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3. Subjects joined by ‘‘and’’ are plural:

• The brother and the sister play together.

4. Subjects joined by ‘‘or’’ or ‘‘nor’’ agree with the nearest subject:

• Either the teachers or the student has the books.
• Neither the doctor nor the patients are here.

5. Indefinite pronouns like ‘everybody’, ‘someone’, ‘nobody’ are singular:

• Everybody loves a good story.
• Someone is at the door.

Special Cases

"I" is a singular subject and takes a singular verb.

Example:

• I (singular subject) am (singular verb) going to school.
You can be both singular and plural, but it always takes a plural verb.

Example:

• You (singular or plural subject) are (plural verb) going to school.
Collective Nouns (e.g., team, family, group) can be singular or plural, depending on the context.

Examples:

• The team (singular subject) is (singular verb) playing well. (Here, the team is acting as
a single unit.)
• The team (plural subject) are (plural verb) arguing with each other. (Here, the team
members are acting individually.)

A. Choose the correct form of verb to complete each sentence.

1. The teacher and the student (was/were) discussing the project
details.

2. The team (are/is) excited about the upcoming match.
3. Neither the dog nor the cat (seem/seems) to be interested in the
new toy.

4. My friend (live/lives) in a different city now.

5. The collection of stamps (were/was) displayed in a glass case.
B. Identify and correct the subject-verb agreement errors in the following sentences.

1. Each of the dogs bark loudly when they see a stranger.

2. The group of hikers were lost in the forest for hours.
3. Neither the book nor the magazine were on the shelf.

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