Grammatical Relationships: Verbs

At the core of grammatical physics is a simple law of balance: a singular subject requires a singular verb, and a plural subject requires a plural verb.

While this seems intuitive, English applies a morphological quirk that routinely trips up developing writers. When we make a noun plural, we typically add an "-s" to the end. Verbs operate in exact reverse. The suffix "-s" added to a present-tense verb indicates a third-person singular subject.

• The teacher writes (Singular subject, singular verb with "-s")
• The teachers write (Plural subject, plural verb without "-s")

Isolating the Signal from the Noise: Intervening Elements

One of the most common ways a sentence loses its structural integrity is through distraction. When you write a long, descriptive sentence, you often pack information between the primary actor (the subject) and its action (the verb).

A fundamental rule of syntax is that words located between the subject and the verb do not change the grammatical number of the subject. You must train your editorial eye to ignore these intervening elements when checking for agreement. Specifically, prepositional phrases following a subject do not affect the subject-verb agreement. Likewise, appositives intervening between a subject and a verb do not alter the required verb form.

Source: Parse tree 1 by Tjo3ya, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Flawed: The stack of ungraded essays, along with the detailed grading rubrics, are sitting on my desk. Correct: The stack of ungraded essays, along with the detailed grading rubrics, is sitting on my desk.

The true subject is the singular noun stack. The prepositional phrase (of ungraded essays) and the intervening appositive phrase (along with the detailed grading rubrics) act merely as descriptive noise; they possess zero gravitational pull on the verb.

When multiple nouns drive an action, we enter the realm of compound subjects. The conjunction you use to link these nouns dictates the mathematical logic of the verb.

The Additive Logic of "And"

Typically, two or more subjects joined by the conjunction "and" form a plural compound subject. Consequently, a plural compound subject requires a plural verb (The student and the principal are meeting).

However, language is exquisitely sensitive to meaning. There are three critical exceptions where the additive logic of "and" yields a singular verb:

1. Unified Entities: A compound subject joined by "and" takes a singular verb when the combined nouns refer to a single entity. If you serve a classic cafeteria lunch, macaroni and cheese is on the menu, because it is conceptually one dish, not two separate items.
2. The "Every" Modifier: A compound subject joined by "and" takes a singular verb when preceded by the word "every". (Every desk and chair is sanitized.)
3. The "Each" Modifier: A compound subject joined by "and" takes a singular verb when preceded by the word "each". (Each boy and girl has a textbook.)

Source: 8.28.12CheeseburgerMacByLuigiNovi1 by Luigi Novi, CC BY 3.0.

Why do "each" and "every" override the plural nature of "and"? Because these words force the mind's eye to isolate the members of a group sequentially, looking at them one by one rather than as a collective mass.

The Alternative Logic of "Or" and "Nor"

When compound subjects are joined by "or", the verb must agree with the subject closest to the verb. Similarly, when compound subjects are joined by "nor", the verb must agree with the subject closest to the verb.

This governing principle of English syntax is called the rule of proximity.

• The rule of proximity states that the verb agrees with the nearest noun in "either...or" constructions.
• The rule of proximity states that the verb agrees with the nearest noun in "neither...nor" constructions.

Consider a classroom scenario:

• Neither the teacher nor the students are ready. (Verb agrees with the plural students)
• Neither the students nor the teacher is ready. (Verb agrees with the singular teacher)

Indefinite pronouns refer to non-specific people or things. They are frequent traps on the Praxis exam because some feel plural in meaning but are strictly singular in grammar.

For those variable chameleons, how do we choose? The verb form for a variable indefinite pronoun depends on the grammatical number of the noun the pronoun references. You must look to the prepositional phrase that follows it for context.

• Some of the chalk is missing. (Chalk is singular)
• Some of the pencils are missing. (Pencils are plural)

Some nouns represent entire populations. A collective noun (such as faculty, committee, jury, or class) adjusts its grammatical number based on the internal harmony of the group.

• A collective noun takes a singular verb when the group acts as a single unified entity. (The faculty votes on the new curriculum tomorrow.)
• A collective noun takes a plural verb when the members of the group act as individuals, often in disagreement or scattered action. (The faculty are arguing among themselves over the new policy.)

Inverted Syntax

We typically expect the subject to confidently lead the sentence, followed by the verb. But what happens when the architecture is inverted? In sentences beginning with "there is" or "there are", the true grammatical subject follows the verb. Likewise, in sentences beginning with "here is" or "here are", the true grammatical subject follows the verb.

The words there and here are adverbs indicating location or existence; they can never be subjects. Therefore, the verb in a sentence beginning with "there" or "here" must agree with the noun that follows the verb.

• There is a severe shortage of substitute teachers.
• Here are the final grades.

Illusion of the Plural

Be wary of nouns that wear a plural disguise. Nouns that are plural in form but singular in meaning require singular verbs. For example, the noun "mathematics" requires a singular verb, despite ending in "-s". Similarly, the noun "news" requires a singular verb. (The evening news is broadcasting.)

Currency also plays a psychological trick on the writer. The word "dollars" takes a singular verb when referring to a specific total amount of money. (Fifty dollars is the budget for classroom supplies.) Conversely, the word "dollars" takes a plural verb when referring to individual dollar bills. (Fifty crisp dollars were scattered across the principal's desk.)

Actions as Subjects and Titles

When an action or a title itself becomes the focus of our thought, it is treated as a singular singularity.

• A gerund functioning as a sentence subject always takes a singular verb. (Teaching young children requires immense patience.)
• An infinitive phrase functioning as a sentence subject always takes a singular verb. (To design a fair test takes hours of preparation.)
• Titles of books, movies, or other works require singular verbs regardless of the plural words contained within the title. (The Canterbury Tales remains a staple of the high school curriculum.)

Having secured the spatial relationships between subjects and verbs, we must now govern how a sentence moves through time.

Verb tense indicates the time an action or state of being occurs.

Just as a teacher must maintain order in a classroom, writers must maintain consistent verb tense within a sentence to clearly establish the timeframe of actions. If you begin narrating a past event, your verbs must anchor the reader in that past reality.

An inappropriate shift in verb tense occurs when a writer unnecessarily changes from one tense to another. These unnecessary shifts in verb tense disrupt the chronological order of events for the reader, creating a jarring, disorienting experience.

• Inappropriate Shift: The student raised her hand and asks a brilliant question. (The sudden jump from past to present shatters the narrative timeline).

Appropriate Shifts and Complex Sequences

Does this mean a writer can never change tenses? Not at all. A verb tense shift is grammatically appropriate when describing actions that actually occur at different times. Because human reality is multi-dimensional, complex sentences often require multiple verb tenses to reflect a logical sequence of events.

To precisely map these overlapping timelines, we use highly specific verbal tools. For instance, the past perfect tense is used alongside the simple past tense to indicate an action completed before another past action. It creates a timeline within the past.

• By the time the substitute teacher arrived (simple past), the students had completed (past perfect) their reading assignment.

The Temporal Mechanics of Literature

When you analyze literature, time behaves by a different set of physical laws. The literary present tense is used to describe the events taking place within a work of literature. Even if a book was published a century ago, its characters are forever trapped in an infinite loop of present action. Writers must maintain the present tense when summarizing the plot of a novel or play. (In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby stares longingly at the green light.)

However, context dictates reality. A shift to the past tense is acceptable in literary analysis when discussing historical events outside the published text.

• F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote (past tense historical reality) the novel in 1925, but his protagonist, Gatsby, remains (literary present) an enduring symbol of the American Dream.

Finally, we arrive at the frontier of alternate realities. How does a writer structurally signify that an action is not real, but merely imagined?

The verb form "were" is used with singular subjects to express a hypothetical or contrary-to-fact condition. This violation of standard agreement (using "were" instead of "was" with a singular subject like I or he) acts as a flare to the reader, signaling that we have left the factual timeline. The use of "were" with a singular subject to express a hypothetical condition is known as the subjunctive mood.

• If I were the superintendent, I would increase funding for the arts.

You are not the superintendent. Because the statement is contrary to fact, standard grammatical physics are suspended, and the subjunctive "were" carries the weight of the hypothetical.

By mastering these rules of architecture and time, you prove on the Praxis Core—and in your future classroom—that your language is built on an unbreakable foundation.