.
Example: The local congressman, a reliable representative of both community and statewide interests, are among the most respected persons in the public sector.
- The subject of sentence is congressman, which is singular. The plural verb “are” should be replaced by singular verb “is”.
Example: The group of paintings entitles “matisse in Morocco” are one of the most widely traveled exhibits in recent years.
- The collective none “group” appears in the singular from. Therefore, the plural verb are should be replaced by the singular verb “is”. If, however, a collective noun appears in plural form (groups), it needs a plural verb (are).