1. Common Additive Phrases

Subject-verb agreement questions often contain "additive phrases," which, when identified and crossed out, can help you identify the sentence's subject and main verb. When these phrases are not sandwiched between commas, however, it can sometimes be difficult to know what to look for.

This section will identify a few additive phrases commonly found on the GMAT, and will also provide a more in-depth explanation of how to approach these questions. If you're already comfortable with the approach outlined in the main chapter, feel free to skim this section, but make sure to take note of the different types of additive phrases.

A. "Of" Phrases

Often, a sentence will begin with a noun, immediately followed by a group of words beginning with "of" that includes another noun. When two or more nouns precede a verb, it can sometimes be hard to tell which noun the verb should agree with. But that's where the concept of additive phrases can help us. In most cases, "of" phrases are added just to complicate the sentence, and can be crossed out, leaving us with a simple noun-verb agreement question.

Look at this sentence:

The goal of the architects are to create the most stunning and functional building in the city.

Does the verb agree with the subject? It's difficult to say at first glance, because we don't know yet what the subject is. TWO nouns precede the verb: which is the subject?

If the plural noun "architects" is the subject, then the plural verb "are" is in fact correct. But if the singular noun "goal" is the subject, then the plural noun "are" is incorrect.

To find the subject, cross out all the words between the first noun and the verb: this is the "of" phrase. As with the sandwich questions covered in the main text, the best way to clarify agreement issues is to actually cross out the "filler" (the additive phrase):

Once the filler phrase is crossed out, we can see that the plural verb "are" is not correct, because "goal," a singular noun, is the subject of the sentence. The correct verb is the singular "is":

Thus, even though the plural noun "architects" is closer to the verb than the singular noun "goal", it holds no weight in the sentence (in terms of agreement) simply because of its placement within the filler phrase. The singular noun "goal" is the subject of the sentence, and a singular noun requires a singular verb: "is".

Incorrect: The goal of the architects are to create the most stunning and functional building in the city.

Correct: The goal of the architects is to create the most stunning and functional building in the city.

B. "For" Phrases

"For phrases" are similar to "of phrases" add extra information to a sentence, while their contents does not affect noun-verb agreement in the main part of the sentence.
Look at these two sentences. Which is correct?

The book I bought for my students tells the story of a Russian immigrant's experience in the United States.

The book I bought for my students tell the story of a Russian immigrant's experience in the United States.

The portion of the sentence we're concerned with contains two verbs in addition to there being three possible subjects: two nouns, and one pronoun.

How do you know which noun is the subject, and which verb is the important verb? First, cross out the "for" phrase:

The book I bought for my students tells the story of a Russian immigrant's experience in the United States.

The book I bought for my students tell the story of a Russian immigrant's experience in the United States.

which eliminates one noun, and leaves us with a noun and a pronoun vying for subject, and two verbs. Next, eliminate any cohered noun(or pronoun)-verb groups:

The book I bought tells the story of a Russian immigrant's experience in the United States.

The book I bought tell the story of a Russian immigrant's experience in the United States.

You can also cross this out with the "for" phrase, if it's easier for you. Remember, that in additive phrase questions the subject and its verb will never be right next to one another: the function of the additive phrase is to separate them in order to confuse you. So if you've already eliminated the "for" or "to" phrase and still have other nouns and verbs remaining, eliminate any noun-verb or pronoun-verb groups that are right next to one another. The remaining noun and verb are your targets.

The subject, the singular noun "book," requires a singular verb.

Correct: The book I bought for my students tells the story of a Russian immigrant's experience in the United States.

Incorrect: The book I bought for my students tell the story of a Russian immigrant's experience in the United States.

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2. Collective nouns

	List of Common Collective Nouns army clergy government audience council jury band (musical band) crowd majority board (political) department minority cabinet (political) enermy public choir group school class herd senate committee faculty society company family   corporation team

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3. Confusing Singular and Plural Words

Here are some more words whose grammatical numbers (singular or plural) are commonly confused.

A. Pronouns

	A. The following pronouns are always singular: anyone everything something anybody whatever no one anything whoever nobody everyone someone nothing everybody somebody

Many of the words in this category can be broken down in a way that illustrates their essentially singular nature:

	B. The following pronouns are always plural: both many several few others

Memorize these.

	C. The following indefinite pronounscan be either singular or plural depending on context: some none most any all

"Check context" means that for the pronouns in this list, you can't depend on memorization. Look at these examples:

Some of the bananas are brown.

Some of the banana is brown.

Both sentences are correct. Why does the first require a plural verb, and the second a singular? Because in the first sentence, 'some' refers to several distinct objects:

If we have, say, ten bananas, then "some of the bananas" means either two bananas, or three bananas, or four or five or six – in any case, many individual bananas. But in the second sentence, 'some' refers to part of one object:

One part of one banana is brown. In this sentence, "some" means "part" – which is singular.

This trick works for the words "some," "all," "any," and "most". For "any," the verb will usually appear before the noun, but the same principle applies: if "any" is followed by a singular noun, use a singular verb; if it's followed by a plural noun, use a plural verb.

It's exactly the same concept: the arrow is just reversed. The trick applies equally well for "some," "all," "any," and "most."

The pronoun "none" follows slightly different rules. Look at these sentences:

None of the ice cream was left over.

None of my friends are going to a play tonight.

None of the inmates was given a fair trial.

See something strange? The first and second sentences look fine, with a singular noun followed by a singular verb and a plural noun followed by a plural verb. But the third sentence contains a plural noun and a singular verb. How can this be?

Unlike agreement for the pronouns "all" or "some", agreement for "none" isn't always determined by the noun following it. The word "none" can be used to mean either "not any" or "not one," and sometimes, only context, or the writer's intended emphasis, can determine which use is better. Fortunately, however, in most cases – probably all cases on the GMAT - its meaning in the sentence, and the verb it requires, can be derived the same way it is for the other pronouns: by referrring to the noun immediately following it. If the noun is plural, the verb is plural as well; if the noun is singular, the verb is singular. Let's look again at the first two sentences:

The noun following "none," ice cream, is singular, and so the verb should be singular as well. It is also helpful to note that "none" is most often singular when it means "none of it" – as in, "none of the ice cream," or "none of the chicken," or "none of the baseball field."

None of the ice cream was left over

can become

None of it was left over

Here's a case in which "none" is plural:

Again, fairly straightforward: the noun following "none" is plural, so the verb is plural as well. When plural, "none" means "not any":

Not any of my friends are going to a play tonight.

The alternative is for "none" to mean "not one," which carries essentially the same emphasis as "not a single one." So unless the friends attend a play every night, there's no reason to say that "not a single one of my friends is going."

The second sentence, however, does require such emphasis:

None of the inmates was given a fair trial.

When you come across a confusing sentence like this, in which the noun is plural, but you're not sure whether the verb should be too, ask yourself this question: would "none" be better replaced with "not any," or "not one"? If "not any," use a plural verb; if "not one", use a singular. Here, there is reason to emphasize that "not even one" of the inmates was treated fairly, so the verb should be singular.

Not a single one of the inmates was given a fair trial.

Don't worry too much about this last kind of sentence – the use of "none" is such cases can generally only be determined by context, the GMAT is very unlikely to include it in the Sentence Correction section.

None is singular when: The noun following "none" is singular OR "None" means "none of it" "None" meants "not one" or "not a single one"

None is plural when: The noun following "none" is plural OR "None" means "not any"

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4. Quantity Words

The phrase "the number" requires a singular verb. The phrase "a number" requires a plural verb.

The number of frogs in the pond is twice the number of fish.

A number of protestors are gathering outside the capitol building today.

When you see either phrase – "the number," or "a number" - disregard the singularity or plurality of the noun following it. If you're having a hard time remembering to do so, try crossing out all information between the "number" phrase and the first verb.

The noun does not impact the verb in any way whatsoever, because "the number" and "a number" are the subjects of the sentence, not the nouns following them.

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