Subject-verb agreement: exercise

Complete the following sentences using a verb in agreement with the subject.

1. Tobacco and alcohol …………………… injurious to health. (is / are)

2. Age and experience ………………….. wisdom. (bring / brings)

3. My father and my guardian …………………… me to study law. (want / wants)

4. Oil and water ……………………. not mix. (do / does)

5. Each man and each woman ………………… a vote. (has / have)

6. Neither John nor Peter ………………….. any right to the property. (has / have)

7. Either Jack or his brother ………………… responsible for this. (is / are)

8. A thousand dollars ………………….. distributed among the prize winners. (was / were)

9. One of my friends ………………….. in Paris. (work / works)

10. A committee ………………… appointed to assess the gravity of the situation.

Answers

1. Tobacco and alcohol are injurious to health. (Two or more singular nouns connected by and usually take a plural verb.)

2. Age and experience brings wisdom. (Age alone doesn’t bring wisdom. Here the two nouns together express the same idea and hence we use a singular verb.)

3. My father and my guardian want me to study law.

4. Oil and water do not mix.

5. Each man and each woman has a vote.

6. Neither John nor Peter has any right to the property.

7. Either Jack or his brother is responsible for this.

8. A thousand dollars were distributed among the prize winners.

9. One of my friends works in Paris.

10. A committee was appointed to assess the gravity of the situation. (A collective noun takes a singular verb when the group is thought of as a single unit.)