8.3 Form, Structure, and Sense: Verbs and Agreement
Key Takeaways
- The verb agrees with the head noun of the subject, not with a noun hiding in an of-phrase or other intervening modifier.
- Subjects joined by and are usually plural; with or or nor, the verb agrees with the nearer subject.
- Collective nouns such as team, class, and club are usually singular in U.S. academic English when the group acts as one unit.
- There is and there are agree with the true subject that follows the verb.
- Keep verb tense and form consistent unless a time word in the sentence actually changes the time.
Form, Structure, and Sense is the second Standard English Conventions skill. Together with Boundaries, it fills the 11–15 operational questions in this Reading and Writing group. The stem is still Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English? The tell is in the choices: they swap words or structures—is/are, measured/measuring, has/have—not just commas and periods. This section trains verbs: subject-verb agreement and tense/form consistency.
This independent OpenExamPrep lesson helps 8th and 9th graders study verb conventions for the PSAT 8/9. OpenExamPrep is not a College Board partner and does not claim official approval, review, partnership, or exact equivalence with College Board materials.
If the four options differ only in punctuation, go back to 8.1 and 8.2. If they differ in it/they or who/whom, jump to 8.4 Form, Structure, and Sense: Pronouns, Modifiers, and Possession. Verb items reward a slow hunt for the head noun, not a guess based on whichever noun sits closest to the verb.
Find the head noun, then match the verb
Every agreement item has a true subject—the person, place, thing, or idea the verb is about. Extra words sit between that noun and the verb on purpose.
The boxes of soil samples from the north bank are now stored in the lab refrigerator.
Boxes is the head noun (plural). Of soil samples from the north bank is an intervening phrase. Samples is plural and sits next to the verb's neighborhood, which is why is feels tempting. The verb still belongs to boxes: are.
Flip it:
The label on the vials is faded.
Head noun: label (singular). Vials is a decoy. Verb: is.
Intervening phrases that do not change number
Train your eye to skip these attachments when you pick the verb:
| Attachment | Example | Head noun |
|---|---|---|
| of + noun | The stack of notebooks is heavy. | stack |
| along with / as well as / together with | The advisor, along with the officers, is attending. | advisor |
| Prepositional location | The map of the three creeks hangs by the door. | map |
| Extra who/that/which clause | The kit that includes the extra vials is on the cart. | kit |
Along with is not and. The advisor along with the officers is still a singular head. If the writer had used The advisor and the officers, the verb would be plural.
A slow physical habit: draw a light line from the head noun to the verb, leaping the extra phrase. On Bluebook, highlight the head noun and the verb, not the whole sentence.
Compound subjects
And usually makes a plural subject:
Maya and Jordan are presenting the moisture data.
Or and nor make the verb agree with the nearer subject:
Maya or the officers are presenting. The officers or Maya is presenting.
That nearer-subject rule feels unfair because the sentence still mentions two parties. The convention cares about the noun sitting closest to the verb after or/nor.
If each or every sits before a compound, treat it as singular: Each seedling and cutting is labeled. You will not see many of those, but do not let and stampede you when each is in charge.
Collective nouns
Words such as team, class, club, committee, group, and family name a unit. In U.S. academic English on this test, they are usually singular when the group acts as one:
The robotics team is submitting one design. The class has voted to start with the greenhouse lab.
If the sentence clearly means the members acting separately, writers usually recast with a plural noun: The team members are arguing about the code. Do not force a British-style The team are arguing on a PSAT 8/9 item. Look for members, students, or a clearly plural head if the verb is plural.
There is / there are
There is not the subject. The true subject follows the verb:
There are several unlabeled vials in the cooler. There is an unlabeled vial in the cooler.
Vials is plural → are. Vial is singular → is. The same rule holds for there was / there were.
Do not let an extra phrase after the real subject steal the number: There are several unlabeled vials from the north bank in the cooler is still are because vials is plural.
Inverted sentences without there use the same hunt: Beyond the trees stands a weather station. Beyond the trees stand two weather stations. The verb still agrees with station/stations, even though those nouns come late.
Indefinite pronouns (keep them simple)
At grade 8–9 you only need the stable ones:
- Usually singular: each, either, neither, everyone, everybody, someone, anybody, nothing
- Usually plural: both, few, many, several
- Depends on the of-phrase: some, all, none, most — Some of the water is gone (water = singular mass). Some of the vials are gone (vials = plural).
Each of the seedlings has lost its first leaves.
Each is the head, not seedlings. Verb: has.
Tense and form consistency
A sentence that starts in one time should not hop tenses without a reason.
Last spring the club measured rainfall every Monday and then recorded the weekly totals on a classroom chart.
Last spring locks past tense. Records or is recording would be an illegal shift. Will record jumps to the future with no new time word.
A licensed shift uses a new time:
Last year the club planted the beds; this year it waters them daily.
Last year versus this year makes the present-tense second verb logical. No such signal, no shift.
Form consistency also covers lists of verbs. Keep the shapes parallel:
The club measured rainfall, recorded the totals, and graphed the results.
Not: measured, recorded, and to graph. Not: measuring, recorded, and graphed. Once the list chooses past-tense finite verbs, every item in the list should be a past-tense finite verb. Once it chooses -ing after a helping verb (is measuring, recording, and graphing), stay in that shape.
Helping-verb agreement is still agreement: The data have been graphed versus The set of data has been graphed. Find the head noun first (data as a plural in careful science writing is a real pattern; set is singular). On PSAT 8/9, follow the head noun you can actually see, not a science-class debate about data.
Worked item: intervening phrase
The boxes of soil samples from the north bank _______ now stored in the lab refrigerator.
Head noun: boxes (plural). Skip of soil samples from the north bank. Present description of a current state: are. Is, was, and has been all chase the wrong number or the wrong time.
Walk a wrong answer out loud: samples is stored would be if samples were the subject—and it is not. The boxes are stored.
Worked item: compound and nearer subject
The moisture charts or the final report _______ due on Friday.
Or → agree with nearer subject report → is. If the sentence ran The final report or the moisture charts, the nearer noun would be charts → are.
Worked item: tense lock
Yesterday the partners collected creek water, labeled the vials, and _______ pH before the bus returned.
The time word Yesterday and the first two past-tense verbs lock measured (or tested), not measure or will measure. The three verbs share one subject, partners, so this is also a compound predicate—no extra subject to agree with.
What the digital items look like
Form, Structure, and Sense choices can be a single word in a blank. Read the whole sentence, not only the three words beside the blank. The decoy noun is often behind you: of the samples, as well as the officers, there. Highlight the subject, then look at the options.
These items sit in the Conventions cluster, easiest to hardest, mixed with Boundaries. A later agreement item may stack an intervening phrase and a collective noun. Do one job at a time: head noun, then number, then tense.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English? The boxes of soil samples from the north bank _______ now stored in the lab refrigerator.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English? There _______ several unlabeled vials in the cooler.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English? Last spring the club measured rainfall every Monday and then _______ the weekly totals on a classroom chart.