Why this matters on the SAT
A verb has to match its subject: one thing takes a singular verb, and more than one takes a plural verb. You'll know these questions by their choices, forms of one verb that differ in number, such as shows and show, usually in different tenses too. They make up about one in eight grammar questions, and they're really asking one thing: what is the verb's true subject, and is it one thing or more than one? The SAT usually hides that subject behind other nouns, so finding it is most of the work.
Solution to the example
Sort the choices by number: shows is singular, and show, have shown and are showing are all plural. Then find the subject. What shows that the region has warmed? Cross out of the temperature records from dozens of weather stations, and The analysis shows is left. An analysis is one thing. The answer is B. A tempts most, because it matches stations, the plural noun right before the blank. C and D are plural too, and their tenses don't matter: once you know the number, only one choice is left.
SAT example
Climate scientists examine temperature records from many locations to understand long-term trends. The analysis of the temperature records from dozens of weather stations ______ that the region has warmed over the past century.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
show
shows
have shown
are showing
Grammar books call matching a verb to its subject in number subject-verb agreement, so this lesson calls the questions that test it agreement questions. One thing takes the verb form that ends in -s (rings, is, was, has); more than one takes the form without it (ring, are, were, have).
In the examples, the verb the choices would test is bold, and its subject, the word that decides it, is underlined.
That's the reverse of nouns, where -s usually means more than one, so bells ring can look wrong at first. To check, shrink the subject to it or they and say the verb after it. Your ear gets the short version right.
When the verb has a helper, the helper shows the number:
| One thing (it) | More than one (they) |
|---|---|
| rings | ring |
| is, was | are, were |
| has, has rung | have, have rung |
| is ringing, was ringing | are ringing, were ringing |
| doesn't, isn't, wasn't | don't, aren't, weren't |
A plain past form such as rang, or a form with will or can, fits both (it rang, they will ring), so agreement choices use forms like the ones in the table. The rule itself is short. The hard part is finding the subject, and the next sections take that on.
Try the check on this question: sort the choices by number, then shrink the subject to it or they.
Practice problem
When director Elena Ruiz adapted the novel The Lantern Keeper for the stage, she assigned its three narrators to different actors. The actors’ distinct voices _____ the audience follow each shift in perspective.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
In most of these questions, other words come between the subject and its verb, and they often hold nouns of the other number. The verb matches its subject, not the noun that happens to sit right before it.
Bells sits right before the verb, so carry sounds right. But what carries across the water? Not the bells: the sound, one thing. To find the subject, put what in front of the verb and ask, as lesson 1 did. Then cross out what comes between, until the subject meets its verb. In the examples, the struck-through words are what you cross out.
What comes between is usually one of four kinds: a phrase that starts with a preposition (a word like of, in, from or across), a describing phrase (an -ing, -ed or to form and the words after it), a clause that describes the subject, with or without that, and extra information between commas, dashes or parentheses, which lesson 3 showed how to cross out. They often stack up.
The first and third examples run the other way: a plural subject, with a singular noun right before its verb. The noun right before the verb often isn't the subject, in either direction.
Was or were? The names carved into the old bell ______ almost worn away.
In this question, ask what in front of the verb, then cross out until the subject meets the blank.
Practice problem
Ecologists studying forest health often examine mycorrhizal networks, webs of fungi that connect tree roots and can carry nutrients between plants. A comparison of nutrient levels across these interconnected roots, based on maps compiled from hundreds of soil samples, ______ patterns that would otherwise remain hidden underground.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Once in a while, the subject follows its verb. When a sentence opens with a phrase and the verb comes right after it, with no comma, put what in front of the verb. If the answer comes after the verb, as it does in sentences that open with Among the town's landmarks or Hanging in the tower, the subject comes after the verb: flip the sentence to check. If the answer is the opening phrase itself, as in Ringing the harbor bells takes two keepers, that phrase is the subject, as a later section shows.
When a comma closes the opening phrase and a subject follows it, as in Among the town's landmarks, the bell tower is the oldest, the sentence runs in the usual order. Cross the phrase out like any other.
Lesson 1 showed that a which, that or who clause needs a main verb of its own. This rule decides its number: when which, that or who is the subject of its clause, the clause's verb matches the noun the clause describes. Usually that's the noun right before which, that or who. When a new subject follows that, as in reports that the bells ring, that subject decides, like any other.
The sentence's own subject, harbor, is singular, but the clause describes bells, so its verb is plural. A clause can take a different number from the rest of the sentence.
When a phrase comes between the noun and that, the noun right before that may not be the one the clause describes. Ask what the clause is about.
What was growing longer? Not the bell: the cracks.
Live or lives? The harbor’s two bells are rung by a keeper who ______ in the tower.
Try the rule on this question: match the verb in the clause to the noun the clause describes.
Practice problem
In advertising, the slogan “Busy bees build better breakfasts” uses alliteration, a technique that ______ memorability by repeating initial consonant sounds.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Lesson 1 showed that an -ing phrase can be a subject: read on for a main verb, then ask what. An -ing phrase that is the subject names one action, so its verb is singular, however many plural nouns the phrase holds.
What takes two keepers? Ringing the harbor bells, the whole phrase. Bells is only part of it, and an action is one thing, whatever it acts on.
Keep this apart from a noun that an -ing phrase describes. There the noun is the subject, and the what question shows it:
What rings at noon? The bells, not the hanging.
A whole clause that is the subject counts as one thing too, whether it opens with that, whether or how:
In this question, ask what in front of the verb, and see whether the answer is an action.
Practice problem
Many community libraries rely on donations to keep their shelves full of new titles. Donating gently used books ______ a community library expand its collection without raising membership fees.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Some subjects are words like each or many, followed by of and a plural noun. Cross out the of phrase, as with any phrase. When each, each one or one is the subject, the verb is singular. When many is the subject, the verb is plural.
Each means each one, taken alone, so it's singular even when the noun after of is plural. One works the same way: one of the bells is cracked.
The hardest versions put a plural clause inside a singular subject:
The which clause describes the bells, so its verb, hang, is plural, while the main verb matches each. Two verbs in one sentence can take different numbers. Many of whom works the same way in the plural: in the keepers, many of whom, like the head keeper, live in the tower, the subject of live is many, and like the head keeper is extra information.
These rules hold when each or many is the subject. When each sits in extra information after another subject, it doesn't decide the verb, as the next section shows.
Try this question: cross out until the subject meets its verb, and see whether each is the subject.
Practice problem
Although the anthology gathers essays by dozens of writers, its editor insists on a uniform architecture: each of the essays, while drawing on sources that range from interviews to census data, _____ with a short section titled “Limitations,” in which the author notes what the essay cannot claim.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Two subjects joined by “and” make a plural subject. Words like along with, as well as, like, rather than and not don't: the words they start never join the subject, so cross them out like extra information.
Along with the foghorn seems to add a second subject, so sound tempts. But it's extra information between commas. Cross it out, and one bell is left. The same holds in the plural: in the bells, rather than the foghorn, warn boats in fog, the subject is still the bells.
Each in extra information after two subjects doesn't make them singular either. It describes them one at a time, but the subject is still both of them:
An “and” inside extra information doesn't touch the subject either: in the keeper, a sailor and carpenter, rings the bell, the subject is one keeper.
With “or” or “nor”, the verb matches the nearer subject. The SAT rarely tests this.
Is or are? The bell and the foghorn, each repaired last winter, ______ ready for the storm season.
In this question, count the subjects joined by “and” before you look at what follows them.
Practice problem
The Pacific Crest Trail and the Appalachian Trail, each stretching thousands of miles across the United States, ______ among the best-known long-distance hiking routes.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Here's the move that makes these questions fast. Before you read the sentence closely, sort the choices by number. The opening question's choices sort like this:
The choices also differ in tense, and that's a decoy. On the SAT, when the blank is a main verb, only one choice that can be a main verb has the subject's number, so once you know the number, one choice is left. There's no need to weigh have shown against are showing: neither matches analysis. If two choices ever had the right number, the passage's time clues would decide between them, and the next lesson, on verb tense, covers those.
An -ing, to or having form, such as showing, goes in neither group, since it can't be a main verb on its own. When the choices include one, start with lesson 1's count. If the sentence already has its main verb, and the blank is in neither a clause of its own nor a list of actions joined by “and”, the blank only describes, and number doesn't decide: The keeper ______ the harbor bells climbs the tower at dawn takes ringing, not rings. If the blank is an item in such a list, it matches the other items. Otherwise the blank is a main verb, so set the form aside.
That makes one routine for every agreement question, the one the worked examples and the practice problems follow:
Find the true subject of each blank's verb, then match it. Check your answer before moving on.
Was or were? The list of repairs for the old ferry ______ longer than the captain expected.
Ring or rings? The town has a bell tower that ______ every hour.
Is or are? Along the harbor wall ______ three iron rings for mooring boats.
Takes or take? Painting the harbor’s fishing boats ______ most of the spring.
Has or have? Each of the island’s lighthouses ______ its own keeper.
Was or were? The captain, along with two of her crew, ______ honored for the rescue.
In this question, the subject is the sentence's first noun, and five plural nouns stand between it and the blank.
Worked example
Economists studying price mechanisms often compare markets in which sellers receive the same information at different times. The tendency of prices in information-rich exchanges to adjust before prices elsewhere, despite occasional disruptions caused by inventory shortages, ______ how quickly dispersed knowledge can become reflected in what buyers pay.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
reveal
have revealed
are revealing
reveals
Step 1
The choices are four forms of reveal, so sort them by number. Only D, reveals, is singular. A, reveal, is plural, and so are B and C, whose helpers have and are go with more than one. The tenses differ too, but that's the decoy.
The blank is the main verb, and what it reveals is how quickly dispersed knowledge can become reflected in what buyers pay. Put what in front of the verb: what reveals that?
Step 2
Start with the extra information between commas, despite occasional disruptions caused by inventory shortages. Then cross out the phrase of prices in information-rich exchanges and the to form to adjust before prices elsewhere, which only describes the tendency, the way to recast the old bells describes the plan. What's left is the subject, the sentence's first two words: The tendency.
Step 3
Here's the trap. Prices, exchanges, prices again, disruptions and shortages are all plural, and shortages sits right before the blank, so A's reveal sounds right and tempts most. But none of those nouns is the subject: each sits in a phrase or in the extra information. B and C are plural too, so all three go.
Step 4
The tendency is one thing. Shrink it: it reveals. The answer is D.
Here the subject is each, and a which clause with two plural verbs sits between it and the blank.
Worked example
Many coming-of-age novels trace a protagonist’s gradual maturation. Although each of these novels, which include Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and are often accompanied by critical essays, _____ on a character’s inner development, some highlight formal schooling while others portray learning as largely self-directed.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
center
centers
have centered
are centered
Step 1
Only B, centers, is singular. A, center, is plural, and so are C and D, with the helpers have and are. The blank is the verb of the although clause, so put what in front of it: what centers on a character’s inner development? The answer starts right after Although.
Step 2
Between the subject and the blank sits a which clause, set off by commas. Its verbs are plural: which include and are often accompanied by critical essays describe novels, the noun right before which, and novels are more than one. Those verbs belong to the clause, and the clause is extra information, so cross it out.
Step 3
That leaves each of these novels. Cross out the phrase of these novels, and the subject is each: each one, taken alone, so it's singular.
Here's the trap. A, center, tempts most: it matches novels, and it echoes the plural include and are in the clause. But those verbs match the clause's noun, not the subject. C and D are plural too, so all three go.
Step 4
Shrink the subject: it centers. The answer is B.
These four questions mix the cases, so on each one, run the whole routine: sort the choices by number, find the true subject, then match.
Practice problem
Emergency-management agencies monitor wildfire smoke using satellite images. Thick smoke can reduce air quality hundreds of miles away, so analysts track the fast-moving clouds of ash and soot that _____ across the region.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Practice problem
During the Renaissance, painters experimented with several ways to create the illusion of depth on a flat surface. Among the most celebrated techniques _____ linear perspective, which helped artists represent three-dimensional space on a canvas.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Practice problem
Evidence from greenhouse trials suggests that, among the variables shaping a strawberry, the density of viable achenes—the seedlike structures on its surface, each of which releases hormones into the surrounding tissue—______ a more reliable predictor of the fruit’s final form than either irrigation frequency or flower diameter.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Practice problem
Using high-speed cameras, botanist Mira Patel and her colleagues compared the flight of maple seeds with intact wings to that of seeds whose wing edges had been smoothed. The researchers concluded that the alternating ridges along each wing’s edge, rather than the wing’s overall width, ______ tiny vortices that slow the seed’s descent and help winds carry it farther from the parent tree.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Finish the lesson
Finish the remaining questions correctly to complete this lesson.
Next lesson
Use the time clues in a passage to choose the verb’s tense.
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