13 Basic Rules of Concord in English (w/ Examples)

Concord in English refers to the agreement between the subject of a sentence and the verb in the same sentence.

It is also known as “Subject-Verb agreement”.

All the rules can be summarized as “the verb form used in a sentence must agree with the number (singular or plural) or the person (1st, 2nd, 3rd) of the subject in the sentence.

Basic rules of concord in English with examples

1. Singular / Singular

When the (subject) is singular the verb must also be singular.

• (The dog) is sleeping.

2. Plural / Plural

When the (subject) is in plural form, the verb must also be in plural form.

• (The dogs) are sleeping.

3. Connected by “and”

When two or more singular (subjects) are connected by “and“, use a plural verb.

• (The dog) and (the cat) are sleeping.

4. Connected by “and not”

When two or more singular (subjects) are connected by “and not”, use a singular verb.

• (The dog), and not (the cat), is sleeping.

5. Connected by “and” but still singular

When singular (subjects) connected by “and” refers to the same person / thing or always go together, use a singular verb.

• (The President) and (number one citizen) has arrived. — SAME PERSON

• (Beans) and (rice) is my favourite food. — GOES TOGETHER

6. Indefinite pronouns

Indefinite pronouns like (everyone, somewhere, nobody, etc.) always take singular verbs.

• (Everyone) wants to succeed.

7. Connected by “or / nor”

When two (subjects) are connected by “or / nor”, the verb agrees with the subject closer to it.

• Neither (the teacher) nor (the students) have a pen.

• Neither (the students) nor (the teacher) has a pen.

8. First or second-person pronoun

When the (subject) is a 1st or 2nd person pronoun, use a plural verb.

• (I) have a dream. — FIRST-PERSON
• (We) have a dream. — FIRST-PERSON
• (You) have a dream. — SECOND-PERSON

9. Third-person singular

When the (subject) is a third-person SINGULAR pronoun, use a singular verb.

• (She) has a dream.

10. Third-person plural

When the (subject) is a third-person PLURAL pronoun, use a plural verb.

• (They) have a dream.

11. Units of measurement

Expressions of time, distance, money or other measurement are followed by singular verbs.

• Ten million (dollars) is a huge sum.

12. Semi-conjunctions

When two (subjects) are connected by a semi-conjunction, the verb agrees with the FIRST subject.

• (The coach), together with (his assistants), was praised.

• (His assistants), together with (the coach), were praised.

13. Nouns ending with ‘s’

Some (singular nouns) end with “s”, use a singular verb after them.

• (Mathematics) is actually simple.

Class Activity

Using the rules of concord, select the correct verb (from the bracket) to complete each sentence.

1. Two boys and one girl (is / are) present.
2. What (do / does) she want?
3. The house, along with its gardens (was / were) sold.
4. Either Rachael or her classmates (is / are) going to the party.
5. All his henchmen, as well as the gangster (has / have) been killed.

Are you through?

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