Practice in Correcting Errors in Subject-Verb Agreement

Dr. Richard Nordquist is professor emeritus of rhetoric and English at Georgia Southern University and the author of several university-level grammar and composition textbooks.

After you've reviewed how to correct errors in subject-verb agreement, including tricky cases, complete the editing exercise below. Several (but not all) of the following sentences contain errors in subject-verb agreement. When you spot an error, correct it. If a sentence is free of errors, identify it as correct. When you're done, compare your responses with the answers below.

Example Sentences

1. Music soothe me.
2. Billy bake brownies every Halloween.
3. Peggy and Grace is arguing again.
4. Elsie never takes the bus to work.
5. The people who own that house has no insurance.
6. One of these mechanics have a set of jumper cables.
7. Felix and his brother is mending the wings of butterflies.
8. Both of my essays is brilliant.
9. The pulses emitted by a neutron star recurs at precise intervals.
10. One of my uncles dances at the Rainbow Cafe.
11. Phil and Jeremy has gone to the concert.
12. Both of my daughters are professional dancers.
13. Every one of the workers receive the same benefits.
14. There is two gerbils in my bathroom.
15. This box of toys belong in the attic.

Answers

Here are the answers below, with the corrected words in bold.

1. Music soothes me.
2. Billy bakes brownies every Halloween.
3. Peggy and Grace are arguing again.
4. Correct
5. The people who own that house have no insurance.
6. One of these mechanics has a set of jumper cables.
7. Felix and his brother are mending the wings of butterflies.
8. Both of my essays are brilliant.
9. The pulses emitted by a neutron star recur at precise intervals.
10. Correct
11. Phil and Jeremy have gone to the concert.
12. Correct
13. Every one of the workers receives the same benefits.
14. There are two gerbils in my bathroom.
15. This box of toys belongs in the attic.

Nordquist, Richard. "Practice in Correcting Errors in Subject-Verb Agreement." ThoughtCo, Jun. 25, 2024, thoughtco.com/correcting-errors-in-subject-verb-agreement-p2-1692360. Nordquist, Richard. (2024, June 25). Practice in Correcting Errors in Subject-Verb Agreement. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/correcting-errors-in-subject-verb-agreement-p2-1692360 Nordquist, Richard. "Practice in Correcting Errors in Subject-Verb Agreement." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/correcting-errors-in-subject-verb-agreement-p2-1692360 (accessed September 17, 2024).

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