Subject and verb agreement_ Sự hòa hợp giữa chủ ngữ và động từ

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Subject and Verb Agreement
I. Singular verbs:
1.

Each / Every / Either / Neither + singular noun

Example:

Each student is listed in the catalogue.
Every article in this newspaper is very interesting.
Either day is fine for me.
Neither day was suitable.

2.

Each of
Every of
Either

of

+ plural noun

Neither of
Example:

Each of the children has a story.
Either of the days is fine for me.
Neither of the days was suitable.

Neither of us has any money.

3. Uncountable noun: are nouns which cannot count
Many types of food:

spaghetti, yoghurt, cheese, flour, butter, meat, rice, etc

Liquids:

water, coffee, soda, lemonade, oil, petrol, tea, wine, beer, etc

Materials:

silver, wood, plastic, glass, etc

Abstract nouns:

freedom, love, beauty, help, education, knowledge, etc

Others:

news, advice, information, weather, furniture, luggage,
baggage, hair, air, accommodation, behavior, equipment,
fun, research, rubbish, machinery, money

4. Indefinite pronouns
Every
Any
No
Some

Example:

+ body / thing / one /
where

Everything looks bright and clean.

5. Gerund / Clause at the beginning of a sentence as a Subject
Example:

Reading is my favorite hobby.
Internal Use
Only


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Growing flowers is her hobby.
That you get high grades at school is necessary.
6. Who, what in questions
Example:

Who wants tea?
What has happened?

7. The number of + plural noun
Example:

The number of students in this class is 12.
The number of people we need to hire is 13.

8. One of + plural noun
Example:

One of my favorite subjects at school is English.

9. Names of the countries, regions, cities, organizations, etc: The
United States, the Philippines, The United Nations, Laos
Example:

The United States is big.
The United Nations has its headquarters in New York City.

10. Names of the subjects: mathematics, physics, statistics, economics,
politics, etc
11. Names of sports: gymnastics, athletics, bowls, etc
12. Names of games: billiards, dominoes, etc
13. Names of illnesses: measles, mumps, diabetes, etc
14. Time, money, distance, weight
Example:

Five minutes is not enough to read all the reports of the week.
Fifty kilometres is a long way.
Five hundred thousand pounds was donated to build a new

hospital.
15. Title of books, story, article (normally with “and”)
Example:

Tom and Jerry is very well-known all over the world.

16. Names of languages: English, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, etc
Example:

English is spoken in many countries.
Chinese is his native language.

II. Plural verbs:
1. Noun and noun (different thing, person)
Example:

Water and oil do not mix.
Internal Use
Only


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2. A number of + plural noun
Example:

A number of problems have arisen recently.
A number of people have written about this subject.

3. The + adjective (refer to a group of people with general meaning): the
poor, the rich, the unemployed, the disable, the injured, the dead, the elder,
the young, the homeless, the Vietnamese, the Chinese, the English, etc
Example:

The rich are not always happy.

4. Nouns which refer to objects that consist of two parts: trousers, jeans,
binoculars, shorts, socks, shoes, gloves, pyjamas, glasses, earrings, scissors,
etc
BUT: a pair of shoes / gloves  singular verb
5. Other nouns: clothes, people, police, stairs, earnings, wages, cattle,
poultry, goods, outskirts, premises, remains, belongings, troops, surroundings,
children, etc
Example:

Police are trying their best to reduce the crime rate in the city.
The goods were sent from a foreign country.
His belongings were stolen at night.

III. Both Singular and Plural verbs:
1.

Either +

Noun1 +

or

+ Noun2

Neither

nor

Not only

but also

Example:

+ Verb

Either tea or coffee is fine to me.
Neither the secretary nor the employees have the keys to the store

room.

2.

Noun1 +

as well as

+ Noun2

together with
along with
in addition to
other than

Internal Use
Only

+ Verb

4

Example:

The kitchen, as well as the toilet, is painted in blue.
The teachers together with their students are attending a club

meeting.
3. Noun1

+ preposition

Example:

A box of cigarettes contains 20 pipes.

4.

+ Noun2

All / All of

+ Verb

singular noun 
singular verb

Some / Some of
Plenty of

Half of

+

Most / Most of
A lot of / Lots of

plural noun  plural
verb

None of

Example:

None of the boys are good at English.
A lot of coffee has been exported to other countries.

5. There

+ (be)

+ Noun

Example:

There is a fly in this room.
There are two people waiting outside.

6. Fraction / Percentage

Example:

+of

+ Noun

+ Verb

Two-thirds of the money is mine.
Two-thirds of the people here are unemployed.
Internal Use
Only


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Fifty percent of the pie has disappeared.
Fifty percent of the pies have disappeared.
7. Collective nouns: jury, family, team, group, crew, crowd, audience,
committee, council, army, club, press, government, company, etc
 Singular verbs when it refers to a unit and Plural verbs when it refers to
all individuals / members who make up the group.
Example:
others)

My family is sitting in the front of the cinema. (compared to
My family are going to go on a holiday in Japan. (all members of

the family)
The staff is in a meeting.

The staff are in disagreement about the findings.

Internal Use
Only