One section of the Skills Test will ask you to select the correct verb in each of a series of sentences.  The rule is that a singular subject takes a singular verb, and a plural subject takes a plural verb.

To put it another way, if the subject is something that represents one person or thing, the verb will be singular; if the subject is something that represents more than one person or thing, the verb will be plural.  (This does not apply to the pronouns I and you, as noted below.)

The company (it) awards bonuses to efficient employees.
The man (he) who shot three policemen was arrested.
Each child (he or she) in the kindergarten class has been given five cents.

Students sometimes have difficulty identifying the correct verb for two reasons:

1) They do not realize that the verb ending in s is the singular verb.  We are selecting verbs here, not nouns.  Yes, we make most nouns plural by adding s.  However, the verb that goes with he, she, or it (singular) in the present tense ends in s.  The one that does not end in s is the verb that we use with a plural subject (and with the singular pronouns I and you).

I, you (singular), we, you (plural), they go.
He, she, or it goes.

2) They do not identify the subject correctly.  One way to identify the subject is to go to the verb and ask the question:  "Who or what [verb]?"  In the examples above, we can see this clearly.  Who awards bonuses?  The company (company is the subject).  Who was arrested?  The man (man is the simple subject; man who shot three policemen is the complete subject; policemen is not the subject).  Who has been given five cents?  Each child (child is the subject, not class).

Some sentences are more difficult but need not be confusing if we analyze them properly.  Consider these sentences:

Each of these papers contains some mistakes.
One of the men who has been robbing banks was arrested.

Both sentences take singular verbs (ending in s).  In the first sentence, the subject is each (a singular pronoun meaning "each one"), not papers.  In the second sentence, the subject is one (what could be more obviously singular than "one"?).  It is not men because men is the object of the preposition of.  It is not banks because, if we analyze the sense of the sentence, the answer to the question "Who was arrested?" is not banks.

Grasp these basic principles first.  Then go to Study Guide 3 and Handbook Chapter 6a (pages 32-36) for more details.  An online version of Study Guide 3 is available HERE.  For more subject-verb agreement pointers, click here.  For sample test questions and answers, click here.

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