5. Subject-predicate agreement

 

The sentences below will help you review the most important rules of subject-predicate agreement:

 

Exercise 5.1.

 

Countable

There (is / are) two clean shirts in your bottom drawer.

There (stands / stand) three young men

There (‘s / ‘re) too many of them living up there.

Few (is / are) expected to remain here in the summer.

None of the children (goes / go) to school today.

A large number of cars (was / were) parked on the lot.

The number of books missing from the library (is / are) large.

The majority of people (is / are) little moved by this sight.

The majority (was / were) in favor of the proposal.

Many an artist (comes / come) here every day.

The barracks (was / were) quite new.

New aircraft (has / have) been already ordered.

We came to the crossroads that (was / were) described in the guide book.

Offspring (is / are) usually more brilliant than parents.

The deer (is / are) hunted in the fall.

Zebra (is / are) a difficult prey.

Television series nowadays (is / are) simply atrocious.

 

Uncountable

Acoustics (is / are) the science of sound.

The acoustics in the new concert hall (is / are) faultless.

Ceramics (is / are) very popular in our area.

Cards (is / are) a compulsive game.

Two thirds of the swampland (has / have) been reclaimed as a recreation area.

Politics (is / are) much more difficult than physics.

What (is / are) your politics?

In our church the clergy (does / do) not marry.

The cattle (was / were) not allowed to graze freely.

 

Collective

How (is / are) your family?

The Durham family (was / were) at the breakfast, father, mother and babies.

The majority (has / have) supported the incumbent.

The band (was / were) beginning to play.

The band (was / were) to be our guests for the night.

The headquarters of the company (is / are) located in Brussels.

 

Units

Another five minutes (goes / go) by.

All this effort and sacrifice (has / have) not helped.

A hi-fi set and a case of soap (was / were) the first prize in the beauty contest.

Fifty-six dollars (was / were) stolen from the cash register.

Twenty-one years (is / are) a long time.

Twenty divided by five (equals / equal) four.

The wife and mother (was / were) asked before the plan was made.

To labor in peace and to devote her life to her son (was / were) all she sought.

The bread and the butter (makes / make) a nice lunch.

 

Names

“Great Expectations” (was / were) written by Dickens.

The United States (was / were) very much interested in this region.

 

And-connectors

There was no bright sunset; west and east (was / were) one cloud.

Both the students and the teacher (has / have) come.

And here (was / were) experience and culture.

There (was / were) standing a desk and three chairs.

Reading Ibsen and solving equations (is / are) difficult assignments.

The red and the white rose (is / are) both beautiful.

Hot and cold water (was / were) supplied in every room.

Classical and light music (has / have) both their admirers.

 

Or-connectors

Neither Helen nor I (am / is / are) planning to attend the conference.

Not only all the teachers but even the director herself (was / were) shocked.

 

As well as

Mr.Henry, together with his wife and children, (plans / plan) to visit Crater Lake.

An engine with a number of cars (was / were) creeping up the hill.

 

Every

Each of the answers (is / are) correct.

Either of the answers (is / are) correct.

It’s necessary to involve every man, woman and child who (is / are) willing to help.

None of us (understands / understand) it.

All (was / were) in favor of the plan.

 

Antecedents

He is one of those boys who (is / are) always willing to take on another task.

Who (was / were) supposed to apply to her for permission?

Who (was / were) to be the subjects of their piracies?

 

Clauses

Where you found him (does / do) not concern me.

What were once precious manuscripts (was / were) scattered all over the floor.

What I say and what I do (is / are) my own affair.

 

It is...

It (was / were) only English girls who could be trusted to travel alone.

It (is / are) they who (is / are) responsible for the delay.

 

Exercise 5.2. Use the appropriate form of the verb.

 

1. 1.       My school-mate and my new fellow-student (has, have) met at my place lately.

2. 2.       Our old teacher and friend (is, are) dangerously ill.

3. 3.       Our old teacher and our young friend (is, are) dangerously ill.

4. 4.       When (is, are) your grandson and your granddaughter coming to see you?

5. 5.       The family (was, were) sitting round the table.

6. 6.       A number of people (was, were) standing on the river bank.

7. 7.       The number of books in my library (has, have) increased.

8. 8.       "The two Gentlemen of Verona" (is, are) a comedy by Shakespeare.

9. 9.       The red and green plaid (is, are) on the sofa.

10. 10.   The gray and the black puppy (was, were) sleeping on the rug.

11. 11.   The cattle (was, were) grazing in the field.

12. 12.   Twenty rubles (is, are) not much for this nice coat.

13. 13.   The wounded (was, were) transported to the hospital.

14. 14.   The works (consists of, consist of) different shops.

 

Exercise 5.3. Replace the infinitives in brackets by the correct form of the verb. Sometimes, two variants are possible.

 

1. 1.       Another three meters (to be) bought for the girl's dress.

2. 2.       Each and every one of you (to be) good.

3. 3.       Presently all (to be) quiet again.

4. 4.       It (to be) I who (to be) on duty today.

5. 5.       I (to be) afraid it (to be) you, Tom, who (to be) in the way.

6. 6.       Three and a half dollars a day (to be) not a lot of money.

7. 7.       Either of the books (to be) interesting.

8. 8.       There (to be) lots of history and biography.

9. 9.       There (to be) a lot in what you say.

10. 10.   There (to be) a dozen people there.

11. 11.   The police, of course, (to be) helpless.

12. 12.   He thought, that the remainder of the crowd, who (to be) waiting downstairs, could not hear him.

13. 13.   The French (to see) these things differently from us.

14. 14.   How foolish the old (to be), thinking they can tell what the young (to feel).

15. 15.   Have some bread and butter. The bread and butter (to be) on the counter.

16. 16.   A box as well as a book (to be stolen).

17. 17.   None of them (to be going) to get against me.

18. 18.   The Himalayas (to be) the eastern end of a great series of folded mountains.

19. 19.   The works (to be) to be closed.

20. 20.   The ten years he had lived in the North (to have changed) him greatly.

21. 21.   My brother as well as I (to be) ready to accompany you to the station.

22. 22.   There's just one or two little things that (to be worrying) me, doctor.

23. 23.   Every man, woman, and child in the city (to be) there.

24. 24.   The majority of the people (to have) their minds made up.

 

Exercise 5.4. Use the appropriate form of the verb.

 

1. 1.       Huckleberry's hard pantings _____his only reply. (was, were) (Twain)

2. 2.       There _____ many a true word spoken in jest, Mr.Cokane. (is, are) (Show)

3. 3.       On such meetings five minutes _____ the time allotted to each speaker. (was, were) (London)

4. 4.       It was dark and quiet. Neither moon nor stars _____ visible. (was, were) (Collins)

5. 5.       To be the busy wife of a busy man, to be the mother of many children _____, to his thinking, the highest lot of woman. (was, were) (Trollope)

6. 6.       "Well," says my lady, "_____ the police coming?" (is, are) (Collins)

7. 7.       She is supposed to have all the misfortunes and all the virtues to which humanity _____ subject, (is, are) (Trollope)

8. 8.       Ratterer and Hegglund, as well as most of the others, _____satisfied that there was not another place in all Kansas City that was really as good. (was, were) (Dreiser)

9. 9.       There _____ a great many ink bottles. (was, were) (Dickens)

10. 10.   It was as if the regiment _____ half in khaki, half in scarlet and bearskins. (was, were) (Galsworthy)

11. 11.   There _____ a number of men present. (was, were) (Walpole)

 

Exercise 5.5. Analyze the subject and the predicate.

 

1. 1.       On her going to his house to thank him, he happened to see her through a window.

2. 2.       To describe one's character is difficult and not necessarily illuminating.

3. 3.       Nothing seemed to matter.

4. 4.       To be wanted is always good.

5. 5.       I came to know many Negroes, men and women.

6. 6.       Elaine, this ill-advised behavior of yours is beginning to have results.

7. 7.       They must have gone through the service doors into the kitchen quarters.

8. 8.       It is no use trying to run away from them.

9. 9.       No one got the better other, never, never.

10. 10.   Lewis stopped dead at the corner, staring in blank astonishment after these two figures.

11. 11.   We and all the people have been waiting patient for many an hour.

12. 12.   One cannot help admiring the fellow.

13. 13.   There all men could be equally valuable as human beings.

14. 14.   We must begin here and now to show.

15. 15.   But for the accident he would have got there all right.

16. 16.   Would you come a little later?

17. 17.   He simply would not answer.

18. 18.   You will get out of here and you will stay out.

19. 19.   Nothing will make me change my mind.

20. 20.   It does not make sense.

21. 21.   She wasn't born blind like the other children.

22. 22.   It must have seemed natural to use the caves in the cliff for storing things at the time.