Common Pronoun Mistakes: Subject-Verb Agreement

Pronouns can sometimes cause confusion when it comes to subject-verb agreement. Here are some common mistakes:

Indefinite Pronouns

• Singular: Everyone, someone, anyone, no one, everybody, somebody, anybody, nobody
• Plural: Both, few, many, several
• Incorrect: Everyone are happy.
• Correct: Everyone is happy.
• Incorrect: Few is going to the party.
• Correct: Few are going to the party.

Relative Pronouns

• Singular: Who, whom, which, that (when referring to a single person or thing)
• Plural: Who, whom, which, that (when referring to multiple people or things)
• Incorrect: The book, which is on the table, are interesting.
• Correct: The book, which is on the table, is interesting.

Collective Nouns

• Singular or plural: Depends on the context.
• Singular: The team is winning.
• Plural: The team are celebrating.

Practice Exercises:

1. Everyone (is/are) happy.
2. Few (is/are) going to the party.
3. The book, which (is/are) on the table, (is/are) interesting.
4. The team (is/are) winning.
5. Neither you nor I (is/are) going.

Answers:

1. is
2. are
3. is, is
4. is
5. are

Pronoun-Verb Agreement Practice

Identify the correct verb form in each sentence.

1. Everyone (is/are) happy.
2. Few (is/are) going to the party.
3. The book, which (is/are) on the table, (is/are) interesting.
4. The team (is/are) winning.
5. Neither you nor I (is/are) going.
6. Many (is/are) coming to the party.
7. The people, who (is/are) waiting, (is/are) getting impatient.
8. The class (is/are) studying hard.
9. Neither you nor he (is/are) going.
10. Both of them (is/are) coming.

Answers:

1. is
2. are
3. is, is
4. is
5. are
6. are
7. are, are
8. is
9. is
10. are