5.1 Form, Structure & Sense: Subject-Verb Agreement
Key Takeaways
- College Board's testing point is narrow and exact: ensure agreement in number between a subject and a verb.
- The exam never tests simple agreement — it buries the subject under prepositional phrases, appositives, or supplementary elements and offers the nearest noun as bait.
- Phrases beginning along with, as well as, in addition to, together with, and including are supplementary and never change the subject's number.
- In "one of the [plural noun] who/that ___" the relative-clause verb agrees with the plural noun, not with "one."
- Cross out everything between the subject and the blank, read the bare subject plus each verb choice, and the answer becomes audible.
What This Testing Point Actually Is
The Assessment Framework defines it in one line: students will ensure agreement in number between a subject and a verb. That is the whole scope. It is also, on its face, something every fluent speaker already does — which is exactly why the exam never presents it plainly.
Every subject-verb agreement item works the same way: it separates the subject from the blank with material that contains a noun of the opposite number, then offers a verb that agrees with that decoy.
The collection of nineteenth-century botanical illustrations that the museum acquired from three private donors ______ on display through October.
Twenty-one words separate collection from the blank, and illustrations and donors are both plural. The subject is still the singular collection, so the verb is is.
The One Technique
Cross out everything between the subject and the verb, then read what remains.
- "The collection
of nineteenth-century botanical illustrations that the museum acquired from three private donorsis on display."
That is the entire method. What follows is a catalogue of what the exam puts inside the crossed-out region.
Decoy Type 1: Prepositional Phrases
A noun inside a prepositional phrase can never be the subject of the sentence.
| Sentence | Subject | Verb |
|---|---|---|
| "The box of nails is heavy." | box | is |
| "The effects of the drought were severe." | effects | were |
| "A series of storms has delayed the harvest." | series | has |
Series, number, variety, and array trip people constantly. "A series of storms has…" is singular; "A number of storms have…" is plural, because a number of functions as a quantifier meaning "several." Compare "The number of storms has increased," which is singular.
Decoy Type 2: Supplementary Phrases
Phrases introduced by along with, as well as, in addition to, together with, including, accompanied by, except are supplementary. They add information; they do not add subjects.
- ✓ "The team, along with its coaches, is traveling tomorrow."
- ✗ "The team, along with its coaches, are traveling tomorrow."
Contrast this with a genuine compound subject joined by and, which really is plural: "The team and its coaches are traveling tomorrow." One word — and versus along with — flips the answer.
Decoy Type 3: Inverted Order
When the verb precedes the subject, the ear has nothing to anchor to.
- "There are three options on the table." (Subject: three options.)
- "Beyond the river lies a small village." (Subject: a small village.)
- "Among the manuscripts was a letter from Curie." (Subject: a letter.)
There and here are never subjects. Find the noun the verb is actually about, which will sit after it.
Decoy Type 4: Indefinite Pronouns
| Always singular | Always plural | Depends on the noun they refer to |
|---|---|---|
| each, every, either, neither, one, anyone, someone, somebody, everyone, everybody, nobody, no one, much | both, few, many, several | some, any, all, none, most |
- "Each of the students has submitted the form."
- "Neither of the options is acceptable."
- "Most of the water is gone." / "Most of the samples are contaminated."
The each/either/neither family is the most heavily tested, because of the students sits right before the verb and sounds plural.
Decoy Type 5: Collective Nouns
Team, committee, jury, class, audience, family, faculty, staff are treated as singular in American usage and on the SAT: "The committee has reached a decision."
The "One of the Few ___ Who" Construction
This one deserves its own heading because it reverses the instinct.
- "She is one of the few students who have submitted the form."
The relative pronoun who refers to students (plural), so the verb inside the relative clause is plural. Test it by inverting: of the few students who have submitted the form, she is one.
Now the contrast:
- "She is the only student who has submitted the form."
The only forces the antecedent to be the singular student. The presence or absence of only is the entire question.
Worked Examples
Example 1. "The reliability of the sensors deployed across all six monitoring stations ______ still in question." Cross out: of the sensors deployed across all six monitoring stations. Subject: reliability, singular → is.
Example 2. "Neither of the two proposals submitted by the working groups ______ the committee's budget requirements." Cross out: of the two proposals submitted by the working groups. Subject: Neither, singular → meets.
Example 3. "Rising sea levels, along with more frequent storm surges, ______ the island's freshwater supply." Along with… is supplementary. Subject: Rising sea levels, plural → threaten.
Section Takeaways
- Cross out everything between the subject and the blank before evaluating any choice.
- Nouns inside prepositional phrases are never subjects.
- Along with / as well as / in addition to do not create compound subjects; and does.
- Each, either, neither, and the -one/-body pronouns are singular.
- "One of the few X who" takes a plural verb; "the only X who" takes a singular one.
A passage reads: "The collection of nineteenth-century botanical illustrations that the museum acquired from three private donors ______ on display through October." Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Which sentence is correct?
Which of the following sentences contain a subject-verb agreement error? (Select all that apply)
Select all that apply