Strategy 4: Agreement

1. Indefinite Pronouns These Indefinite pronouns are singular and take a singular verb. The singular verb is correct even when the indefinite pronoun is followed by a prepositional phrase with a plural noun.	Anyone is welcome. Each is an expert. Either supports the argument. Everyone has problems. Neither sings in tune. Each of these alternatives was [not "were"] unpleasant.
However, the following indefinite pronouns, which indicate a portion of a whole, are either singular or plural, depending on the nouns or pronouns they refer to: all, any, none, some	All [singers] are permitted . . . . All of the money is counted . . . . Some of the students are missing. Some of the pie is missing. None of them are satisfied . . . . None of the royalty was present . . .
2. Collective nouns, such as jury, family, team, may be singular or plural, depending on the meaning of the sentence. This error often occurs when referring to an institution or business.	The Supreme Court overruled the lower court's decision. It [not "They"] held that . . . . The IRS is cracking down on income tax fraud. It wants [not "They want"] to make sure no one cheats on the new forms.
3. Phrases interrupting subjects and verbs Watch for both verb agreement and pronoun agreement when a singular subject is modified by a phrase or clause containing a plural noun:	The confidence of several families was [not were] attained. One of the biggest problems facing consumers is [not "are"] controlling credit card debt. Each of the finalists was [not "were"] asked to give a speech.

Exercise:

Click on this link and in the section on pronoun agreement, complete exercise one. For all sentences containing errors, write a correction.
This exercise is online and interactive; however, you may choose to dowload the pdf version if you prefer. In either case, write your answers on a separate sheet of paper.

suehenson	Latest page update: made by suehenson , Sep 19 2010, 8:45 PM EDT (about this update About This Update Edited by suehenson 4 words added view changes - complete history)
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