Subject-Verb Agreement: Tricky Cases

Level: B2. You already know he works / they work. The hard part is deciding whether a tricky subject — a group, an amount, each, neither, two nouns joined by and — counts as singular or plural. These cases trip up even confident writers.

The rule

Subject-verb agreement means the verb matches its subject in number: a singular subject takes a singular verb (she works), a plural subject takes a plural verb (they work). The difficulty is finding the real subject and deciding its number.

Three ideas solve most problems. First, ignore words between the subject and the verb. In the box of chocolates is on the table, the subject is box (singular), not chocolates, so the verb is is. Second, indefinite words built on -one, -body, -thing are singular: everyone, somebody, nothing, each, every, either, neither all take a singular verb — everyone has arrived, not have. Third, an amount or measurement seen as one unit is singular: ten dollars is enough, five years is a long time, two thirds of the cake is gone.

Two patterns need special care. A collective noun (team, family, government, staff, class) is singular when the group acts as one unit (the team is top of the league); British English also allows a plural verb when you picture the members acting individually (the team are arguing among themselves). With either…or and neither…nor, the verb agrees with the nearer subject: neither the manager nor the workers are happy, but neither the workers nor the manager is happy.

Agreement table

Example sentences

Common mistakes

• ❌ Everyone have finished. → ✅ Everyone has finished. Everyone is grammatically singular; use has.
• ❌ The team are top of the league. → ✅ The team is top of the league. When the group acts as one unit, use the singular; keep the plural only for members acting separately.
• ❌ There’s many reasons. → ✅ There are many reasons. With a plural subject use there are, even though there’s is common in speech.
• ❌ Each of the boys have a bike. → ✅ Each of the boys has a bike. Each is singular; ignore of the boys.
• ❌ A number of students is absent. → ✅ A number of students are absent. A number of means many and is plural.
• ❌ Ten years are a long time. → ✅ Ten years is a long time. A single stretch of time is treated as one unit.

A short conversation

A: Everyone is here except Sam. Neither of us has his number. B: The committee are still arguing about the date, anyway. A: A number of members want Friday; the number of complaints is growing. B: Ten minutes is all we need to decide. Let’s vote.

Usage notes

• Each after the subject. When each follows a plural subject, the verb stays plural: They each have a key (not has). Each as the subject itself is singular: Each has a key.
• Either / neither alone vs with ‘of’. Either is fine and neither of them is fine are both singular. In informal English a plural verb after neither of is heard (neither of them are), but the singular is safer in writing.
• Proximity with or/nor. Make the nearer item match the verb, and, to avoid an awkward sentence, put the plural item nearer: Neither the teacher nor the pupils were ready reads better than the reverse.
• Percentages and fractions follow the noun after of: 50% of the budget is spent (uncountable) but 50% of the seats are empty (plural).

Compared with determiners

The agreement rules follow directly from how the determiners behave. Each, every, either and neither are singular determiners — they point to one item at a time, so they take a singular verb (each box is…). All, both, several and many are plural and take a plural verb (both boxes are…). Some, none, half and most take their number from the noun after of (most of the water is… but most of the books are…). If you know whether the determiner is singular or plural, the verb usually follows. See Advanced Determiners: each, every, all, both, none.

How to say it

• is / are are usually unstressed and often contracted: there’s, they’re. Even when you say there’s two in speech, write there are two.
• has in everyone has links smoothly: “everyone-haz”. The final s of has is a /z/ sound after the vowel.
• nor /nɔː(r)/ rhymes with for; keep it distinct from or /ɔː(r)/ so neither…nor is clear.
• The -ths in two thirds and months is a soft blend — say “thir-dz” and let the s follow lightly rather than forcing a hard stop.

Quick recap before you practise.

Practice

Quiz

Recap cheat-sheet

Next

• Previous grammar topic: Relative Clauses: whose, where, when, quantifier + whom
• Prerequisites: Present Simple: Affirmative · Advanced Determiners
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