Be careful to choose the right subject in sentences in which the verb precedes the subject.

Sometimes, a sentence is so chock-full of nouns and pronouns that identifying the subject can feel like a task of monumental proportions. To approach this, let's talk about word order. Because nouns can function as subjects or objects, we usually rely on their placement in the sentence to determine which noun is serving which purpose. Such sentences follow the pattern Subject — Verb — Object.

Here is an example:

This sentence is one of the most straightforward you'll encounter. The first noun in the sentence, dog, is followed by an active verb, ate; and since we know that the dog is performing the action indicated by the verb, dog is therefore the subject of the sentence. The only remaining noun, homework, is therefore the object.

Some sentences, however, will unfortunately stray from this simple pattern. When all nouns in the sentence follow the verb, it can sometimes be very difficult to figure out which of those nouns is the subject. What should you do in those situations?

Let's look at an example:

Incorrect: There is many reasons why I can't help you.

This sentence contains two verbs (there is and help) and three nouns (reasons, I, and you). Sandwiched between the first and second verbs (is, can't) are two nouns (reasons, I); another noun (you) follows the second verb. If we look carefully at the sentence, we might notice that the clause "I can't help you" follows the traditional pattern, such that "I" would be the subject. We may therefore be tempted to decide that "I" is the subject of the sentence as a whole.

Correct: There are many reasons why I can't help you.

However, why I can't help you is in fact a subordinate, or dependent, clause. We know this because it begins with "why", and it means that the entire phrase functions as a direct object of the other part of the sentence. We can therefore remove any nouns inside of the subordinate clause from our search for the subject. And if we do this, lo and behold, we see that there's only one noun left. The subject is the only noun that exists outside of the subordinate clause: the plural noun reasons. A plural subject requires a plural verb, and so the plural verb are is correct.

	A quick summary of how to recognize subject-verb agreement errors. Look for: A subject and verb separated by superfluous nouns ("the sandwich") Collective nouns like majority, audience, family… Phrases separated by conjunctions like and, nor, neither Other confusing nouns like data/datum. Click here for all extra subject-verb agreement hints and tips.

F. Or / Nor

H. Quantity Words