Agreement

in English
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 1
 Concord
AGREEMENT BETWEEN SUBJECT AND
VERB
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride
School, Lagos, Nigeria 2
The importance of Agreement
in academic writing
Why textbooks don’t all treat
the subject
Is or Are : the crux of English
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 3
1. It’s a sad situation, you know,
when more than one man love /
loves you.

2. It’s even worse when you know

you must choose and all but one of
them are / is sure to lose.
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 4
3. Many a teacher has/have a little
difficulty with writing.
4. The man’s remains is/are to be
buried today.
5. My family lives/live in London but
it/they comes/come home during
holidays.(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 5
The basic rule states that
a singular subject takes
a singular verb while a plural
subject takes a plural verb.

Look at the following examples.

(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 6
o my friend
o the man I told you about
o one
of the ladies that live in my
house
o the guy that took your phone
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 7
o my friends
o the men I told you about
o two
of the ladies that live in my
house
o the guys that took your phone
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 8
o My friend was arrested last night.
o My friends were arrested last night.
o The man I told you about is in the room.
o The men I told you about are in the room.
o The guy that took your phone has been
dismissed.
o Those guys that took your phone have been
dismissed.(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 9
 Many words in English have odd forms that
make it difficult for users to know whether
they are singular or plural. E.g., remains,
barracks, surroundings, trousers, scissors.

Which is correct?
 My friend is dead; his remains is/are to be
taken to his village tomorrow.
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 10
The following classes of words count as
singular and therefore take singular
verbs.

1. Scientific subjects: mathematics,

physics, linguistics, politics, etc.

2. Games/sports: ninepins, draughts,

bowls, billiards, etc.
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 11
3. Certain diseases: shingles, measles,
tuberculosis, poliomyelitis, arthritis,
etc.

4. Titles of books, films, journals, etc.:

The Canterbury Tales, The Rise and
Fall of the West, The Adventures of
Tom Sawyer, etc. Chinedu
(c) 2024 Iweanya
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 12
Are the following words
singular or plural?

premises, surroundings,
outskirts, barracks, remains,
clothes, pants, shoes, etc.
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 13
Group A: General words: premises,
surroundings, clothes, outskirts
o All
these words are generally
regarded as plural:
o These are my premises and they’re
out of bounds to my relations.
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 14
o Mandate surroundings are generally
neat.
o My clothes have not arrived from the
tailor’s.
o Theoutskirts of the city belong to
hoodlums.
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 15
A special case is the word
remains (the body of a dead
person):

o Myuncle’s remains are to be

buried this evening.
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 16
Group B: Articles of clothing that
are made up of two parts that are
joined:

trousers, pants, shorts, knickers,

boxer shorts, drawers, shoes,
socks, suspenders, etc.
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 17
All of these are regarded as plural, and
take plural pronouns, verbs, etc.:

o These trousers are no longer

fashionable. I have to give them away.
But who will take them from me with
gratitude?
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 18
oIlove those shorts. How much did you
buy them?
o My husband, aren’t these the
housemaid’s pants? What were they
doing in your drawer?
o You need to buy new shoes. These ones
look like those of a Chinedu
(c) 2024 Iweanya grave-digger.
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 19
Group C: Tools made up of two
parts that are joined:

scissors, clippers, pliers, binoculars,

scales, tweezers, compasses,
glasses, goggles, frames, spectacles,
sunglasses, etc.
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 20
All these items are regarded as plural and treated
like those in Group B:
o Those glasses look odd on your face.
o Are
these frames trendy or shall I order
more modern ones?
o Where are the binoculars? I need them for
my trip. (c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 21
When there is a need to count the items
listed in Groups B and C, we use a pair
of, one pair of, twenty pairs of, etc.:

Tayo: How many pairs of shoes do you

have?
Olu: I have over a thousand pairs of
shoes butIweanya
(c) 2024 only one pair of pants.
Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 22
Group D: Nouns that refer to groups,
E.g.:

family, group, committee, class, choir,

team, association, audience, crowd,
jury, orchestra, congregation, couple,
etc. (c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 23
Depending on our meaning, items in this
group can be regarded as either singular
or plural.
If we think of an item as a single,
undivided unit, it takes a singular verb:
o This family is the oldest in our town.
o The team was formed
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chineduin 1900.
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 24
o Thecongregation in church on that day
was large.
o Does your association have a motto?
o The choir needs to be reorganised.
o Thiscommittee is going to be dissolved
soon. (c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 25
However, if we look at any of them as consisting
of members, each of whom may be acting on
his/her own, we should regard the item as a
plural, and use plural a verb, pronoun, etc.:

o When the team were defeated, they cried for

hours because they knew they had lost all the
recognition they ever had.
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 26
o His family do not discuss their private issues
with outsiders.

o Do your family live with you, or do they live

abroad and you visit them from time to time?

o The choir disappointed all their fans last week

when they sang “Hallelujah” out of tune.
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 27
o The audience were ecstatic when a
bomb went off behind the fake pastor
and shattered his head. In fact, they
rose to their feet and clapped their
hands because they believed that God
had just shown them that he hadn’t
sent the fool to minister falsehood to
them. (c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 28
Group E: Structures containing
expressions such as:

as well as, rather than, more

than, together with, along
with (c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 29
Note that:

1. None of these structures means

‘and’.

2. To select the verb of the sentence,

look at the noun that comes before
these expressions.
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 30
o Thegovernor as well as all his
advisers has been arrested by the
EFCC.

o Allthe governor’s advisers as well

as the governor himself have been
arrested by the EFCC.
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 31
o My aunt, together with her 15
children, was at the show.

o The15 children, together with

my aunt, were at the show.

(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu

City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 32
o That governor, rather than his wife,
his lawyer, his driver, and his lover
was guilty of the crime.

o Thegovernor’s wife, his lawyer, his

driver, and his lover, rather than the
governor himself, were guilty of the
crime. (c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 33
Group F: Expressions
containing:

either…or
neither…nor
not only…but (also)…
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 34
To decide the verb of a sentence containing
any of these structures, look at the noun
that follows or, nor and but (or but also):
o Either the teacher or the students are not
telling the truth.
o Either the students or the teacher is not
telling the truth.
(c) 2020 Iweanya Chinedu
Mandate Private
School, Lagos, Nigeria 35
o Not only the man’s only son but also
his three wives have been invited to
see his public disgrace.

o Not only the man’s three wives but

also his only son has been invited to
see his public disgrace.
(c) 2020 Iweanya Chinedu
Mandate Private
School, Lagos, Nigeria 36
Group G: Indefinite pronouns:

everyone, everybody, no one, nobody,

someone, etc.

Usually, these are singular and take

a singular verb, as in:
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 37
o Does anyone want to go with me to Okija
shrine?
o Everybody hopes to live up to 100 years.

o No one knows how this man’s mind works.

o Someone is at the gate. Go and ask what he
wants.
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 38
However, these days, it is normal to use these
items with plural verbs and pronouns:

o If anyone asks for me, tell them to come

back in the evening.

o Someone was eating here a while ago but

forgot their wallet.
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 39
o Ifanyone acknowledges that
Jesus is the Son of God, God
lives in them and they in God…
God is love. Whoever lives in
love lives in God, and God in
them.
(1 John 4: 13-16)
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 40
“Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who
draws strength from mere flesh and whose
heart turns away from the LORD. That
person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places of the
desert, in a salt land where no one lives.
(Jeremiah 17: 5-10)
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 41
o When the police asked if anyone
knew the beheaded man,
everybody shook their head.

o Unfortunately,
everyone lost their
property during the fire incident.
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 42
1. A number of and The number of
A number of is usually plural and
therefore requires a plural verb:
oA number of students have just
returned.
oA number of things seem to be wrong
with this (c)nation.
2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 43
The number of is usually singular and
takes a singular verb:

 The number of beggars in our country

has increased in the last decade.

 The number of people who want

Buhari to succeed is smaller than that
of those who
(c) 2024 want him to fail.
Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 44
(c) 2020 Iweanya Chinedu
Mandate Private
School, Lagos, Nigeria 45
Kayode: How many guests are we
expecting?
Funmi: Well, about 60.
Kayode: Wow! Sixty people is a
large number.
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 46
o Two-thirds of the population
has taken the oath.
But:

o Two-thirdsof the people in his

cabinet have taken the oath.
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 47
o One hundred thousand light years is an
extremely long time.

Note that when such words refer to single

units, we use plural verbs:

(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu

City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 48
o Genie: I’ve been alive for 25,000
years, but all those 25,000 years
were spent in a bottle.
o Sixty-five
people are already at
the Events Centre.
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 49
The concept of Concord is more
complex than can be handled
in just a couple of hours, and
you’re advised to consult many
other sources for more
information on it.
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 50
Questions
Review
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 51
Best wishes
(c) 2024 Iweanya Chinedu
City Pride School,
Lagos, Nigeria 52