Subject and Verb Agreement

Sometimes it's very easy to figure out how to make sure the subject and verb match, but sometimes it's not so easy.  Here are some tricks to help us out:

1)  Look at the sentence and figure out what the action or verb is.

2)  Look over the sentence and figure out what is doing the action or verb.

3)  Read the subject then read the verb.  If it makes sense, you're are good.  If it doesn't make sense, use the other form--with or without the s.

Let's practice:

The dog that is sitting over there by the trees are barking.

Well, the main action in this sentence is "are barking."  

What is doing that?  Dog!  

Now, put them together:  dog are barking.  Huh?  That doesn't make sense.  Let's change it:

The dog is barking.  Yes, that makes sense.

Now, let's rework the sentence:  "The Dog that is sitting over there by the trees is barking."

Another one to practice is sneaky--those pesky and annoying compound subjects.  Here's an example

The bone and the ball is on Maynard's bed.

The main action or verb in this sentence is "is."  

What "is" on Maynard's bed?  The bone and the ball.

Bone and ball...those are two things, not one.  We call that a compound subject. 

So, if it's a compound subject, we need to change "is" to "are"

HINT:  Put pronouns in place of the subject to help you.  If I wrote "They are on Maynard's bed," that makes perfect sense.  If I wrote, "They is on Maynard's bed," that doesn't make sense.  

So, the right way to write it:  "The bone and the ball are on Maynard's bed."

Good luck and let me know if you have questions.