Subject–Verb Agreement means: the subject and verb must match in number (singular/plural).
🧠 1. Basic Rule (MOST IMPORTANT)
📌 Singular subject → singular verb
📌 Plural subject → plural verb
✅ Examples:
- He goes to school.
- She likes tea.
- They go to school.
- We like tea.
👉 Key idea:
he / she / it → verb + s
🔥 2. Common IELTS Mistakes
❌ Wrong:
- He go to college.
✔ He goes to college.
❌ Wrong:
- People is happy.
✔ People are happy.
❌ Wrong:
- Students studies hard.
✔ Students study hard.
🟡 3. “Everyone / Someone / Each” (Always Singular!)
Even though they sound plural, they are singular.
✅ Examples:
- Everyone is ready.
- Someone has called you.
- Each student has a book.
🔵 4. “A number of” vs “The number of”
✔ A number of = plural
- A number of students are absent.
✔ The number of = singular
- The number of students is increasing.
👉 Very common IELTS trap!
🟣 5. With “and”
✔ Usually plural:
- Tom and Jerry are friends.
✔ Exception (one idea):
- Bread and butter is my breakfast.
🟠 6. With “or / either…or / neither…nor”
👉 Verb follows the nearest subject
✅ Examples:
- Either he or his friends are coming.
- Either his friends or he is coming.
🟤 7. Uncountable Nouns (Always Singular)
Examples:
- Information, advice, furniture, news
✅ Correct:
- The information is useful.
- This advice is helpful.
🔴 8. “There is / There are”
✔ Singular:
- There is a book.
✔ Plural:
- There are many books.
🎯 IELTS BAND TIP
To get Band 7+:
- Avoid basic mistakes like he go ❌
- Be careful in long sentences
- Always check your main verb
🚀 Quick Trick
👉 Remove extra words and check:
- The list of items is long.
(Subject = “list”, not “items”)