subject-verb agreement

The verb agrees with the subject, not with a noun that stands nearer to it. A prepositional phrase after the subject does not change the number: The box of files is ready. The same holds for a phrase introduced by along with, as well as, or together with: The mayor, together with two aides, is touring the plant.

Subjects joined by and take a plural verb unless they name one thing or one person: The lease and the receipt are in the folder; Trial and error is the surest method. When each or every precedes the joined subjects, the verb is singular: Every desk and chair was labeled.

With or or nor, the verb agrees with the nearer subject: Neither the clerk nor the files are ready.

When the verb precedes its subject, as in a sentence that opens with the expletive there, with here, or with a prepositional phrase, the verb agrees with the subject that follows it: There are two exits; On the top shelf sit two trophies. The contractions here’s and there’s before a plural subject are common in casual speech, but they do not belong in standard English.

Each, either, neither, and the indefinite pronouns ending in -one, -body, or -thing, such as everyone, somebody, and nothing, take a singular verb: Each of the rooms has a window; Everybody on the crew has a key. All, any, most, and some take their number from the noun in the of phrase: Most of the soup is gone; Most of the seats are taken.

A collective noun takes a singular verb: The board meets on Tuesdays. A sum, a span of time, or a distance taken as one quantity also takes a singular verb: Forty dollars covers the deposit.

A linking verb agrees with its subject, not with a complement of different number: The problem is the gaps in the fence.

See also agreement with compound subjects; agreement by proximity; verb agreement with inverted sentences; collective nouns: agreement; verb agreement with measurements and amounts; none is / none are; agreement with fractions and percentages; what-clause: agreement.