Edit: SV AGR

One of the bigger grammatical issues to edit out draft to draft is subject-verb agreement (S/V AGR), which means that the subject and its verb have to match in number (singular or plural) and person (first, second, third).

Identify, then Fix

1. Underline the subject

•  If the subject is a noun phrase/multiple words, reduce the subject down to its proper pronoun so that you can better match it with the verb.

• The amazingly bright Johnny = He
• Johnny and Tom=They
• The sisters and I=We

2. Circle the verb(s) that the subject 'acts on'

3. Ignore every other word in sentence to test for agreement of this pair! 

• Use a verb chart for a visual aid/reminder (all regular, or typical, verbs will follow the top chart

• Pay attention to sentences with multiple subjects 

• 'and'= plural
• 'nor' or "'or'=verb must agree with the subject closest it (200)
• Collective nouns (where a group of people is referred to as one unit) such as jury, committee, crowd, and class are to be singular forms unless the idea in the sentence shows the individuals acting separately (see 201-202)
• indefinite pronouns are treated as singular (200)
• Who, which and that=agree with the antecedent 
• A title of a work or company needs a singular verb!  (The Chicago Bears is my favorite team.)
• Treat gerund phrases (when -ing verbs are used at start) as singular
• ...and other special cases

Editing Your Essay

• Read your first two (the intro and first body) paragraphs backwards, and diagram each sentence for its subject (underline) and verb (circle) pairs.

• Make sure to then write the corrections above where you find a lack of agreement. Consult your textbook.