Subject–verb agreement: avoiding a common slip

The verb must agree with its subject: a singular subject takes a singular verb, and a plural subject takes a plural verb.

The dog barks. The dogs bark.

Watch out for words in between

“The box of chocolates is on the table.” The subject is “box”, not “chocolates”.

“One of…”

“One of the boys was late.” The subject is “one”, so the verb is singular.

“Each” and “every”

“Each student has a locker.” “Every one of them was ready.”

Collective nouns

Words like team, family and class can take either, depending on meaning. In British English, “the team are celebrating” (thinking of the members) and “the team is top of the league” (thinking of the group) are both acceptable. Just be consistent.

“Neither… nor”

The verb agrees with the nearer subject: “Neither my brother nor my parents were home.”

Try it: choose the correct verb: “The list of names (is / are) on the wall.” “Neither of them (has / have) finished.”