In grammar, what is subject-verb agreement?

In grammar, what is subject-verb agreement?

• A. The subject and verb must agree in number
• B. The verb must always be in the present tense
• C. The subject must come before the verb
• D. The sentence must have a subject

Answer: (A)

Subject-verb agreement means the verb form matches the subject in number. When the subject is singular, the verb should be singular (for example, "The cat runs"), and when the subject is plural, the verb should be plural ("The cats run"). This alignment keeps sentences sounding natural and grammatically correct. The other ideas aren’t about this matching: tense affects verb form, not number; word order can vary in questions or inverted clauses, but that doesn’t define agreement; and a sentence can exist without an explicitly stated subject, which isn’t the rule that governs whether the verb agrees with the subject. The essential idea is keeping the verb form in step with the subject’s singular or plural nature.

Subject-verb agreement means the verb form matches the subject in number. When the subject is singular, the verb should be singular (for example, "The cat runs"), and when the subject is plural, the verb should be plural ("The cats run"). This alignment keeps sentences sounding natural and grammatically correct.

The other ideas aren’t about this matching: tense affects verb form, not number; word order can vary in questions or inverted clauses, but that doesn’t define agreement; and a sentence can exist without an explicitly stated subject, which isn’t the rule that governs whether the verb agrees with the subject. The essential idea is keeping the verb form in step with the subject’s singular or plural nature.