Noun and Verb Agreement :
In
this Post we shall discuss about the Noun and Verb agreement of the
sentences. Have a look at the following points. These points will help
you to use correct verbs while writing sentences.
- In the sentences, with " One of The" and a relative clause, the verb should be Plural. Confused??? see the example.
- Aamir is one of the students who has paid the fee
☓
- Aamir is one of the students who have paid the fee
✔
- In the sentences with the "Only one of The" and a relative clause, the verb should be Singular.
- Aamir is the only one of the students who have paid the fee.
☓ :P
- Aamir is the only one of the students who has paid the fee.
Got the difference???
- When two nouns joined by "and" have their own articles, it is plural in number.
- The lecturer and the Principal is on the leave.
☓
- The lecturer and the principal are on the leave.
✔
What is the difference? We are saying THE lecturer and THE principal. So they are TWO people. So we should use ARE instead of IS. Have a look at another Rule. So that you can get the rule in detail.
- But, when two nouns joined by "and" with an article before the first are treated as Singular.
- The lecturer and principal are on leave.
☓
- The lecturer and principal is on leave.
✔
Here, we are joining TWO nouns with and and using a
Sing article (THE) before them. Simply, we are using one THE for two
nouns. So, we are talking about a single person. So we should use IS
instead of ARE.
Check the following examples
- I have a black and a white dogs. (Two dogs)
- I have a black and white dog. (One dog)
- When two nouns are joined by "and" refers to one thing, singular verb can be used.
- Bread and butter is a healthy food.
- The horse & carriage is at the door.
Noun and Pronoun Agreement :
- When a collective noun is unanimous, it takes a singular verb.
- The committee has taken its decision unanimously.
- But when a collective noun is NOT unanimous, it usually takes a plural verb & plural pronoun (adj)
- The committee are divided in their opinion.
- The expression "many a" takes everything in singular, but it express a plural meaning.
- Many students have passed their test
✔
- Many a students has passed this test
✔
