Identifying and Correcting Subject-Verb Agreement Errors

Dr. Richard Nordquist is professor emeritus of rhetoric and English at Georgia Southern University and the author of several university-level grammar and composition textbooks.

This exercise will give you practice in identifying and correcting errors in subject-verb agreement. You may find it helpful to review the guidelines and examples of Tricky Cases of Subject-Verb Agreement.

The Exercise

All sentences in this exercise are in the​ present tense. For each sentence, write correct if the verb in italics agrees with the subject in person and number. If the verb does not agree with the subject, write the correct form of the verb.

When you're done, compare your responses with the answers at the bottom of the page.

1. Music soothe me.
2. Once a month our teacher bake brownies for the class.
3. Mary never take the bus to work.
4. Paul and Douglas are arguing again.
5. Both of my daughters are professional gymnasts.
6. One of those mechanics have a set of jumper cables.
7. One of my brother's friends is a pilot.
8. Each of the children are allowed one extracurricular activity.
9. The woman who owns those cars live in my apartment building.
10. Every one of my professors drives a hybrid car.
11. Almost everyone in my town remember the night that the firehouse burned down.
12. The last two questions on the exam is especially hard.
13. The pulses emitted by a neutron star recur at precise intervals.
14. My sister in Tucson and my brother in Yuma is coming home for the holidays.

Here are the answers (in bold) to the exercise:

1. Music soothes me.
2. Once a month our teacher bakes brownies for the class.
3. Mary never takes the bus to work.
4. Correct
5. Correct
6. One of those mechanics has a set of jumper cables.
7. Correct
8. Each of the children is allowed one extracurricular activity.
9. The woman who owns those cars lives in my apartment building.
10. Correct
11. Almost everyone in my town remembers the night that the firehouse burned down.
12. The last two questions on the exam are especially hard.
13. Correct
14. My sister in Tucson and my brother in Yuma are coming home for the holidays.

Nordquist, Richard. "Identifying and Correcting Subject-Verb Agreement Errors." ThoughtCo, Aug. 13, 2021, thoughtco.com/correcting-subject-verb-agreement-errors-1690976. Nordquist, Richard. (2021, August 13). Identifying and Correcting Subject-Verb Agreement Errors. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/correcting-subject-verb-agreement-errors-1690976 Nordquist, Richard. "Identifying and Correcting Subject-Verb Agreement Errors." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/correcting-subject-verb-agreement-errors-1690976 (accessed September 20, 2024).

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