Subject-verb agreement | Quick guide

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What is subject-verb agreement?

What's on the test?

Tips and strategies

Top tip: Get rid of distracting phrases

The noun closest to the verb is not necessarily the subject!

Subject-verb agreement errors can be hard to see when subjects and verbs don’t appear directly next to one another.

Try to simplify the sentence by eliminating any phrases that come between the subject and verb. This will make subject-verb agreement errors more obvious.

Top tip: Flip inverted sentences

Sometimes, a subject comes after the verb. When this happens, subject-verb agreement errors can be hard to spot.

If you notice an inverted sentence, try flipping the sentence so that the subject comes right before the verb.

Top tip: Compound subjects are plural

Compound subjects are plural subjects. It can be easy to miss subject-verb agreement errors when a verb has two singular subjects.

Top tip: Collective nouns are singular

It's easy to miss subject-verb agreement errors when collective nouns are paired with a plural verb. But remember: Collective nouns (e.g., family, group, bunch, etc.) are singular.

Top tip: Fix the common flaw

Flawed subject-verb agreement is a very common error type. If it is present, forget anything else that might seem weird to you about the sentence—the choice that fixes the common flaw will be the answer.

Looking for more examples and tips?

Check out our "Learn more" article for an in-depth look at subject-verb agreement on the Praxis Core Writing test.

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Big Brain Yuvraj 🧠
Posted a year ago. Direct link to Big Brain Yuvraj 🧠's post “What's Praxis Core?”
What's Praxis Core?
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- ashelyari25
  Posted a year ago. Direct link to ashelyari25's post “A test required for peopl...”
  A test required for people who want to obtain some kind of certificate, for example if you want to be a teacher you need to pass the praxis core exams to get certified.
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