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GRAMMARis singular or plural. A verb must agree in number withthe noun or pronoun that is its subject.17A A verb agrees in number with its subjectA singular subject requires a singular verb; a plural subject,a plural verb.SingularThe house has three bathrooms.UCLA is my choice.My cat, a Persian named Gus,is awake all night.PluralMany houses have morethan one bathroom.UCLA, Berkeley, andStanford are myfavorites.Cats, according to thisarticle, are almostalways nocturnal.Mandy, together with the other Mandy and the other girlsgirls, wonts a pizza for lunch. wanta pizza for lunch.17B Do not let intervening words obscure therelationship between subject and verb17C17D17EFind the subject and make the verb agree with it.EXAMPLES:A column of wounded prisoners, townspeople,and exhausted soldiers was spotted strugglingover the horizon. (Was spotted agrees with itssubject, column, not with the intervening pluralnouns.)She, her brother, and her friends from upstatehave always bougftf tickets to the rock concert.(The verb agrees with the plural subject.)Singular subjects followed by such wordsand phrases as along with, as well as, inaddition to, together with, or wifh requiresingular verbsEXAMPLE:The carrier, together with three destroyers and twofrigates, was dispatched to the MediterraneanSea.Indefinite pronouns like anybody, each,either, everyone, neither, and one arealways singular, and take a singular verb,regardless of intervening wordsOther indefinite pronouns, like all, any, none, or some,may be either singular or plural. Both, few, many, andseveral are always plural.EXAMPLES:Neither of my children has an interest in music.All is not lost. BUT All of us are going.Few of the golfers were professionals.Compound subjects joined by and usuallytake a plural verb(An exception is a compound subject that names one person,thing, or idea: Ham and eggs is a favorite breakfast.)EXAMPLES:The Toyota and the Ford are low on gas.The Pendletons, the Riveras, and the Kleins arecoming to dinner.17F In sentences that begin with there is orthere are, the subject follows the verb, andthe verb must agree with itEXAMPLES:There are (verb) many reasons (subject} for thewar in the Middle East.17G Singular subjects joined by or or nor take asingular verb17HIf one subject is singular and the other plural, the verbshould agree with the nearer subjectEXAMPLES:Either the vegetable or the pan is creating thisawful taste. (Singular subjects)Either the pan or the vegetables are creating thisawful taste. (The verb agrees with the nearersubject.)Collective nouns (bunch, committee, family,group, herd, jury, number, team) may beeither singular or plural, depending uponwhether the group is regarded as a unit oras individualsSINGULAR:The number of homeless families increases everyyear.The committee has the serious responsibility ofselecting a new dean,Notice that the same nouns are considered plural whenthe reference is to several individual members of thegroup.PLURAL:A number of homeless people were ill enough torequire hospitalization.The committee have not agreed on a date for thepicnic.NOTE:A good rule to follow with number, total, and similarnouns is that, preceded by the, number is singular; precededby a, it is plural. Another test: A number of shouldbe treated as plural if it signifies several of many.171 Words like aeronautics, cybernetics,mathematics, and physics or like news anddollars, are plural in form but usuallysingular in usageEXAMPLES:Mathematics is a subject essential to the sciences.Eighty-five do//ars for that coat is a bargain.28