Subjects and verbs must agree in person and number. The rule is basically simple: a singular subject requires a singular verb form, and a plural subject requires a plural verb form. The difficulty is to determine whether the subject is singular or plural; whether is it first, second, or third person; and whether the proper verb form is matched with the subject.
Person is distinguished according to:
For each category above, singular and plural for person are distinguished.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First person | I | we |
| Second person | you | you |
| Third person | he, she, it, tree, cat, picture | they, trees, cats, pictures |
One problem occurs with pronouns, for pronouns must agree with their antecedents (the nouns for which they are substituting) in number, gender, and person.
Hence, if the antecedent is plural, the pronoun must be plural:
If the antecedent is singular, the pronoun must be singular:
The following words are considered singular and require singular pronouns: anyone, everyone, everybody, anybody, many a, either.
A word is a noun if it functions as a noun in a sentence. For example, the word hope may be used in several ways.
When a word (or words) is used as a subject, it is considered a noun or noun form. The following four characteristics help to identify nouns:
The problem of number for nouns: singular and plural. Most nouns can be made singular or plural. Some, however, are only singular and others only plural. Below are various methods or noun rules by which nouns are made plural with examples.
Most nouns, including proper nouns, add s. Proper nouns are specific names, for example, George Smith, JFK High School, Park Avenue.
| Nouns | Proper Nouns | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| frog | frogs | Smith | Smiths |
| banana | bananas | Charley | Charleys |
| attorney | attorneys | Wiley | Wileys |
| toe | toes | Cohen | Cohens |
| chief | chiefs | ||
Some nouns add es.
Nouns that end with sh, ch, s, or x add es:
| box | boxes |
| bush | bushes |
| brush | brushes |
| church | churches |
| gas | gases |
| glass | glasses |
Some nouns ending with a consonant followed by an o, add es:
| embargo | embargoes |
| potato | potatoes |
| tomato | tomatoes |
| veto | vetoes |
| volcano | volcanoes |
Some nouns change their final f or fe to ves:
| calf | calves |
| elf | elves |
| half | halves |
| knife | knives |
| leaf | leaves |
| loaf | loaves |
| thief | thieves |
| wife | wives |
Some nouns change internal vowels:
| foot | feet |
| goose | geese |
| louse | lice |
| man | men |
| mouse | mice |
| tooth | teeth |
| woman | women |
Nouns that end in ey (the vowel y) add s to form plurals:
| gulley | gulleys |
| valley | valleys |
| money | moneys |
Nouns that end in a consonant plus y, drop the y and add ies:
| ally | allies |
| baby | babies |
| boundary | boundaries |
| city | cities |
| enemy | enemies |
| fly | flies |
| lady | ladies |
| secretary | secretaries |
| sky | skies |
| variety | varieties |
Proper nouns ending in y add only an s. Most other proper nouns add only an s or es, so that the basic spelling of the names is not changed.
| Burke | Burkes |
| Bush | Bushes |
| DiFranco | DiFrancos |
| Dilly | Dillys |
| James | Jameses |
| Jones | Joneses |
| Klatch | Klatches |
Some nouns are identical in the singular and in the plural. It is usually necessary to use numerals to tell the reader whether they are singular or plural. For example: He saw one Japanese. He saw ten Japanese.
| Chinese | Chinese |
| deer | deer |
| moose | moose |
| scissors | scissors |
| sheep | sheep |
| trousers | trousers |
Some nouns are used only as plurals:
| acoustics | athletics | cattle |
| goods | headquarters | premises |
| tactics | proceeds | riches |
Some nouns are used only as singulars:
| economics | ethics | measles |
| mumps | molasses | news |
| physics |
Collective nouns may be considered singular or plural depending on their use in the sentence.
| audience | board | class |
| club | crew | crowd |
| faculty | family | fraternity |
| group | majority | minority |
| tribe | troop |
Pronouns, words used instead of nouns, may also be singular or plural. They must agree in number with the noun they are replacing and also with their verb.