Agreement
One of the first things that an English learner learns is that verbs have to agree with their nouns. So, a singular noun In modern grammar, pronouns are classified as a subset of nouns. needs a singular verb form. And a plural noun needs a plural noun form. For example, she goes / they go. So far, so easy.
The real problem arises when it is not clear if the noun (or better, the noun phrase) is to be regarded as singular or plural. So, should it be The team is playing well or The team are playing well?
In the grammatical sense the team is singular. But in the notional sense a team is a group of people and so could be considered plural. Which wins? The grammatical (also called formal) interpretation or the notional one.
It is clear that many native speakers also struggle with this issue. The online language forums are full of agreement questions. Here is one example, to which I gave an answer.
Quiz
In this quiz, you have decide if the singular or plural verb form is the correct agreement..
- Singular: England is going to win the next World Cup.
- Plural: England are going to win the next World Cup.
- Singular: There is a large number of wasps in the shed.
- Plural: There are a large number of wasps in the shed.
- Singular: The price of mobile phones is falling.
- Plural: The price of mobile phones are falling.
- Singular: She is one of the few people I know who likes rap music.
- Plural: She is one of the few people I know who like rap music.
- Singular: Anyone can call him- or herself an expert.
- Plural: Anyone can call themself an expert.
- Singular: Seven years is a long time without a job.
- Plural: Seven years are a long time without a job.
- Singular: England is going to win the next World Cup.
- Plural: England are going to win the next World Cup.
In the case of collective nouns such as team, committee, government both the singular (grammatical agreement) and plural (notional agreement) are possible. In American English the singular is more common; and in British English the plural.
- Singular: There is a large number of wasps in the shed.
- Plural: There are a large number of wasps in the shed.
The singular is required grammatically,since the noun number is singular. However, the plural is probably much the more common choice in such expressions.
- Singular: The price of mobile phones is falling.
- Plural: The price of mobile phones are falling.
It must be singular here. The governing noun is the price, not mobile phones.
- Singular: She is one of the few people I know who likes rap music.
- Plural: She is one of the few people I know who like rap music.
This is a common problem. The correct answer is plural since the governing noun is the plural people. However, I suspect that most native speakers would accept both forms happily enough.
- Singular: Anyone can call him- or herself an expert.
- Plural: Anyone can call themself an expert.
The singular reflexive pronoun is required by the singular noun anyone. But the himself or herself version is regarded as infelicitous by many people. They prefer instead to use a form of the generic pronoun they.
Strictly speaking, however, there is no reflexive pronoun themself. It needs to be themselves.
- Singular: Seven years is a long time without a job.
- Plural: Seven years are a long time without a job.
Although seven years is a plural noun phrase, it is common to use the singular verb here. This is because seven years is conceived of as a single period of time.
Similarly, in Ten dollars is a lot of money ten dollars is conceived of as a single amount.
More analysis
The lessons index has links to two videos on the issue of agreement. The second video deals with further tricky issues of notional agreement. It also covers a third type of agreement, namely proximity agreement.
Further reading
You will find almost 3000 questions about agreement on the Stack Exchange English Language and Usage site.