1 Subject and Verb Agreement I Singular verbs: Each / Every / Either / Neither + singular noun Example: Each student is listed in the catalogue Every article in this newspaper is very interesting Either day is fine for me Neither day was suitable Each of Every of Either of + plural noun Neither of Example: Each of the children has a story Either of the days is fine for me Neither of the days was suitable Neither of us has any money Uncountable noun: are nouns which cannot count Many types of food: spaghetti, yoghurt, cheese, flour, butter, meat, rice, etc Liquids: water, coffee, soda, lemonade, oil, petrol, tea, wine, beer, etc Materials: silver, wood, plastic, glass, etc Abstract nouns: freedom, love, beauty, help, education, knowledge, etc Others: news, advice, information, weather, furniture, luggage, baggage, hair, air, accommodation, behavior, equipment, fun, research, rubbish, machinery, money Indefinite pronouns Every Any No Some Example: + body / thing / one / where Everything looks bright and clean Gerund / Clause at the beginning of a sentence as a Subject Example: Reading is my favorite hobby Internal Use Only Growing flowers is her hobby That you get high grades at school is necessary Who, what in questions Example: Who wants tea? What has happened? The number of + plural noun Example: The number of students in this class is 12 The number of people we need to hire is 13 One of + plural noun Example: One of my favorite subjects at school is English Names of the countries, regions, cities, organizations, etc: The United States, the Philippines, The United Nations, Laos Example: The United States is big The United Nations has its headquarters in New York City 10 Names of the subjects: mathematics, physics, statistics, economics, politics, etc 11 Names of sports: gymnastics, athletics, bowls, etc 12 Names of games: billiards, dominoes, etc 13 Names of illnesses: measles, mumps, diabetes, etc 14 Time, money, distance, weight Example: Five minutes is not enough to read all the reports of the week Fifty kilometres is a long way Five hundred thousand pounds was donated to build a new hospital 15 Title of books, story, article (normally with “and”) Example: Tom and Jerry is very well-known all over the world 16 Names of languages: English, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, etc Example: English is spoken in many countries Chinese is his native language II Plural verbs: Noun and noun (different thing, person) Example: Water and oil not mix Internal Use Only A number of + plural noun Example: A number of problems have arisen recently A number of people have written about this subject The + adjective (refer to a group of people with general meaning): the poor, the rich, the unemployed, the disable, the injured, the dead, the elder, the young, the homeless, the Vietnamese, the Chinese, the English, etc Example: The rich are not always happy Nouns which refer to objects that consist of two parts: trousers, jeans, binoculars, shorts, socks, shoes, gloves, pyjamas, glasses, earrings, scissors, etc BUT: a pair of shoes / gloves  singular verb Other nouns: clothes, people, police, stairs, earnings, wages, cattle, poultry, goods, outskirts, premises, remains, belongings, troops, surroundings, children, etc Example: Police are trying their best to reduce the crime rate in the city The goods were sent from a foreign country His belongings were stolen at night III Both Singular and Plural verbs: Either + Noun1 + or + Noun2 Neither nor Not only but also Example: + Verb Either tea or coffee is fine to me Neither the secretary nor the employees have the keys to the store room Noun1 + as well as + Noun2 together with along with in addition to other than Internal Use Only + Verb Example: The kitchen, as well as the toilet, is painted in blue The teachers together with their students are attending a club meeting Noun1 + preposition Example: A box of cigarettes contains 20 pipes + Noun2 All / All of + Verb singular noun  singular verb Some / Some of Plenty of Half of + Most / Most of A lot of / Lots of plural noun  plural verb None of Example: None of the boys are good at English A lot of coffee has been exported to other countries There + (be) + Noun Example: There is a fly in this room There are two people waiting outside Fraction / Percentage Example: +of + Noun + Verb Two-thirds of the money is mine Two-thirds of the people here are unemployed Internal Use Only Fifty percent of the pie has disappeared Fifty percent of the pies have disappeared Collective nouns: jury, family, team, group, crew, crowd, audience, committee, council, army, club, press, government, company, etc  Singular verbs when it refers to a unit and Plural verbs when it refers to all individuals / members who make up the group Example: others) My family is sitting in the front of the cinema (compared to My family are going to go on a holiday in Japan (all members of the family) The staff is in a meeting The staff are in disagreement about the findings Internal Use Only