College Composition / Unit 4 CMP 0078 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Subject-Verb Agreement
Captions available
The idea
A verb must agree with its subject in number: a singular subject takes a singular verb, and a plural subject takes a plural verb.
In practice
"The bus leaves in five minutes" pairs a singular subject with a singular verb; "The buses leave" pairs plural with plural.
Where people slip
In the present tense, the singular verb usually ends in s, the opposite of nouns.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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