Subject-Verb Agreement: The Cases That Actually Trip People

Agreement is the one grammar rule almost everyone applies correctly without thinking. It fails in a narrow set of situations, and all of them share a cause: distance between the subject and its verb.

Words in the way

A phrase between subject and verb pulls the ear towards the nearest noun:

Wrong: The box of chocolates were expensive.
Right: The box of chocolates was expensive.

The subject is box. Of chocolates is a prepositional phrase, and a subject never lives inside one.

The test: cover everything between the subject and the verb, then read what remains. The box … was expensive.

Phrases like along with, as well as, together with, in addition to and including do not create a plural: The manager, along with two colleagues, is attending. If you want a plural, use and.

Either, neither, each, every

These are singular, however plural the surrounding words feel:

Each of the students has a copy.
Neither of the answers is correct.
Every one of them was late.

With either … or and neither … nor, the verb matches the nearer subject: Neither the manager nor the staff were told. Neither the staff nor the manager was told. Both correct, and the second sounds better, which is why writers usually order the list to put the singular last.

Collective nouns

Team, committee, staff, government, family, band.

American usage treats them as singular: the team is winning.
British usage takes either, depending on meaning: the team is winning (as a unit) against the team are arguing (as individuals).

The one firm rule is consistency within a sentence. The committee has published its report, and they are pleased with it switches halfway.

“There is” and “there are”

There is never the subject — the real subject comes after the verb:

There is a problem.
There are three problems.
Wrong: There’s several issues. Extremely common in speech.

Quantities and fractions

Some, most, half, all, none and percentages take their number from what they refer to:

Half of the cake is gone. — uncountable.
Half of the biscuits are gone. — countable.
Twenty per cent of the budget was cut.
Twenty per cent of employees were affected.

This depends on countability, which is doing quiet work throughout English grammar.

But a measured amount treated as one thing takes a singular verb: Three years is a long time. Twenty miles is too far.

The catch-all

Find the subject, delete everything between it and the verb, and read the two words together. Almost every agreement error is visible the moment the distance is removed.