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Identifying Sentence Errors Posts

Conjunctions

By posted October 6, 2010

Yes, I’m sure all of you know what a conjunction is. We’ve all heard the famous song on “School House Rock.” (If you haven’t, please youtube it; you’re missing out on some pretty essential pop culture.)  My goal is not to tell you the difference between “and,” “but,” and “or.” My goal is to explain how conjunctions are used to link phrases and clauses.

The ACT will likely test you on two kinds of conjunctions: coordinating conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions. Each type has its own set of rules that you must follow.

Coordinating Conjunctions– For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So

Coordinating conjunctions are those conjunctions that connect words, phrases, and, most importantly, independent clauses. To remember the coordinating conjunctions, use the mnemonic device FANBOYS: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So. We already know that coordinating conjunctions can be used to link words (I need to buy milk and cookies) and phrases (John needs to run home and do his homework).

The most important function of the coordinating conjunction, however, is its ability to connect two independent clauses with a comma. An independent clause is a complete idea (containing a subject and verb) that can stand alone as a complete sentence. Let’s see some examples of the coordinating conjunction in action:

  1. I want to watch the game, but I have to work that day.
  2. I can watch the game, or I can go to work.
  3. I decided to skip work, so I’ll be able to watch the game.

Wrong: I decided to skip work, therefore I’ll be able to watch the game.  ”Therefore” is not a coordinating conjunction!

Notice that the comma and the conjunction separate independent clauses. “I want to watch the game” and “I have to work that day” can stand as complete sentences, so they are independent clauses. The important rule to know is that, if one side of the conjunction is not an independent clause, I don’t need a comma:

2. I can either watch the game or go to work.   No comma!

Notice that I changed sentence 2 so that “I can go to work,” an independent clause, is now “go to work,” a simple phrase. As a result, I removed the comma since the conjunction no longer divides two independent clauses.

Subordinating Conjunctions– Because, Before, After, When, Since, Until, Although, While

Like coordinating conjunctions, subordinating conjunctions help to connect two independent clauses, but they can only do so by making one of the clauses dependent (i.e. subordinate). When I place a subordinating conjunction in front of an independent clause, I render that clause dependent, thereby facilitating its linkage with an independent clause.

Comma use with subordinating conjunctions depends on the placement of the clauses:

  1. When the independent clause comes first, you don’t need a comma.
  2. When the dependent clause comes first, you need a comma to separate the clauses.

Here are some examples of this difference:

  1. Because I forgot to study, I received a failing grade on the exam.
  2. I received a failing grade on the exam because I forgot to study.

Notice that each sentence has two clauses, one of them independent and the other dependent. The clause “because I forgot to study” is dependent; it cannot stand alone as a sentence. If we were to remove “because,” though, “I forgot to study” would function as an independent clause. The subordinating conjunction renders the clause dependent.

A common error is placing a comma before the subordinating conjunction in the second form:

  1. I received a failing grade on the exam, because I forgot to study. ßwrong

In this example, you simply do not need a comma when you place the dependent clause after the independent clause. As you can see, conjunctions are accompanied by specific comma rules. As you all know, the ACT loves to test for comma usage, so beware of comma placement when you see conjunctions like these.

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SAT Pronouns: It’s All “Relative”

By posted August 3, 2010

There are a variety of ways that the SAT can test pronouns: antecedent agreement, subjective case, objective case, etc. A few special pronouns to keep in mind are what we call “relative” pronouns. These are pronouns like that, who, whom, whose, which, where, when, and why. This special group of noun substitutes are often used to link a subordinate clause back to the main clause in a sentence. There are a couple good rules to remember when it comes to relative pronouns.

Use who and whom when referring to people. “Who” is the subjective case pronoun used to refer to people, while “whom” is the objective case pronoun.

Examples:

She spoke to whom?

The man who is giving the speech is my husband.

The girl with whom I work is named Cynthia.

“Who” is used to replace the subject, such as “the man” in our example sentence.

To figure out whether to use who or whom in a sentence, rephrase it as a question.

Lisa, (who or whom?) loves ice cream, ate the entire gallon!

Ask yourself: Who or whom likes ice cream? The answer: Lisa. Since “Lisa” is the subject of the sentence, it must be replaced with the subjective case, who.

Lisa, who loves ice cream, ate the entire gallon!

If we’d answered the question with an objective pronoun, then whom would have been correct.

With (who or whom?) do you like to go shopping?

Since this sentence is already a question, all we have to do is provide a logical answer: With you.

Although you can be used as both a subject and an object, because of the preposition “with” in front of it, we know the objective case is needed.

So the correct sentence should say: With whom do you like to go shopping?

Use the relative pronouns which and that to refer to inanimate objects.

Which is often used to introduce a subordinate clause and is set off by commas from the rest of the sentence. That is used within the body of the sentence.

The SAT , which I am taking in the fall, is going to be so easy!

The SAT that I took last year was harder than I thought.

Remember to never use which or that to refer to people, only to things.

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Identifying Sentence Errors

By posted July 27, 2010

On the SAT Writing section, there will be 18 total Identifying Sentence Error questions, or ISE’s. They count for the largest percentage of your Writing score. You’ll soon see how a firm understanding of grammar and a confident process of elimination are all you need to get most of these questions correct!

1. Check each underlined portion individually. What part of speech is underlined? Is it a verb, preposition, adjective, adverb, pronoun, etc? You’ll want to make sure you know your parts of speech. The SAT loves to test the same errors over and over, so knowing each part of speech will be a big clue. Here are some of the most common errors:

-          Verb – check the Subject-Verb agreement, Verb tense, number, etc.

-          Pronoun – check for a clear Antecedent, does the Pronoun agree with the noun in number?

-          Preposition – is the transition appropriate? Is it idiomatically correct? Make a flashcard of the most common  Idioms and learn them like you would vocabulary words. Idioms alone account for approximately 10% of your SAT Writing score!

-          Adverb/Adjective – remember that adjectives can only describe nouns, while adverbs can describe verbs, adjectives and other adverbs. Is there a word that is modifying a verb that needs an –ly suffix?

Incorrect: She moved quick.

Correct: She moved quickly.

The more you practice, the more you will see that certain errors occur commonly with certain parts of speech.

2. Check for style errors. After checking for errors within the underlined portions, go back and re-read the sentence as a whole. Specifically look for errors related to Parallelism, Comparisons, Transitions, and Wordiness. These errors will muddle the clarity and meaning of the sentence. Does the meaning of the sentence make sense to you as written?

3. Trust yourself. After you’ve aggressively identified each underlined part of speech and checked for style errors, you may not be able to find an error. Don’t second-guess yourself. You’re probably right! It’s important to remember that 5-8 of them will have “No Error”. That is somewhere around 1/3 of all ISE’s!

As you study, if you find yourself choosing (E) too often, you probably need to spend more time studying the most common types of grammatical SAT

Start your grammar practice by reading these other articles about Identifying Sentence Errors here.

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Identifying SAT Verb Errors

By posted June 14, 2010

The most common way verbs are tested on the SAT are in subject-verb agreement, however sometimes Identifying Sentence Errors will contain other verb errors. While it’s important to make sure that verbs always agree with their subject in number, it is also important to check to make sure that the verb tense makes logical sense in the context of the sentence.

Verb tense errors have to do with when the sentence takes place. If the action of the sentence is happening in the present, a verb in present tense is required. If the sentence describes something that has not yet taken place, it requires the future tense. There are six verb tenses you should be familiar with for the SAT. These three you probably already know:

Present Tense: I clean.

Past Tense: I cleaned.

Future Tense: I will clean.

The other three are part of what is called the perfect tense. To express this tense, we write the word “have” or “had” before the conjugated verb. The conjugated verb is called the “past participle” in this tense.

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Idioms

By posted March 30, 2010

On the SAT Writing, an “idiom” is a recognized grammatical construction that is a rule simply because of tradition. The idiom constitutes the ultimate tautology: we say something a certain way because, well, that’s how we say it. It’s a bit like when you ask your parents why they enforce a certain rule, and they answer “because I said so:” even though the answer does not satisfy your question, you must still obey the rule. Idioms, the “because I said so’s” of the grammar world, are no different, and the SAT Writing is no more forgiving.

On the SAT Writing, most of the idioms you will face will involve preposition usage. Why do I listen “to” the radio instead of listen “at” the radio? Simple–because I said so. Or, more precisely, we say “listen to” because that is how English speakers have said it for hundreds of years. We like it that way, and we are not willing to change. Got it? We’re a stubborn little bunch, aren’t we?

For some students, idiom errors can be the easiest to spot on the exam. To these students, an idiom error sticks out like a sore thumb. When they read something like “listen at the radio,” they hear dissonance. The only way to restore grammatical harmony is to replace the grating “at” with the soothing “to.” Balance is restored.

Not everybody thinks this way. For many who learned English as a second language, and even for those who have a purely logical–as opposed to intuitive–understanding of language, idiom errors are extremely difficult to detect. After all, there is no logical explanation for why we say “listen to” instead of “listen at.”

Even if you think you know English idioms like the back of your hand, take a glance at the following list of verbs, adjectives, and nouns and the prepositions that accompany them. You may find that you’ve been saying something incorrectly all this time (gasp!).

idioms1idioms2

While most of the word pairs in the list above will be obvious to you, try to find those with which you are not so familiar. Even better, if you find a preposition that sounds weird to you or even wrong, practice writing sentences with its correct usage and use the phrase in everyday speech. The more familiar these constructions become, the easier it will be to identify when they are being used incorrectly.

Here are a few examples to exercise your new idiom savvy:

  1. I am preoccupied about my studies.
  2. She had a fondness toward dolls when she was little.
  3. The SAT consists in three sections: Math, Reading, and Writing.
  4. John’s hatred for the Los Angeles Lakers fueled his love for the San Antonio Spurs.

Fixes:

  1. I am preoccupied with my studies.
  2. She had a fondness for dolls when she was little.
  3. The SAT consists of three sections: Math, Reading, and Writing.
  4. John’s hatred of the Los Angeles Lakers fueled his love of the San Antonio Spurs.

    5. Now check out the Grockit Blog for more tips and practice identifying idiom errors on Grockit!

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Gerunds

By posted March 8, 2010

A common writing mistake is thinking that gerunds are verbs. GERUNDS ARE NOT VERBS. Gerunds typically involve using a verb (in the -ing form) as a noun. Just because it looks like a verb + “ing”, does not mean it is a verb. Often times, SAT questions try to take advantage of this misconception by giving you sentences with gerunds but no verb. For example, Listening to his ipod, John skiing down the slope.

As a noun, gerunds can either be the subject or the direct object of a sentence. Let’s use the verb “to read” as an example. The gerund of “to read” is “reading” and it can be used as a subject in a sentence like
Reading Shakespeare is compulsory for every high school in America.
Or it can be used as a direct object in a sentence like
I enjoy reading Shakespeare in my English class. (Here, the verb is “enjoy” and the object is “reading”)

Now that you know how to use gerunds, you need to bear in mind three main types of mistakes involving gerunds.

Mistake 1
The first is the one mentioned in the first paragraph – the presence of a gerund but a lack of a verb. Using the previous sentence as an example, Listening to his ipod, John studying for the SAT should be Listening to his ipod, John skiis down the slope.

This mistake is a little harder to spot when there is a modifying clause that has a verb in it. For example, Sarah walking down the street, her head bent in thought. Just because there is a verb “bent” in the sentence does not make the sentence grammatical. The main clause in the sentence is “Sarah walking down the street” and this lacks a verb. The second part, “her head bent in thought” describes Sarah and is a modifier. For the sentence to be grammatical, it would have to be Sarah walked down the street, her head bent in thought.

Here are some faulty sentences. What’s wrong with them?
Many of the best kids’ movies, including both “The Labyrinth” and “The Dark Crystal,” originating in the mind of Jim Henson.
If you ignore the clause that is between the commas (“including both… Dark Crystal”), you will realize the the main sentence is “Many of the best kids’ movies originating in the mind of Jim Henson”. The problem is, this sentence needs a verb, so “originating” has to be changed to “originated”.

Shakespeare writing some of the best tragedies, such as Romeo and Juliet, which is read by just about every high school student.
As before, it is always a good habit to strip away the modifiers and identify the main part of the sentence. Romeo and Juliet is an example and “which is read by just about every high school student” is a modifier referring to Romeo and Juliet. So the main sentence here is “Shakespeare writing some of the best tragedies”. Again, this is lacking a verb so “writing” should be changed to “wrote”.

Mistake 2
The second type of mistake is a lot harder to spot unless you have a good command of English. There are some verbs that must always be followed by gerunds.

For example, admit, consider, stop, deny, appreciate are all followed by gerunds.
He admitted to having a cigarette or two during my lunch break.
Seeing as he was so lonely, I considered setting him up with a friend.
Sally stopped singing in the shower when she realized her roommates could hear her.
She denied breaking the exquisite vase on the table.
I appreciate hearing a good voice sing the national anthem.

Certain verbs are frequently used with a preposition that must also be followed by a gerund.
For example,
He complains ABOUT having to work long hours.
He insisted ON paying for the meal.
I object TO using violence to solve problems.
She looks forward TO seeing her boyfriend at Christmas.
The politician has a habit OF rewording your speeches at the last minute.

In general, it is fairly safe to assume that prepositions should be followed by gerunds.

Mistake 3
This is the “being” mistake. Being is not a verb. Try saying “I being, you being, he being, she being”. It sounds wrong doesn’t it? Being can be correctly used in the passive voice, but more often than not, being is used to create overly wordy sentences that are not the answer.

Take a look at this sentence.
Tom was punished by his teacher, not for his tardiness, but for his being extremely disrespectful towards her.

In addition to the original phrase, it is common to see a choice like “the reason being for his extreme disrespect towards her”. The presence of “being” should sound an alarm in your head immediately. Read through it quickly, and if it sounds awkward and clumsy, eliminate those choices. Go for the simplest choice such as “but for his extreme disrespect towards her”.

Check out Grockit for more SAT verbal practice with Amanda!

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ID sentence errors – adjective/adverb confusion

By posted February 26, 2010

In this segment, we will take a look at adjective/adverb confusion in the SAT writing section for the “ID sentence errors” section.

In general, an adjective is any word that is used to modify a noun or pronoun. An adverb modifies a verb, adjective or another adverb.

For example:

Adjective – The woman’s amazing voice resounded in the room.
Adverb – The woman’s voice resounded amazingly.

In the first case, the adjective “amazing” is modifying the noun “voice.” And in the second case, the adverb “amazingly” is modifying the verb “resounded.” It’s a subtle difference, but one that is tested on the SAT.

Now in everyday speech, you’re hard pressed to find someone who speaks grammatically 100% of the time. Because of this, we hear a lot of adjectives where adverbs should go. But unfortunately, the SAT doesn’t care about what happens in real life, so it’s something you’re going to have to try and spot.

Luckily, it is very simple to check. When coming across an “ID sentence errors” question, check every underlined choice to see if any of them contain an adjective. If so, then it’s matter of checking the context of the adjective.

Example: The bold spoken words could not sway the jury’s decision.

In this case, the adjective “bold” should be changed to the adverb “boldly” because it is modifying “spoken” which is an adjective. In the context of the sentence, the “words” themselves aren’t bold, but the way that they are spoken is bold.

By spotting adjectives in the ID sentence error choices, it is easy to tell if they are incorrect or not. Just remember the definitions of adjective and adverb. If the underlined adjective is modifying a noun or pronoun, then it is fine. If it is modifying an adjective, adverb or verb, then you should change it to an adverb.

Another defining factor of the adverb is that adverbs will answer the questions “how,” “when,” “where,” and “how much.” But again, make sure to keep the main tenant in mind. Adjectives – nouns/pronouns, Adverbs – verbs/adjectives/adverbs.

With these hints in mind, it’ll be easier to find the adjective/adverb questions in the ID sentence errors. Granted, not every question will deal with this subject, but if it does, it only takes a few seconds to spot whether or not an answer choice is an adjective. And, like I said before, if there is an adjective in an answer choice, then you can spot to see if it is used correctly by remembering the definitions of adjectives versus adverbs.

Play an SAT game on Grockit for more ID sentence errors practice.

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Subject/Complement Agreement

By posted December 17, 2009

So, you’ve conquered subject/verb agreement, pronoun case, and idiom usage. Bravo. Are you ready to move on to something a bit more challenging? This next topic in SAT Writing, if pondered long enough, can make even the pickiest English teachers scratch their heads. Lucky for us, though, the SAT isn’t malicious (I think). Once you nail the fundamentals of subject/complement agreement, leave the tough stuff for the grammarians.

First of all, what’s a complement? Look at the sentence “He is my friend.” In this simple example, “He” is the subject and “my friend” is the complement. Obviously, there is no agreement problem there. But how about this sentence: “Lions and tigers are the most ferocious beast of the animal kingdom.” Certainly, there is an issue with the complement “ferocious beast;” it should be plural since the subject is plural. Here’s a not-so-easy example:

1. The host asked his guests to bring a dish to the party.

This probably sounds fine to most of you. In fact, there may be some grammar authorities out there who insist that it is fine, but it is certainly ambiguous. The ambiguity in this sentence comes from the complement “a dish.” According to the SAT school of grammar, this sentence implies that the guests will collectively bring one giant dish. Imagine, if you will, a cluster of formally-dressed dinner guests huddling under a giant Tupperware container of potato salad, each guest doing his part to hold up the mass of mayonnaisey deliciousness. This is what the subject/complement problem does to us: it makes us imagine crazy things. To fix the problem, make the complement plural:

1. The host asked his guests to bring dishes to the party.

The tragedy is, of course, that we no longer know that each guest was required to bring just one dish. It’s a small price to pay to avoid that ridiculous image we thought of earlier. Can you think of a better way to write this sentence? If you did, you deserve a gold star. Here’s the best correction:

1. The host asked that each guest bring a dish to the party.

By changing the plural “guests” to the singular “each guest,” we eliminated the need to change the number of our complement. Don’t worry–you don’t have to be that clever on the SAT. That last correction was a tip for your own writing.

On the SAT Writing, you will most likely see singular complements that need to be plural, since we have a tendency to make that error in English. Here are a few more examples of sentences which violate subject/complement agreement:

2. After having to sit in the front row of the movie theater, the brothers complained that their neck was sore.

Though we know that each brother only has one neck, this sentence implies that the brothers share a neck.

Correction: After having to sit in the front row of the movie theater, the brothers complained that their necks were sore.

3. All children love their first grade teacher.

While we want to convey the idea that each child has only one first grade teacher, this sentence implies that there is one first grade teacher who teaches all children. If such a person existed, he or she would deserve an award–and a vacation.

Correction: All children love their first grade teachers.

4. All the women waited for their husband to arrive.

While we want to make it clear that each woman has only one husband, this sentence suggests that these women share a husband.

Correction: All the women waited for their husbands to arrive.

There is one more case we have to cover. When the complement is an abstract or uncountable noun, it remains singular. For example:

5. Despite the tempting offer to throw the game, the basketball players rejected the offer and retained their integrity.

Because “integrity” is an abstract noun and cannot be counted (we can’t have three integrities), we keep it singular: integrity.

6. After an intense game of four square, the kids drank water from the drinking fountain.

Notice that the only time you can “drink waters” is when you are drinking bottles of water. As the sentence indicates, such is not the case. “Water,” in its unbottled form, is an uncountable noun. No matter how many gallons of water there are in the ocean, water remains singular.

Just remember: if you can count it, make it plural. If you can’t, leave it alone. But be careful–these days you can bottle anything and make it countable (I wouldn’t be surprised if they sold bottles of integrity for three bucks a pop). I still like my uncountable nouns to be singular–the way nature intended.
Meet me in a Grockit game for more SAT ID sentence errors practice!

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Pronoun/Antecedent Agreement

By posted December 3, 2009

For Sentence Error ID questions, we know that we should automatically search for the subject of the sentence and its corresponding verb, but we should also look for pronouns and their antecedents. An antecedent is the noun or pronoun to which a pronoun refers. In the simple sentence, “John forgot to finish his homework,” John is the antecedent of the possessive pronoun his. Pronouns must agree with their antecedents in person, gender, and number; for the SAT, though, you only have to worry about pronoun number.

Errors with pronoun number are very common in English.

Here’s a mind-blowing example of a common pronoun/number error:

ex. Is everyone happy with their grades?

Can you spot the error? If you can, you’re probably in the minority of English speakers. If corrected, this sentence would read:

ex. Is everyone happy with his or her grades?

Why should the possessive plural pronoun their become the possessive singular pronoun his or her? Simple: “Everyone,” believe it or not, is a singular pronoun. After all, do we say “everyone is happy” or “everyone are happy?” Though it seems to refer to a whole bunch of individuals, “everyone” is really saying “every one,” or in other words, “each individual.” So the next time you’re stuck on the pronoun/number problem with “everyone,” go ahead and substitute “each individual” for this tricky pronoun. Sure, it’s painfully robotic, but does this sentence—“Is each individual happy with his or her grades”—slightly ease the burden on your brain?

“Everyone” is just one example of what we call “indefinite pronouns,” or pronouns that refer to one or more unspecified beings, objects, or places. Here are a couple more pronouns that act just like everyone: nobody and no one. Take a look at these examples:

1. Nobody knows their way around Manhattan.

2. No one can tell me if they finished their homework.

Corrections:

1. Nobody knows his or her way around Manhattan.

2. No one can tell me if he or she finished his or her homework.

After reading the section on “everyone,” you should know that the plural pronouns “their” and “they” should be changed to “his or her” and “he or she,” respectively. Like “everyone,” these indefinite pronouns are singular. The explanation for this, however, is not as elegant as the explanation for “everyone.” Simply put, how can “nobody” and “no one,” two pronouns that signify “no individual,” be mistaken for plural? It’s a common mistake that, when contemplated, really makes no sense at all. Just as we say “nothing is going well” instead of “nothing are going well,” we should say—at least on the SAT– “nobody learns grammar rules when he or she fails to pay attention in class.”

Here are some commonly misused indefinite pronouns that are all singular (like “everyone”):

each, either, neither, one,

no one, nobody, nothing,

anyone, anybody, anything,

someone, somebody, something,

everyone, everybody, everything

Try to spot the errors in these examples using the above pronouns:

Does anybody really know their place in life?

Each of the teachers give me their advice.

Neither of those sandwiches look appealing.

Can somebody tell me their deepest, darkest secrets?

Although the “neither” sentence is testing subject-verb agreement rather than antecedent agreement, all the sentences incorrectly use plural pronouns or verbs when they should use the singular.

Corrections:

Does anybody really know his or her place in life?

Each of the teachers gives me his or her advice.

Neither of those sandwiches looks appealing.

Can somebody tell me his or her deepest, darkest secrets?

SAT Writing generally uses singular indefinite pronouns to fool us, but here are just a few plural indefinite pronouns:

several, few, both, many

Correct use of plural indefinite pronouns:

Several of my friends need their essays revised.

Many writers struggle with their first novel.

Now that we’ve discussed indefinite pronouns and their antecedents, there is one more topic to discuss regarding pronoun/antecedent agreement: compound nouns. You don’t have to worry, though–this is simple one. If you ever see two nouns connected by and, the pronoun should be plural:

Correct use of compound noun:

The father and son went on their first camping trip.

See? That’s simple enough, right? Now the next time your teacher says “Did everyone do their homework?,” you can tell him or her how to say it correctly. Or, you can just smile to yourself–teachers make mistakes too.

Now go use Grockit for practice.

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Subject – Verb Agreement

By posted November 9, 2009

Subject-verb agreement is primarily tested on the Identifying Sentence Errors questions on the SAT but you may also see them in some Improving Sentences questions. With just a little practice this can be one of the easiest areas to rack up points in the Writing section.

Let’s look at some basic rules governing Subject-Verb construction.

1. Verbs agree with their subjects in person.

First-person:

I am a good student.

We are good students.

Second-person:

You are going to get a great SAT score!

Third-person:

He was very good at writing essays.

She is excellent at trigonometry.

Sharon is going to study abroad next year.

The movie was a romantic comedy.

2. Verbs agree with their subjects in number.

A singular subject requires a singular verb.

Lois fills up her gas tank whenever it’s low.

A plural subject requires a plural verb.

Lois and Marie fill up her gas tank whenever it’s low.

They were going to fill up the tank, but they forgot.

Verbs may not always follow directly after the subject.

The puppies in the cages at the mall looked so adorable.

3. Generally, collective nouns take singular verbs.

Collective nouns are nouns that imply more than one person (such as a group, a team, a family, etc.). Even though they imply more than one person, the nouns themselves are singular and require singular verb forms.

The board is reviewing the plans to revise the budget.

The family was concerned over the recent tax hikes.

Occasionally collective nouns will take plural verbs when the collective noun is meant in the sense of many individuals and not the group as a whole.

A number of people are interested in running for governor.

4. When collective nouns are in plural form, they require plural verbs.

The boards are reviewing the plans to revise the budget.

The families were concerned over the recent tax hikes.

5. Compound subjects are made with the conjunction and. They require plural verbs.

Benjamin and Sarah love to ride their bikes.

6. Two singular subjects connected by either/or or neither/nor take a singular verb

Either Jeffrey or Donna is going to eat the leftovers.

Neither Clair nor Daniel is attending the meeting.

7. A singular and plural subject connected by either/or or neither/nor takes a plural verb.

Neither Jeffrey nor the girls are going to eat the leftovers.

Here are some common words that will always require singular verbs: each, everyone, every one, everybody, anyone, someone, and somebody.

Keep a list of these rules next to you as you study and get in the habit of “matching” a sentence’s subject to its verb! Visit the Grockit forum or leave a comment here to discuss further.

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