June 2014

The importance of subject and verb agreement cannot be overstated. Having the subject and the verb agree is a fundamental aspect of English-based languages including UK English, American English, English spoken down under, and other variances of English spoken around the world.

Let’s start with an example that will provide the contrast for us before we discuss actual rules.
Ben and Isabella is the best of friends. Ben like Isabella because she is cute, friendly, and smart. Ben treat Isabella like he is her best friend. Isabella think Ben understands her. They appreciates each other and believes the best of each other.

Right about now, my grammar checker is screaming red at me because all five of my subject and verb combinations do not agree. Now I will correct the previous paragraph so that the subjects and the verbs agree.

Ben and Isabella are the best of friends. Ben likes Isabella because she is cute, friendly, and smart. Ben treats Isabella like he is her best friend. Isabella thinks Ben understands her. They appreciate each other and believe the best of each other.

Hopefully the second paragraph sounds much better to you than the first one does. What do you notice that is different between the first and second paragraphs? What do you observe differently in the verbs? Why does the second paragraph sound better to you than the first one? Take a moment to answer these questions before we move on. I am confident that you will be able to decipher the rules of agreement by simple observation.

Okay, let’s break down the paragraph with the proper subject and verb agreement. ‘Ben and Isabella’ is a compound subject, meaning that there is more than one subject. Ben and Isabella are plural. Later in the paragraph, the pronoun ‘they’ is used to speak of Ben and Isabella. The word ‘they’ is also plural. When the subject is plural you need the verb to match the subject and so the verb needs to be reflected as plural as well. Therefore, ‘are’ is the proper verb for ‘Ben and Isabella’. For the verb ‘to be’ you will need to memorize the conjugations.

‘Ben’ is a single subject and requires a single tense verb. The same is true of ‘Isabella’. You can see that the proper agreement is that ‘Ben likes’ and ‘Isabella thinks’ and ‘Ben treats’. An ‘s’ is added to the basic form of the verb in both instances.

In the incorrect first paragraph, the verbs ‘like’, ‘think’, and ‘treat’ are listed as plural. That is why it sounds funny because you have a single subject acting like a plural verb. If you have one subject, the verb must reflect the action of one subject. A plural subject requires a verb that agrees in number as well.

Proper subject and verb agreement is essential to good grammar but not complicated. The best way to master this topic is to read a lot, taking notice of proper usage of subjects and verbs.

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Tagged Grammar, Subject, Subject and Verb Agreement, Verb, Writing

To understand when to use “that” or “which,” you will first need to understand what a clause is. A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb.

There are two kinds of clauses: independent and dependent. An independent clause can stand alone as a sentence.

For example:

I would love to see a movie.

A dependent clause cannot stand alone; thus it depends on the addition of an independent clause for it to make sense.

For example:

That interests me. (Dependent clause)

I would love to see a movie that interests me. (Join dependent clause to an independent clause.)

“That” and “which” are relative pronouns that introduce relative (or adjective) dependent clauses.

“That” is a relative pronoun used to begin restrictive (essential) clauses that are necessary to the meaning of a sentence.

In the example above, the dependent clause is necessary to the meaning of the sentence because I don’t want to see just any movie; I want to see a movie that interests me. For clauses beginning with “that,” do not use a comma in front of them because commas are not used around essential clauses.

“Which” is a relative pronoun used to begin nonessential relative clauses. In other words, these clauses are not necessary to the meaning of the sentence. Use commas around nonessential elements in a sentence.

For example:

The ancient oak tree, which shaded the west side of my house, was felled by the hurricane.

The independent clause can stand by itself:

The ancient oak tree was felled by the hurricane.

The dependent clause (which shaded the west side of my house) has commas around it because it is not necessary to the meaning of the sentence.

Sometimes the nonessential clause comes at the end of the sentence. In this case only one comma is needed.

For example:

For a healthy glow, use our Illuminating Face Mask, which removes impurities and the appearance of fine lines.

The main point of the sentence is the first part of it:

For a healthy glow, use our Illuminating Face Mask. This can stand alone.

The last part of the sentence (which removes impurities and the appearance of fine lines) is not necessary to the main point of the sentence, so it has commas around it.

To review, “that” is used to begin a dependent clause that cannot be removed from the sentence without changing its meaning. “Which” is used to begin a dependent clause that can be removed without changing the main point of the sentence.

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Tagged Dependent Clause, Grammar, Independent Clause, Writing