Practice Exercises: Subject-Verb Agreement - Answers

1.  The blue stain on the sheets comes from the blue jeans I washed with them.
   (Ignore words and phrases that intervene between the subject and the verb.)
2. There were many applicants for the position.
   (The verb agrees only with the subject, even if the subject follows the verb.)
3. None of the suspects has confessed.
   (Indefinite pronouns always take a singular verb.)
   Indefinite pronouns:
   each, either, and neither,
   --one words (no one, anyone, none, everyone, someone),
   --body words (nobody, somebody, everybody, anybody),
   --thing words (nothing, something, anything)
4. Everyone needs to turn in papers by Friday.
   ("Everyone" is an indefinite pronoun. It takes a singular verb.)
    
5. The dog and the cats beg to go outside.
   (Compound subjects joined by and take plural verbs.)
6. The dog, together with the cats, begs to go outside.
   (Phrases like "together with," "as well as," and "along with" are not the same as and. They do not make a compound subject requiring a plural verb.)
7. The nurses or Dr. Brown usually takes the night shift.
   (If compound subjects are joined by or or nor, the verb agrees with the subject closer to it.)
8. Neither Mrs. Simpson nor her students agree with the decision. 
   (If compound subjects are joined by or or nor, the verb agrees with the subject closer to it.)