Although English-language verbs generally don’t inflect or change in form to agree with the subject in number, they do so in the present tense, third-person singular. In English grammar, in this ...

I recently fielded questions about two subject-verb agreement errors that readers noticed in the media. One was heard on an NPR program. The other was committed by, um, a columnist who should have ...

The verb in a sentence is the word that shows action or being. The subject of a sentence is the person or thing that's doing the action, or being something. Hello. I'm Mrs Shaukat and we're going to ...

Pop quiz. Which is correct? “The dogs are outside” or “The dogs is outside.” I don’t even have to hear your answer to give you an A. Anyone reading an English-language newspaper surely knows that ...

Philips are in the house. Kunle and Kelvin has not eaten. The make-up artiste as well as her friend are cool and calm. Neither Kunle nor the twins is in the class. I pray he comes early. One of the ...

Agreement between simple subjects and verbs Agreement between tricky subjects and verbs Agreement between collective nouns as subjects and verbs Agreement between subject nouns or pronouns joined by ...

A sentence in the active voice typically has the formation of Subject Verb Object SVO. The verb needs to be in agreement with the subject for proper grammar formation. We have certain rules to ...

It isn’t easy to admit being wrong in front of thousands of readers, but Ben Yagoda took it on the chin It isn’t easy to admit being wrong in front of thousands of readers, but Ben Yagoda took it on ...

Not long ago in this space, I wrote about exceptions to a grammar rule. I added, "But none of those exceptions apply in modern publishing." Soon after, I got an email from a reader named Charles.

On several occasions these past four years, I have pointed out that the pronoun “they” rather than “them” is the correct form of the subject complement in this inverted sentence: “The winners of the ...

What's happening to our living, evolving, extraordinarily adaptable system of symbols and sounds that has served us so well over the centuries, a system that can bring tears to our eyes with its ...