Subject/Verb and Pronoun/Antecedent Agreement

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[edit section] Subject/Verb Agreement

Subject/verb agreement errors are the most commonly-tested errors on the SAT Writing section and certainly within the ISE portion. They are also the simplest errors to recognize and spot in a sentence. The basic premise in English is that a verb (something you do) matches its subject (something you are). For example:

John eats pizza

is a simple sentence that follows the basic idea of subject/verb agreement. John is the subject and "eats" is the verb. The correct conjugation for "to eat" in the third-person is "eats," so the sentence is correct. What if we try to complicate things a bit with a non-essential clause?

John, a famous author and father of two who I respect immensely for his driven passion and attention to detail, eats pizza.

Well, this is something of a run-on sentence, but you get the point. Even though there is a long description (we call it a "non-essential clause") of John in between the subject and the verb, the subject is still John and the verb is still "eats." The sentence is still correct.

Simple subject/verb agreement questions will test you on your ability to recognize subject/verb agreement in clear-cut situations, like:

Terrance, the acclaimed songwriter, say that he doesn't like opera.

Obviously, "to say" is the verb, but it is conjugated incorrectly. "say" should be "says."

However, College Board likes to throw in a few tricky questions. Some subjects sound plural but are really singular. Here are a few:

• Everyone/Everybody

• Nobody

• Everything/Altogether

• Whoever/Whatever/Whenever

• Committee/Board of Directors/Congress/Chamber of Deputies (etc.)

Watch out for these "trick subjects." The key to identifying a subject is to understand who or what is performing the action in the sentence. For example:

The commission of peers tell us that we have thirty days to leave.

This sentence may seem correct. After all, "peers" is plural and "tell" is the correct plural conjugation of "to tell." However, "peers" is not the subject! "commission" is really the subject, and so a commission is singular. In general, questions on the SAT will often feature a subject that is singular followed by a description or phrase that is plural, like committee, board, group, and so on.

The College Board will also throw in strange sentence structures to throw you off. Do not be "fooled" or get off track. For example:

Phillip is among the many people who goes the school.

Reading the sentence, you may spot something fishy. Actually, you should spot that "goes" should be "go." But why? As you read the sentence, you should be aware that "people" is the subject and "to go" is the verb. Match the two accordingly.

Finally, watch out for conjunctions. Here are the rules:

• John AND I see Mary. (AND is plural)

• Either John OR Bob dates Mary (OR is singular)

• Either John OR I date Mary (Even though OR is singular, you must go with the conjugation of the word closest to the verb, which is I DATE)

• Neither John NOR I date Mary (Same rule as above)

• Both John AND I date Mary. (Same as AND)

Subject/verb agreement questions should be "gimees," so watch out for them and be sure to earn all the points you deserve from these easier questions.

[edit section] Pronoun/Antecedent Agreement

Now how about pronoun/antecedent agreement? Like subject/verb agreement questions, these are also easier in nature and quite easy to spot. The trick is, like with subject/verb questions, to spot the pronoun and the antecedent. What is a pronoun? A word like me, you, he, him, her, they, and so forth. In other words, a pronoun is a general noun that replaces a specific noun, called the antecedent. For example:

Terry was mad because he didn't make the team.

In the above sentence,"he" is the general noun (pronoun) and "Terry" is the specific noun (antecedent). The College Board will throw in a few simplistic pronoun/antecedent questions, like:

Terry was mad because him didn't make the team.

Obviously, "him" is the incorrect word here. You know that because it just doesn't "sound" right. But what is the reason for this grammar rule?

Actually, "he" and "him" are two different types of pronouns."He" is a subjective pronoun, while "him" is an objective pronoun. What this means is that "he" is a pronoun that replaces the subject of the sentence while "him" replaces a direct or indirect object in the sentence. Here is a rundown of objective and subjective pronouns:

• Objective: me, you, him, her, it, us, them, whom

• Subjective: I, you, he, she, it, we, they, who

Now apply the pronoun case rules to the following sentence:

The teacher told me that I gave him a hard time when I wouldn't tell him to who I handed the paper.

There is one error in the above sentence (with many other correctly-used pronouns). Can you spot it? Actually, "who" is a subjective pronoun, but the word "to" indicates that you need the objective "whom." The sentence should read: "...wouldn't tell him to whom I handed the paper." (In general, always remember that "to whom" is the correct construction when you see the word "to")

College Board also loves to include ambiguous pronoun questions. Read the following sentence and see if you can decipher the meaning:

Sal raced Harry and he was clearly the winner.

Who was the winner? See, the problem in the above sentence is that we don't know who "he" is. This is the case in which the antecedent is ambiguous. The sentence should be changed so that "he" is corrected to either "Sal" or "Harry."

Finally, watch out for comparisons in pronouns. You should make sure that the case of a pronoun matches the other when compared. For example:

I am a better writer than she.

This will sound strange, but it is actually correct. "I" is the subjective case, and so is "she." The sentence: "I am a better writer than her" may sound right, but it is actually incorrect.

Use the knowledge you have acquired today to take the first SAT Writing: ISE quiz. Although we haven't covered nearly all of the rules, you should have a good grasp of the subject/verb and pronoun/antecedent agreement questions. In our next lesson, we will look at verb tense errors and how to avoid they. (Just kidding! It should be "how to avoid them.") Good luck!

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