Fixing Tricky Subject-Verb Agreement

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—Bite-sized advice for better business writing—

April 5, 2019 

Fixing Tricky Subject-Verb Agreement

“When people are divided, the only solution is agreement.”

— John Hume

Good writing takes dedication and effort, along with a keen eye for potential problem areas such as subject-verb agreement. While you can usually sense whether a subject needs a singular or a plural verb, some instances are not immediately clear. In this post, you will find three types of agreement that require special care.

Agreement with Delayed Subjects

In an inverted sentence, the verb precedes the subject. In that case, another word before the verb may appear to be the subject. Switching the word order in your mind can help you match the true subject to the verb: 


Here are our contractor's plans for the addition. 
(Our contractor's plans for the addition are here.)

Agreement with Compound Subjects

Subjects connected with “and” are plural and so take a plural verb:


The concert and the meeting are scheduled for the same night. 

Both the memos and the email were emphatic about the way to handle the situation.

Subjects connected with “or” or “nor” require closer scrutiny. The simple rule states that if both subjects are singular, they take a singular verb, and if both are plural, they take a plural verb:

Neither the receptionist nor the office manager is responsible for the file. 

Either the pens or the bookmarks are good gift ideas.

The more complicated rule states that if one subject is singular and the other is plural, the verb must agree with the nearer subject:

Neither his singing nor her jokes were on pitch. 

Either the memos or the email contains the phone numbers we need.

Agreement with "Be" Verbs

Make sure a linking verb (am, is, are, was, were) agrees with the subject instead of the predicate noun.


The most useful part of the convention is the seminars. 

The seminars are the most useful part of the convention.
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Play the Editor!

Choose the correct verb of the two given in parentheses. Scroll to the bottom to check your answers.

  1. A key to a good working relationship with your managers (is/are) knowing what they expect of you.
  2. If neither the manager nor team members (knows/know) what defines success for a particular project, the project is doomed to fail. 
  3. A project begins more effectively when the manager and project team (understands/understand) the criteria for success. 
  4. Another useful step for getting on the same page and doing your best work (is/are) to ask the manager to prioritize indicators of success. 
  5. By doing so, you and your fellow team members (gains/gain) a sense of where and how to focus your efforts. 
  6. If your manager is unable to define success or generate criteria for achieving it, either a supervisor or someone else (needs/need) to step in. 
  7. Here (is/are) a benefit of the latter option: If you take the initiative to clearly and accurately define success, you demonstrate your future management potential.
  8. The best way to define success criteria (is/are) to break the project into smaller pieces.  
  9. There (is/are) ways to document your ideas so that an official reference exists with your name on it. 
  10. Either an email or a memo (does/do) the trick.
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Get More Support

Head over to Write for Business for more help with subject-verb agreement.
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Editor's Answers

  1. A key to a good working relationship with your managers is knowing what they expect of you.
  2. If neither the manager nor team members know what defines success for a particular project, the project is doomed to fail. 
  3. A project begins more effectively when the manager and project team understand the criteria for success. 
  4. Another useful step for getting on the same page and doing your best work is to ask your manager to prioritize indicators of success. 
  5. By doing so, you and your fellow team members gain a sense of where and how to focus your efforts. 
  6. If your manager is unable to define success or generate criteria for achieving it, either a supervisor or someone else needs to step in. 
  7. Here is a benefit of the latter option: If you take the initiative to clearly and accurately define success, you demonstrate your future management potential.
  8. The best way to define success criteria is to break the project into smaller pieces.  
  9. There are ways to document your ideas so that an official reference exists with your name on it. 
  10. Either an email or a memo does the trick. 

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