PE-74: Subject–Verb Agreement
Finding the real subject when a long phrase gets in the way — plus the nouns that look plural but aren't, and the ones that look singular but are.
PE-74: Subject–Verb Agreement
The basic rule is easy and you learned it in PE-9: singular subject, singular verb. The difficulty is that English loves to put long phrases between the subject and its verb, and your ear starts agreeing with the wrong word. "The box of old books is heavy" — not are, even though books is the last thing you heard.
In this lesson you will learn
- How to find the real subject in a long sentence
- What and, with and as well as do to the verb
- Nouns that look plural but take a singular verb — and the reverse
- Money, time and distance amounts
1. Ignore what comes between
Find the head of the subject — the one word the sentence is really about — and match the verb to that. Cross out everything in between.
The book on the shelf near the windows is mine.
Derazalar yonidagi tokchadagi kitob mening.
The head is the book — singular. Shelf and windows are just decoration.
One of my friends is a doctor. — A number of students are absent.
Doʻstlarimdan biri shifokor. — Bir qancha oʻquvchi yoʻq.
One of… → singular. But a number of… → plural, because the meaning is "several".
2. and makes plural — but with doesn't
and → plural verb
- Jasur and Afsona are here.
- Bread and butter are on the table.
with / as well as → unchanged
- Jasur, with his friends, is here.
- The teacher, as well as the pupils, was late.
The logic: and genuinely adds a second subject. With, as well as, together with and including only add extra information, so the verb keeps agreeing with the original subject.
3. The tricky nouns
1Look plural, are singular
news, mathematics, physics, politics — The news is good.
2Look singular, are plural
people, police, children — The police are here.
3Uncountables
information, advice, furniture, money — Advice is useful. (PE-2)
4Always plural
trousers, glasses, scissors — My glasses are broken.
The news was surprising, and the people were shocked. Physics is my favourite subject.
Yangilik hayratlanarli edi va odamlar hayron boʻlishdi. Fizika mening sevimli fanim.
4. Amounts of money, time and distance
When a plural amount is treated as one quantity, the verb is singular.
Ten dollars is not enough. — Two hours is a long time. — Five kilometres is quite far.
Oʻn dollar yetarli emas. — Ikki soat — uzoq vaqt. — Besh kilometr ancha uzoq.
We are thinking of one amount, not ten separate dollars.
5. there is / there are, and either/or
- there is / there are agrees with the noun that follows it (PE-7): There is a book and two pens.
- either … or / neither … nor — the verb matches the nearer subject: Neither Jasur nor his brothers are here.
- each / every / everybody → always singular (PE-71).
- Collective nouns (team, family, government) can take either, depending on whether you mean the unit or the members: The team is strong / The team are arguing.
6. Common mistakes
The list of students are on the wall.
The list of students is on the wall.
One of my friends live in Nukus.
One of my friends lives in Nukus.
The news are very good today.
The news is very good today.
The police is looking for him.
The police are looking for him.
Twenty thousand som are not much.
Twenty thousand som is not much.
Practice
1 Choose: The box of chocolates on the table ? (be) for you.
Show answer
is — the head of the subject is the box, not chocolates.
2 Choose: Afsona, together with her sisters, ? (be) coming.
Show answer
is — together with adds information but does not add a subject. (With and it would be are.)
3 Correct it: Mathematics are difficult for many students.
Show answer
Mathematics is difficult for many students.
It ends in -s but names one subject of study.
4 Choose: Three years ? (be) a long time to wait.
Show answer
is — one period of time, treated as a single quantity.
5 Choose and explain: Neither the teacher nor the students ? (know) the answer.
Show answer
know — with neither … nor the verb agrees with the nearer subject, and the students is plural.
Key words — Kalit soʻzlar
- Agreementmoslashuv
- Head nounasosiy ot
- Phrasesoʻz birikmasi
- Collective nounjamlovchi ot
- Amountmiqdor
- Distancemasofa
- Absentyoʻq, kelmagan
- As well as...bilan bir qatorda
- Shockedhayratda qolgan
- Governmenthukumat
🎯 Remember this
- Find the head of the subject and ignore the words in between.
- and → plural · with / as well as / together with → verb unchanged.
- news, physics, information → singular · people, police, glasses → plural.
- Amounts of money, time and distance take a singular verb.
- neither … nor → agree with the nearer subject.