Singular Verb

Have you ever wondered why we say, She looks very pretty and not She look very pretty? The answer lies in grammar rules on concord or subject-verb agreement. The basic rule is that singular verbs must agree with singular nouns, while plural verbs must agree with plural nouns. What is a noun? It is a word to name people, places, events, things or ideas.

A singular verb is one that has an s added to it in the present tense, such as writes, plays, runs, and uses forms such as is, was, has, does. A plural verb does not have an s added to it, such as write, play, run, and uses forms such as are, were, have and do.

Singular Verb

Download 🔥 https://ssurll.com/2y3BtU 🔥

Well, it all depends on whether we are thinking of the team as a single collective unit or as individuals. If it is the former, then the verb should be singular. However if we are considering the team as comprising individual members who are not acting as a single unit, then we use the plural verb.

I stumbled across this essay. I agree that the singular use of THEY should take a singular verb. After all, the word is simply a replacement for he or she. The plural verb only adds confusion.

Example: They are standing across the street

Is that a single person being referenced or more than one person?

Better to write: They *is* standing across the street for the singular, and *are* for the plural.. Nice and clear.

I disagree that the use of "you are" justifies the use of "they are." The word "you" tells the audience that the comment is about one specific person, so confusion shouldn't exist. This clarify does not apply to "they are."

I typically don't use they as a singular pronoun. But, when I do, the singular verb is used. It might sound awkward, but this style doesn't require alot of extra words trying to clarify that I'm talking about one person, not more than one.

Thanks for your well written essay. I would be interested to hear your additional thoughts.

Hi Brad,

Thank you for your comment. I'm glad you found my piece.

I'm finding a lot of resistance to using singular verbs with "they," and I can understand why and how awkward it sounds. I'm not sure I get your point about "you," though. "You" does mean either singular or plural, so it doesn't necessarily say that the comment is about one specific person. If I'm talking to a group and I say "I hope you will fill out this survey," I don't mean just one person in the room but all of them. It does leave "you" as ambiguous often, whether I mean just one person or more than one.

I'd be happy to hear more of what you're thinking. Thank you again for leaving a comment. And I'm glad you liked the piece

I agree. The construction "they are" already has a well-established meaning that all of us easily understand--more than one. The singular version just adds unnecessary ambiguity. And most writers are not precise enough to clear up the confusion.

I understand that the "you are" is plural, but I don't find that argument very persuasive. Actually, so what? The singular "they" is just making it's way into everyday writing, so let's simply agree to use the singular verb and not add unnecessary confusion. Singular "they" is used as a replacement for "he is" or "she is" so why not "they is?" If singular "they are" is the future, then why not allow folks to write "He ARE going to the store?"

You might be interested to know that things have become interesting at my office since I first wrote my response. Few here are using the singular "They are" but are, instead, using "Xe" to be gender neutral. "He is," "She is," "Xe is." I prefer this construction as well.

We've also seen additional discussion about "They are" being used only when refering to non-binary folks. And some ladies have objected to "she" not being used because it erases their gender.

This usage of singular "they" is going to be interesting to watch!

I understand the impulse, but I don't think it's going to happen, simply because it sounds awkward and isn't necessary.

In well-written text, there should be no confusion about what is meant by they, like there should be no confusion about who is included in you or we.

I'm going to stick to plural verbs; there's grammatical precedent and it just reads far smoother.

Hi, H. I certainly agree that using a singular verb with "they" sounds awkward. We're not at all used to it, though we are becoming used to "they" referring to one person. I do think clarifying singular or plural can require some cumbersome rewriting at times. I, too, am much more comfortable using plural verbs with "they." But language changes in its own ways over time, following its own logic, and what sounds awkward now might become common and less awkward. We can't predict what language changes will become the norm. But for now, I haven't seen anyone much using singular verbs with "they," so your preference is safe. And fine with me!

Subjects and verbsmust AGREE with one another in number (singular or plural). Thus,if a subject is singular, its verb must also be singular; if a subject isplural, its verb must also be plural.

Note: In this example, the subject of the sentence is pair;therefore, the verb must agree with it. (Because scissors is theobject of the preposition, scissors doesnot affect the number of the verb.)

A present-tense verb (as well as a simple past form of the verb be) must agree in number with its subject. That is, the verb must be singular if its subject is singular, and plural if its subject is plural.

But there are some cases where a singular collective noun actually expresses a plural idea and needs a plural verb. The guidelines below will help you decide whether a singular collective noun takes a singular or plural verb.

When the members of a collective noun are performing an action as individuals, use a plural verb. In this case, all or some members of the group are doing something independently of the other members; the group is not acting together as a unit.

I found this sentence in Duolingo and don't know why 'kistlt' (3rd person singular) is used instead of 'kistltak' (3rd person plural) when there are 2 people doing the action. Can someone tell me the grammar rule? Thanks!

[I'm not interested if you think they should be used as a singular pronoun. If you want to critique gender-identity issues and modern adaptations, that's your prerogative, but please do it somewhere else.]

Collective nouns, like team, family, class, group, and host, take a singular verb when the entity acts together and a plural verb when the individuals composing the entity act individually. The following examples demonstrate this principle:

When the subject of the sentence does not agree in number with the verb, the sentence lacks subject-verb agreement. To preserve the subject-verb agreement, singular subjects take verbs marked for singular. Plural subjects must have verbs that are marked for plural.

In the sentence above, friend is the only subject and the verb are flying should be in singular form (is flying) to agree with it in number. The phrase with his parents is a prepositional phrase and not part of the subject, so it has no effect on the verb form.

Prepositional phrases such as with, together with, along with, as well as are not part of the subject and, therefore, have no effect on the form of the verb. The verb needs to agree in number only with the subject of the sentence.

When the compound subject is joined by or, nor, neither... nor, either... or and one part of the compound subject is singular and the other part is plural, the verb needs to agree with the part closest to it.

Collective nouns which refer to a group of people or things can take either a singular verb or a plural one depending on the meaning that is being implied. If the collective noun is taken to represent the group as one whole, then the singular form of the verb is used. For example:

Plural nouns of Latin origin take plural verbs (alumni, media, criteria, phenomena). The word data can take both a singular verb or a plural verb. The use of plural is more formal.

3. When a compound subject contains both a singular and a plural noun or pronoun joined by or or nor, the verb should agree with the part of the subject that is nearer the verb.

4. Doesn't is a contraction of does not and should be used only with a singular subject. Don't is a contraction of do not and should be used only with a plural subject. The exception to this rule appears in the case of the first person and second person pronouns I and you. With these pronouns, the contraction don't should be used.

Most ESL and EFL learners know that the verb's number in a sentence must match the subject's number. That is, if the subject is singular, the verb must be singular, and if the subject is plural, the verb must be plural:

This is called subject-verb agreement. In simple sentences, like the ones above, it is relatively easy to check the subject-verb agreement. But subject-verb agreement is more difficult to determine in complex sentences and in questions. Reader Vam asks specifically about the subject-verb agreement in the questions, "What is her name and date of birth?" and "Who are John and Mark?"

3. A compound subject made up of one singular part and one plural part that are joined by or or nor must use a verb whose number matches the number of the part of the subject that is closest to the verb:

When it comes to subject-verb agreement in questions, you must answer the question first to see if the answer is the object of the question or the subject of the question. The answers to both of the questions Vam asks are subjects, so the verbs need to agree with the subjects. 2351a5e196