Subject/verb agreement gotchas

Last updated: 13 Oct 2008

Subject/verb agreement problems sound easy, all you need to do is make sure that the verb form agrees with the subject of the sentence.

However it is worth being aware of several tactics used in these questions to make them more difficult.

All focus on making to it harder for you to correctly identify whether the subject of the sentence is singular or plural.

Singular subjects which sound plural

You will often find singular subjects which sound plural in the GMAT.

Nouns which end in 's'

The following are all singular even though they end in 's'.

Statistics is a hard subject for many students

The news is good from home.

Gymnastics is an Olympic sport.

Names

The names of places and of companies and other organizations are usually regarded as singular, regardless of their ending.

The United States is a large country.

Goldman Sachs is in the Forbes 500 for 2003

The United Nations is based in New York City

Collective nouns

Collective nouns are also treated as singular subjects.

For example

The army is ready.

The jury needs more time.

List of collective nouns
army audience band class committee Congress	crowd dozen family group government	herd jury lot majority minority	mob organization public staff team

Plural nouns

Some nouns are always treated as plurals even if there is only one of them

The scissors are new

List of plural nouns
clippers glasses jeans	pliers pants scissors	shorts tongs trousers	tweezers

Separated subjects and verbs

In the GMAT you will often find that a phrase or clause often separates the subject and the verb. The verb must still agree with the subject.

For example

Incorrect: The rate of MBA applications are increasing.

Correct: The rate of MBA applications is increasing

This is because 'rate' is the subject of this sentence and is singular.

In an attempt to confuse you in the GMAT, the phrase or clause separating subject from verb will hint at a plural answer when the subject is singular.

For example

One of the chickens is going to cross the road.

A group of defense contractors is lobbying for a change in the law.

Compound subjects

Compound subjects are also used to make subject/verb agreement questions more challenging.

Most compound subjects take a plural verb

Sally and Tom are going to the cinema.

Sally and her nephews are going to the cinema

However there are some exceptions.

Two or more singular subjects joined by or or nor take a singular verb.

Sally or Tom is going win the race.

Neither Sally nor Tom nor Victor is an MBA student.

Next page: Subject/verb agreement example