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NOTE: There is a set of sentence correction sample questions. These are timed and intended to be taken online to best simulate the actual GMAT. Sample Questions.

I. Sentence Correction Introduction

Of all the topics you must study to prepare for the GMAT, there are two in particular that will have the greatest benefit in real life after test day: the AWA Essay section and Sentence Correction section. Effective writing is a vital part of business communication, and what you learn here will help you express your ideas more clearly and effectively.

About 14 of the 41 Verbal section questions are Sentence Correction.

The directions for these questions look like this:

Directions: The following questions consist of sentences that are either partly or entirely underlined. Below each sentence are five versions of the underlined portion of the sentence. Choice (A) is a copy of the original version. The four other answer choices change the underlined portion of the sentence. Read the sentence and the five choices carefully and select the best version.

Choose answers according to the norms of standard written English for grammar, word choice, and sentence construction. Your selected answer should express the intended meaning of the original sentence as clearly and precisely as possible, while avoiding ambiguous, awkward, or unnecessarily wordy constructions.

To help you learn this the 800score approach is to focus on the most common error types. We rely heavily on graphic diagrams to help teach grammar concepts. Every sentence has its own structure and understanding the engineering of the parts of a sentence is key to learning grammar.

The chapter is divided into five parts:

1. Sentence Correction Tips
   A few basic tips to keep in mind.
   
   
2. Glossary of Grammar Definitions
   
   
3. Three Step Method for the Sentence Correction Questions
   This section provides you with a clear, step-by-step method for tackling all Sentence Correction questions.
   
   
4. Eight Types of Errors in the Sentence Correction Section
   This section provides you with an overview of the eight most common grammar mistakes found in Sentence Correction sections. You will learn specific skills for handling individual questions.
   
   
5. Sample Questions
   Timed online questions to simulate actual GMAT questions.

II. Sentence Correction Tips

1. GMAT grammar adheres to the rules of "Standard Written English"

"Standard Written English" refers to the grammar rules that you find in grammar books and in formal writing. Since proper written English often differs from spoken English, the best answer will not always be the one that sounds the best. You cannot rely on your ear alone; you must become familiar with the grammar rules of written English.

2. The GMAT tests a limited number of grammar rules.

English grammar contains hundreds of very specific rules. The GMAT only tests a few of these, so devote your energies to mastering the rules that most frequently come up.

3. Grammar is key - but style is important, too

The best answer must be clear, without unnecessary redundancy, and with proper punctuation. Idioms must be used correctly. Style is a secondary concern. Look for grammar errors first, and then check for errors in style.

4. Don't change the meaning of the sentence

In the sentence correction section, you'll sometimes find two answer choices that are equally correct in terms of grammar and style conventions. When this happens, choose the answer that best maintains the meaning of the original sentence. The correct answer will never significantly alter the original meaning.

5. Incorrect answer choices are incorrect

Sentence Correction answer choices are variations on the correct answer. Incorrect answers will almost always be identifiable as such. Even if an answer choice sounds funny, if you can't find a definite error, then don't rush to eliminate it.

III. Glossary of Grammatical Definitions

IV. Sentence Correction Three-Step Method

A Sentence Correction question looks like this:

1. When Charlene goes to the park, she likes to run, swim, and to play basketball.

A. she likes to run, swim, and to play basketball
B. she likes to run, swim, and play basketball
C. she likes running, to swim, and to play basketball
D. she likes running, swimming, and to play basketball
E. she likes all of the following, to run, swim, and to play basketball

You are given a sentence with one section underlined, and five answer choices. The underlined portion is reproduced five different ways in the answer choices - choice A will always be identical to the underlined portion of the sentence. Your task is to find the answer choice which is most grammatically correct according to the rules of Standard Written English. Sometimes more than one answer choice will appear to be free of grammatical errors. This is not a mistake. Style conventions must be taken into consideration as well. When this occurs, you must look for the answer that is clearly expressed and concise.

800score Three-Step Method to Sentence Correction questions:

1. 
   Read the entire sentence. Do not simply read the underlined part of the sentence, because context may be important in determining the correct answer. As mentioned above, choice A will always be a copy of the original underlined part of the sentence.
   
   Don't worry about spelling, capitalization, or punctuation; they are not covered in Sentence Correction questions. If you do find an error in the underlined portion, or if you're not sure, proceed to step two.
   
   
2. 
   The GMAT tests only a limited number of grammar error types. After you've read the sentence, look for clues indicating which grammar rule the question is testing. These grammar rules, and the clues to look for, will be covered in more detail in the next section.
   
   Keep an eye out for:
   Agreement Issues: Look for pronouns, verbs, and nouns: do they agree?
   Modifiers: Look for introductory phrases set off by a comma: is the modifier used correctly?
   Parallels: Look for commas separating words in a list, as well as expressions such as not only...but also, both...and, either...or, neither...nor: is everything parallel?
   
   
3. 
   After you've dissected the question, compare answer choices and note the differences. Look for the answer choice that preserves the meaning of the original sentence and fixes its errors without creating any new ones. Eliminate answer choices with grammar errors.

Now that you have a method for approaching the questions, it's time to move on to specifics: how to recognize and correct the seven common grammar errors found in the GMAT.

V. Seven Error Types

The GMAT tests only a limited number of grammar error types. Therefore, you only need to learn a few of grammar rules – you don't need to master every grammatical and stylistic rule of Standard Written English to do well on the GMAT.

1-A. Subject-Verb Agreement: Introduction

Subjects and verbs must agree. The 'subject' of a sentence is the noun to which the verb in the sentence's main clause refers, and the two must always agree in number: singular subjects must be paired with singular verbs; and plural subjects, with plural verbs. Though it may sound simple, the GMAT uses tricky constructions and phrasings that make these questions seem far more complicated than they actually are.

Test writers will try to fool you by writing unusual phrases that make it difficult to tell if the subject is singular or plural. Below, you'll find a list of rules and tips for subject-verb agreement that will assist you in making sense of the GMAT's intentionally confusing questions.

1. What "Agreement" Means in English Grammar

"Agreement" is one of the fundamental rules of English grammar. Essentially, the rule dictates that corresponding parts of a sentence must match – "agree with" – one another. What exactly does this mean? If you've ever studied a foreign language, like French or Italian, then you're already familiar with the concept of agreement: when you change the form of a word to make it fit properly into the sentence, like changing the ending of a masculine adjective to feminine because the noun it modifies is feminine –- that's agreement. Agreement allows us to show who's doing what in a sentence in a clear and unconfusing manner. Without such a method of clarification – of indicating which adjectives in a sentence modify which nouns, or which nouns are governed by which verbs – clear expression, in writing and speech alike, would be very difficult.

Because English is structured differently than French or Italian (or Spanish or Polish or Latin, etc.), the changes you have to make in order to adhere to the rules of agreement will be different. But the basic concept – of assuring a "match in form" between corresponding parts of a sentence – is the same.

2. Kinds of Agreement

In the English language, agreement applies to several different kinds of pairings: nouns and their verbs; pronouns and their verbs; adjectives and the nouns they modify; prepositions and the verb(s) they govern. Depending on the nature of the pairing, agreement may be required in terms of tense, number, or case. Tense and number apply to verbs; number applies to verbs, nouns, and pronouns; and case applies to nouns, pronouns, and modifiers:

Tense: indicates when an action happened, is happening, or will happen
Number: indicates "how many" - singular (one) or plural (more than one)
Case: indicates role of noun or pronoun in sentence. In English, nouns only change form for the possessive case, while pronouns have different forms for the possessive, subjective, and objective cases.

Agreement requires that corresponding parts of a sentence match in as many of these ways as possible: for example, a noun and verb can agree in terms of number (singular or plural) only, while a noun and a pronoun can agree in terms of both number (singular and plural) and case (possessive or otherwise). For native English speakers, agreement is for the most part instinctive, presenting little difficulty in simple constructions: singular nouns agree with singular verbs, plural nouns with plural verbs, and so forth.

But more complex sentences - those containing several nouns, verbs, and/or pronouns – can sometimes make even the simplest applications of agreement confusing.

3. Agreement in Action

In order to apply agreement rules, you must be able to recognize when agreement is required: what parts of the sentence are "corresponding parts"?

Because a sentence can contain more than one noun and verb, subject-verb agreement helps to clarify which noun is the subject, and by which verb it is governed. Refer to the main chapter for help on recognizing and correcting subject-verb agreement errors on the GMAT.

1-B. Subject-Verb Agreement: Subject / Verb Separation

A subject and verb may be separated by an accompanying phrase without changing the agreement.

The child, together with his grandmother and his parents, is going to the beach.

This sentence is grammatically correct. When a phrase sandwiched by commas comes between a subject and a verb, the subject and verb must still agree, even if the sandwiched phrase contains other nouns. The accompanying phrase "his grandmother and his parents" only provides extra information and does not alter in any way the grammatical relationship between the subject (the child) and the verb (is going).

Pay special attention to who or what is doing the action indicated by the verb, and make sure it agrees with the verb. Ignore everything else.

Here's any easy way to handle this kind of "sandwich" agreement question. Take a look at the following sentence and decide whether it is correct or incorrect:

Frank, accompanied by his students, were at the studio.

There are three nouns in this sentence, and two verbs. To clarify which of the three nouns is the subject of the sentence, and with which of the two verbs the subject should agree, cross out everything inside the commas, like so:

Two nouns remain: the subject is the noun in front of the crossed-out sandwich ("Frank"). The verb we're looking for, the "main-clause" verb, is the only remaining verb in the sentence ("were").

To simplify the task of comparing the newly-identified subject and its governing verb, we'll next erase the crossed-out sandwich. We're left with the following:

The subject of the sentence is now right next to its governing verb. But does this subject-verb combination – "Frank were" – make sense? No. Frank is only one person – signifying singularity, not plurality - and so our governing verb should also be singular.

The plural verb "were" has been changed to the singular verb "was." This final version pairs a singular noun with a singular verb, which corrects the original agreement error (a singular noun with a plural verb).

It would be a good idea to practice this technique on your own before test day, because you often won't have the time or space to work out each step at length. Once you have it down, this "cross-out" method is by far the quickest and easiest way to identify agreement errors. Just by crossing out the section inside the commas in this example, we were able to isolate, and then correct, the subject-verb relationship: since Frank, a singular proper noun, is the subject of the sentence, not his students, a singular, not plural, noun is required: Frank was at the studio.

Incorrect: Frank, accompanied by his students, were at the studio.

Correct: Frank, accompanied by his students, was at the studio.

Check for agreement in every question you see, and be aware of the different ways the error can pop up. So how should you handle – or even identify – a subject-verb agreement error without obvious isolating commas?

Here's are two types of filler phrases you will often see:

A. "Of" Phrases

A sentence will often 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, 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.

That 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.

By using the same method as we used for the "sandwich" questions, we were able to isolate, analyze, and eventually correct the subject-verb relationship. Once you identify a phrase as a "filler" phrase, you've made the question as simple as a "sandwich". All that's left to do is cross out, analyze, and correct if necessary.

1-C. Collective Nouns

Collective nouns, such as family, majority, audience, and committee are singular when they act in a collective fashion or represent one group. They are plural when the members of the collective body act as individuals. Collective nouns will usually be singular in Sentence Correction sentences. The difficulty of these questions lies in identifying a noun as a collective noun.

A majority of the shareholders wants the merger.

These nouns usually look plural, but are in fact singular. Confused? If you're having trouble determining singularity or plurality, it might be helpful to visualize what's actually going on in the sentence. Ask yourself these questions:

Is the sentence talking about something that acts as a singular entity?
Or, is it talking about the individual elements within that entity?

In the sentence above we are presented with the noun "majority". The "majority of shareholders" likely contains several shareholders; however, they are only spoken of as a group, not as individuals. There is no indication that the sentence is referring to the individuals within the majority – even though it comprises several people, the "majority" acts as one – as a singular entity - and therefore requires a singular verb, "wants."

Here is another example:

The flock of birds is flying south.

This sentence presents another ambiguous noun – "flock" – followed by a plural noun, "birds". Again, the confusing noun is referred to as a singular group: even though a flock comprises many birds, we're not talking about each bird's direction of flight, but the direction of the flock as a whole. And because the flock as a whole is singular, it therefore requires a singular verb to accompany it: the singular verb "is," not the plural verb "are."

Here is an example of a collective noun that requires a plural verb. Even though you will not see this very often on the GMAT, it's helpful to illustrate the importance of reading the entire sentence and visualizing what it describes every time you come across a confusing noun.

The sentence above describes the fighting that occurs between the individual members of the team. Because "team" refers to several individual members, it is a plural noun, and therefore requires a plural verb - "are" - as a result.

The key to these questions is simplicity:

1. recognize the collective noun
   
2. visualize what's going on in the sentence to make sure it is a collective noun
   
3. proceed
   

These questions are included in the GMAT not because they are especially difficult, but because test writers expect most students to be unfamiliar with the rules governing collective nouns. But if you know to look out for those tricky collective nouns, then you have no reason to worry, because you're already ahead of the game.

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

1-D. Subject-Verb Agreement: Plural / Singular

In this example, we see a list of three names. Because these names – Ted, John, I - are separated by the word "and", the plural form of the verb is used, according to the rule stated above. Don't over-think this one. It's an extremely straightforward grammatical construction: the subject is plural because it refers to more than one person (or place, or thing, or event), and plural subjects require plural verbs. So we use a plural verb.

In this example, we see another list, of two names. But this time the verb is singular, not plural. Why? Because the names are separated by the word "nor." And according to the rule above, when a list of things is separated by the word "nor," the singular form of the verb is used.

This construction is, as you can probably tell, the more complicated of the two. It looks very much like the 'and' construction, but means the opposite, and therefore requires the opposite verb. Think of it like this: what does this sentence tell us exactly? It tells us that Ted is not going, and John is not going either. Since the two people are referred to individually, as separate people, it wouldn't make sense to use a verb that refers to them as one unit.

You could also think about it this way: neither one of the two is going – neither one nor the other. It's just like the term "no one": would you say "no one are going"? Or "no one is going"? You'd say the latter. How could "nothing" be plural? Do the same with "nor" and "or" constructions.

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 pronouns could 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 could 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 referring 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 – because the use of "none" in 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" means" not one" or "not a single one"

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

1-E. Subject-Verb Agreement: Neither / Either

Neither and either always take singular verbs when acting as the subject of a sentence.

.

Here we have an example of a sentence in which the word "neither," not the plural noun "rosebushes," is the subject of the sentence. As per the stated rules above, "Neither" takes a singular verb when it acts as the subject of the sentence. Therefore, the singular verb "is" is correct. The sentence requires no alterations.

.

Here we have a similar construction: in this sentence, the word "either" acts as the subject, and therefore requires a singular noun. If you're at all confused, a helpful tip is to think of the word "either" as an abbreviation of the phrase "either one". Once you do so, it's easier to see that the phrase "of us" is just filler (after which you can, if you like, cross it out). The subject of the sentence is "either (one)", and so this sentence therefore requires a singular verb: "is".

1-F. Subject-Verb Agreement: Or / Nor

Neither/nor and either/or are a special case. If two subjects are joined by or or nor, the verb should agree with the subject that is closer to it.

If the conjunction nor appears in a sentence with neither; or the conjunction or with either, then the "neither/either" rule as stated above no longer applies. That is, if you see "neither" followed by "nor," or "either" followed by "or," you can't automatically assume that the verb should be singular, as we did in the last section. "Neither…nor" and "either…or" means, at least in the world of GMAT grammar, "be careful."

In these constructions, "neither" and "either" are no longer the subjects of their sentences. Instead, they function as conjunctions, working in pairs with "nor" and "or" to join two other subjects in the sentence. When this occurs, the verb agrees with whichever subject is closer to it.

This "neither…nor" sentence contains two subjects: "supervisor," and "staff members." (Why is "client" not a subject too? Because in these situations, the subjects are the two nouns immediately following the words "neither" and "nor.") Since the latter subject, "staff members," is plural, we therefore need a plural verb, too. The plural verb "were" is correct.

This example is identical, grammatically, to the one above, except that the correlative conjunction joining the subjects is "either/or." The verb must therefore agree with the subject closest to it, which is "child," a singular noun. The proper verb form is the singular "is."

Remember to apply this rule only when both items of the pairs "neither/nor" and "either/or" are present in the sentence.

1-G. Subject-Verb Agreement: Subject / Verb / Object

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.

1-H. Subject-Verb Agreement: 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.

1-I. Subject-Verb Agreement: Subject / Verb / Object

1. The President of Costa Rica, along with two vice-presidents, are elected for a four-year term by the people.

a) are elected for a four-year term by the people.
b) are elected, by the people, for a four-year term.
c) is elected for a four-year term by the people.
d) are elected for four-year terms by the people.
e) is elected for four-year terms by the people.

The President of Costa Rica, along with two vice-presidents, are elected for a four-year term by the people.

Grammar issue presented:
subject/verb agreement: subject/verb separation
‘along with two vice-presidents’ separates the noun 'the president of Costa Rica' (singular) from the verb ‘are’ (plural)

a) are elected for a four-year term by the people.
Subject / verb agreement? NO (president / are)

b) are elected, by the people, for a four-year term.
Subject / verb agreement? NO (president / are)

c) is elected for a four-year term by the people.
Subject / verb agreement? YES (president / is)
Additional errors? none

d) are elected for four-year terms by the people.
Subject / verb agreement? NO (president / are)

e) is elected for four-year terms by the people.
Subject / verb agreement? YES (president / is)
Additional errors? Change in meaning! : ‘four year terms’

(C) shows the correct subject-verb agreement; no additional errors are created.

2. The Egyptian Museum in Cairo, which contains 120,000 objects from prehistoric times through the Greco-Roman period, are home to one of the most impressive collections of ancient Egyptian artifacts.

a) which contains 120,000 objects from prehistoric times through the Greco-Roman period, are home to
b) which contain 120,000 objects from prehistoric times through the Greco-Roman period, are home to
c) containing 120,000 objects from prehistoric times through the Greco-Roman period, are home to
d) which is containing 120,000 objects from prehistoric times through the Greco-Roman period, are home to
e) contains 120,000 objects from prehistoric times through the Greco-Roman period, is home to

The Egyptian Museum in Cairo, which contains 120,000 objects from prehistoric times through the Greco-Roman period, are home to one of the most impressive collections of ancient Egyptian artifacts.

Grammar issue presented:
subject/verb agreement: subject/verb separation
‘which contains 120,000 objects from prehistoric times through the Greco-Roman period’ separates ‘The Egyptian Museum in Cairo’ (singular) from the verb ‘are’ (plural)

a) which contains 120,000 objects from prehistoric times through the Greco-Roman period, are home to
Subject / verb agreement? NO (museum / are)

b) which contain 120,000 objects from prehistoric times through the Greco-Roman period, are home to
Subject / verb agreement? NO (museum / are)
Additional errors? ’which contain’

c) containing 120,000 objects from prehistoric times through the Greco-Roman period, are home to
Subject / verb agreement? NO (museum / are)

d) which is containing 120,000 objects from prehistoric times through the Greco-Roman period, are home to
Subject / verb agreement? NO (museum / are)

e) contains 120,000 objects from prehistoric times through the Greco-Roman period, is home to
Subject / verb agreement? YES (museum / is)
Additional error? None

(E) shows the correct subject-verb agreement; no additional errors are created.

3. A number of colorful glass vases were displayed in the store window.

a) were displayed in the store window.
b) was displaying in the store window.
c) was displayed in the store window.
d) displayed in the store window.
e) were being displayed in the store window.

A number of colorful glass vases were displayed in the store window.

Grammar issue presented:
subject/verb agreement: Quantity Words
‘a number’ always takes a plural verb
‘the number’ always takes a singular verb

a) were displayed in the store window.
Subject/verb agreement? YES (a number/ were)
Additional errors? none

b) was displaying in the store window.
Subject/verb agreement? NO (a number/ was displaying)
Additional errors? ‘displaying’

c) was displayed in the store window.
Subject/verb agreement? NO (a number/ was displayed)

d) displayed in the store window.
Subject/verb agreement? NO – part of the verb ('was'/'were') is missing!

e) were being displayed in the store window.
Subject/verb agreement? YES (a number/ were)
Additional errors? ‘being displayed’ is wordy

(A) is the best choice, because it shows the correct subject-verb agreement and is concise.

4. Neither of our school’s students nominated for the national spelling bee were able to win the competition.

a) Neither of our school’s students nominated for the national spelling bee were
b) Neither of our school’s students nominated for the national spelling bee was
c) Neither of the students from our school nominated for the national spelling bee were
d) Neither of the students nominated for the national spelling bee from our school were
e) Neither one of our school’s students who was nominated for the national spelling bee was

Neither of our school’s students nominated for the national spelling bee were able to win the competition.

Grammar issue presented: subject/verb agreement: neither/either
‘Neither’ is always a singular subject and thus takes a singular verb. The original sentence uses ‘were,’ which is plural.

a) Neither of our school’s students nominated for the national spelling bee were
Subject/verb agreement? NO (neither/were)

b) Neither of our school’s students nominated for the national spelling bee was
Subject/verb agreement? YES (neither/was)
Additional errors? None

c) Neither of the students from our school nominated for the national spelling bee were
Subject/verb agreement? NO (neither/were)

d) Neither of the students nominated for the national spelling bee from our school were
Subject/verb agreement? NO (neither/were)

e) Neither one of our school’s students who was nominated for the national spelling bee was
Subject/verb agreement? YES (neither/were)
Additional errors? This version of the sentence is wordy: ‘neither one’, ‘who was’.

(B) shows the correct subject-verb agreement and is the most concise choice.

5. Everybody at the party love the chocolate cake Shelley made.

a) Everybody at the party love the chocolate cake Shelley made.
b) Everybody at the party is loving the chocolate cake Shelley made.
c) Everybody at the party loves the chocolate cake Shelley made.
d) Everybody love the chocolate cake Shelley made at the party.
e) Everybody loves the chocolate cake Shelley made at the party.

Everybody at the party love the chocolate cake Shelley made.

Grammar issue presented: subject/verb agreement: plural /singular
‘Everybody’ is a singular subject and thus takes a singular verb
‘Love’ is the plural form