Noun and Verb / Pronoun Agreement

Noun and Verb Agreement :

In this Post we shall discuss about the Noun and Verb agreement of the sentences. Have a look at the following points. These points will help you to use correct verbs while writing sentences.

• In the sentences, with " One of The" and a relative clause, the verb should be Plural. Confused??? see the example.
• Aamir is one of the students who has paid the fee
  ☓ 
• Aamir is one of the students who have paid the fee 
  ✔ 

• In the sentences with the "Only one of The" and a relative clause, the verb should be Singular.
• Aamir is the only one of the students who have paid the fee. 
  ☓  :P
• Aamir is the only one of the students who has paid the fee. 

                               Got the difference???

• When two nouns joined by "and" have their own articles, it is plural in number. 
• The lecturer and the Principal is on the leave. 
  ☓ 
• The lecturer and the principal are on the leave. 
  ✔

                       What is the difference? We are saying THE lecturer and THE principal. So they are TWO people. So we should use ARE instead of IS. Have a look at another Rule. So that you can get the rule in detail.

• But, when two nouns joined by "and" with an article before the first are treated as Singular.
• The lecturer and principal are on leave. 
  ☓ 
• The lecturer and principal is on leave. 
  ✔

                   Here, we are joining TWO nouns with and and using a Sing article (THE) before them. Simply, we are using one THE for two nouns. So, we are talking about a single person. So we should use IS instead of ARE. 

Check the following examples

• I have a black and a white dogs. (Two dogs)
• I have a black and white dog. (One dog)

• When two nouns are joined by "and" refers to one thing, singular verb can be used.
• Bread and butter is a healthy food.
• The horse & carriage is at the door. 

Noun and Pronoun Agreement :

• When a collective noun is unanimous, it takes a singular verb. 
• The committee has taken its decision unanimously.

• But when a collective noun is NOT unanimous, it usually takes a plural verb & plural pronoun (adj) 
• The committee are divided in their opinion. 

• The expression "many a" takes everything in singular, but it express a plural meaning.
• Many students have passed their test 
  ✔
• Many a students has passed this test 
  ✔