GENERAL LITERACY

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 DISCLAIMER
This is not an official document from NTC or the office of GTLE but a
document compiled by Abraham Dogbey (SIR AB.) This document may exclude
some of the content for the GTLE. As a result of this, readers are advised to
consult other relevant materials if needed.
 SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT
A subject is the noun or pronoun that usually comes before a verb, and represents the person or thing that
performs the action. It must be noted that, a subject may also be said to be that which is spoken about.

• Examples:

• The girl dances well

• She is a lecturer
• The child always cries for pizza.
• We love our parents.

• The subject may also be singular or plural. Examples of singular subjects are “girl”, “he”, “Abraham”, etc”.
“girls”, “we”, “they”, etc” are examples of plural subjects

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Singular subjects Plural subjects

The girl dances The girls dance well

He swims every day. They swim every day.

Amma learns hard. Amma and Yaa learn hard.

Ab. teaches English Language Ab. and Mike teach GTLE candidates

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SUBJECT-VERB CONCORD CON‘D
A Verb is an action word or a state of being.

Action verbs

• Teach, dance, slap, jump, walk, fly, etc.

State of being
• Is, was, are, were,

Agreement = Concord
What is subject-verb agreement?
This is when the verb agrees with the subject in number and in person.

By number, we mean that the subject can be singular or plural.

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In a nutshell, singular subjects take singular verbs while plural subjects take plural verbs, as
shown in the few examples below:
• Abraham drives to school. Abraham (singular subject) takes ‘drives’ (singular verb) to show
agreement.
• They drive to school. ‘They’ (plural subject) takes ‘drive’ (plural verb) to show agreement.

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 RULES OF SUBJECT-VERB
AGREEMENT
1. Rule One
When the subject is singular, the verb must be singular too.
Example:
• She writes every day.
• I like reading
• NOTE: In the sentence, "I like reading", ‘I’ is a singular subject but it takes ‘like’ which is plural.
• Even though, ‘I’ is singular, it always takes a plural form of the verb, as a convention. The singular only verb ‘I’
takes is am (was). ✔

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2. Rule Two
Plural subjects go with plural verbs.
Examples:
• They dance very well.
• Ab and Mike teach together.
• We have taught well.

3. Rule Three
Subject and Object concord
When everybody or everyone Is used, the object must be singular, not plural.
Examples:
• Everybody knows his or her name. ✔
• Everybody knows their name. ✖
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RULES CON’D

4. Rule Four

• Mandative subjunctive concord

When prayer, suggestion, wish, demand, recommendation, or resolution is used in a sentence, the verb that follows must be plu ral,
whether the subject is singular or plural.
• Example:
• It has been suggested that he go away. ✔
• It has been suggested that he goes away.✖
• The board has recommend that the manager resign.✔ NOT resigns✖

• I pray that God help me on my upcoming examination. ✔ NOT God helps.✖

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 RULES CON’D
5. Rule Five

The Principle of proximity

This principle states that when there is a list of nouns or pronouns at the level of the subject, it is the nearest noun or pronoun to

the position of the verb that will determine the choice of the verb.

Examples:

• If Eugenia fails her examination, her teachers, her parents, her friends, or Angela (………. ) to

be blamed.

• The correct option to fill that blank space is, “is”✔ not “are”✖ because, at the subject

Level, we have her teachers, her friends, her parents and Angela ( four different people).

In order to choose the correct verb, we will need to choose the nearest subject to the

Gap as the subject, which is “Angela”.

Note: what makes us consider the only one noun or pronoun used in this sentence is

Because of the use of “or.” However, if the conjunction used is “and,” all the nouns or

Pronouns used in the sentence will be considered as the subject. I will be explained better

when we get to the type of such concord.

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 RULES CON’D

Back to Eugenia.✍
But if the question comes in this 👇 manner, the answer will be different,
Example:
If Eugenia fails her examination, her teachers, her parents, her friends, or I (…… ) to be blame.
The correct answer here is “am,” because the pronoun “I” is the nearest subject to the gap, so if
“I” is the subject, the verb that goes with it, is “am.” 💃

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RULES CON’D

6. Rule Six
Many – a concord
When many – a is used, the verb and the noun that follows must be Singular
Example:
• Many a candidate ✔ (NOT candidates✖) speaks ✔( NOT speak✖) bad English expressions.
• Many a girl ✔ (NOT girls✖) is ✔ (NOT are✖) here.
The actual meaning of statements 1 and 2 are many candidates and many girls.

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RULES CON’D

7. Rule Seven
“A pair of ” concord
• When “a pair of ” is used, the verb must be singular.
Example:

• A pair of trousers lies on the bed.✔

• NOT > A pair of trouser lie on the bed.✖
• A pair of scissors lies (not lie) on the table.✔
• NOT > A pair of scissors lie on the table.✖

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 RULES CON’D
8. Rule Eight
• Notional Concord
• Notional concord is also called collective noun concord.
• A collective noun: is a noun that stands for many units that constitute that single word.
Here under notional concord we consider the relationship between collective nouns and their
verbs. A collective noun as explained earlier is a noun used to refer to a group of people or thing e.g.
committee, team, classroom, family etc. With collective nouns, the context determines
whether the verb is singular or plural. If the noun is taken as a unit. Then the singular verb will be
used but if the members in the group are seen as separate. Then, the plural will be used.

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 NOTIONAL CONCORD CONT’D

Examples
The committee meets once in a year.
The committee contribute to issues as they are empowered.
The jury vote according to their consciences.
The jury was dissolved after the case.

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• 9. Rule Nine
Parenthesis
The parenthesis statement is an additional statement to what has already been said
before.
• Note: A parenthetical statement should not be considered in choosing the verb
that will follow.
Examples:
1. The teacher, not her students is in the class. ✔
• Note: “is” is the correct answer because ( not her students) is just parenthesis, and parenthesis has nothing to do with choosing the verb.

2. The manager, not many of his workers, is ✔(NOT are✖) here now.
Note: “not many of his workers” is just a parenthesis, therefore, the parenthesis
should be ignored. The manager is a singular noun, hence a singular verb.

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RULES CON’D

10. Rule Ten

“More than” concord

When more than is used, the word or number that comes after more than will

determine the next verb.

Example:

1. More than two apples are ✔( NOT is✖) here.

2. More than one oranges is ✔( NOT are✖) here.

In the first statement, the answer is “are” NOT “is”, because “two” attracts “are”. However, in the

second statement, the correct option is, “is” NOT “are” because “one” attracts “is”.

Note: Do not think because more than one means at least two, that you will use a

plural verb after, no, you will use a singular verb

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RULES CON’D
11. Rule Eleven

Accompaniment Concord
When any of these following words are used, the subject of the clause would be the
noun and pronoun that comes before the marker of accompaniment.

Words like as much as, alongside, as well as, together with, no less than, in
association with, including, like, with, and in collaboration with, etc
Examples:
1. Abigail, as well as her friends, is✔ ( NOT are✖) beautiful.
The answer is, “is” because Abigail is the noun that comes before “as well as”,
hence Abigail is the subject and it is a singular noun hence a singular verb.
2. The little kids alongside their parents are (not is ×) here.
The correct option is “are” not “is” because the “little kids” come before “alongside”. The
subject is plural hence a plural verb.
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12. Rule Twelve

• Indefinite pronoun concord

• When any of the following words are used, you should use a Singular verb
• Such words as; Everybody, everything, everyone, everywhere, no one, nothing,
nobody, nowhere, something, someone, somebody, anyone, anything, anybody,
anywhere and each. the next verb must be singular.
Example:
1. Nothing goes✔( NOT go✖).
2. Everybody likes✔(NOT like✖) him.
3. Everybody thinks✔(NOT think✖) he stole the money.
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 RULES CON’D

13. Rule Thirteen

• When indefinite pronouns are followed by relative pronouns such as who, that, which, whom,
whose, etc, the verb agrees with the antecedent.
Examples:
• She is the girl who dances every Sunday – the girl who dances
• She is one of the girls who dance every Sunday – the girls who dance
• He is the farmer who cherishes farming – the farmer cherishes.
• He is one of the farmers who cherish farming – the farmers cherish.

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RULES CON’D

14. Rule 14
Two or more singular subjects connected by ‘or’, ‘nor’, ‘either’, ’neither’ or ‘nor’
take a verb in the singular, e.g.,
1. Neither Aku nor Shine has come.
2. No nook or corner was left unexplored.

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RULES CON’D

Rule 15
When the subjects joined by ‘or’, ‘nor’ are of different numbers, the verb must be
plural, and the plural subject must be placed next to the verb. e.g.,
Kofi or his brothers have done this.
Either the boy or his parents have gone there.

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RULES CON’D

Rule 16
When the subjects joined by ‘or’, ‘nor’ are of different persons, the verb agrees in
person with the one nearest to it, e.g.,
Either he or I am mistaken.
Neither you nor he is to blame.

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Rule 17
If a sentence begins with “neither” or “either” without the “or/nor” combination, the verb is singular.
Example:
1. Neither of the two girls is here.
2. Either store is fine with me.

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