Page 630 - Wordsmith A Guide to College Writing
P. 630
What were the answers to the first two questions? (The plural
subject answers follows the plural verb were.)
Practice 13-6 Making Verbs Agree with
Subjects That Come after Verbs
Cross out prepositional phrases in each of the following sentences.
Then underline the subject and double-underline the correct verb.
1 Nestled in the little valley (was, were) a cluster of houses.
2 Why (is, are) Trevor’s parents moving to Detroit?
3 Here (is, are) the study guides you asked for, Jonathan.
4 (Does, Do) Angelica know that her paper is due on Friday?
5 There (wasn’t, weren’t) any newspapers left at the bookstore.
Compound Subjects
Compound subjects, subjects joined by and, or, either/or, or
neither/nor, may also cause confusion in subject-verb agreement. The
rules for subject-verb agreement with compound subjects are outlined
in the sections that follow.
Compound Subjects Joined by and
Because and always joins at least two elements, compound subjects
joined by and require a plural verb. Remember this rule:
