Subject-verb agreement MCQ — 14 Practice Questions with Answers

Explanation

In inverted sentences beginning with place adverbials, the subject often comes after the verb, so agreement must be checked after the verb, not before it. In sentence 1, a marble plaque and two iron benches is compound and plural, so are is correct. In sentence 2, names is plural, so appear fits. In sentence 3, a vase is singular, so stands is correct. In sentence 4, workshops is plural, and lie is both grammatical and idiomatic after beyond.

Explanation

Collective nouns such as 'committee', 'jury', 'team' and 'cabinet' can be singular or plural in British and Indian standard English, depending on meaning. If the group acts as a single body, a singular verb is suitable: 'The committee has approved the report.' If attention falls on the members acting separately, a plural verb may be natural: 'The committee are divided.' Therefore Statements 1 and 3 are correct, while Statement 2 is an overgeneralisation.

Explanation

Collective nouns can take either singular or plural verbs depending on meaning in British/Indian usage. If the group acts as one unit, use a singular verb and singular pronoun; if the members act separately, a plural verb is possible. Option D mixes these patterns: have treats jury as plural, but its treats it as singular. The sentence should be either The jury has delivered its verdict or The jury have delivered their verdict.

Explanation

Some quantifier expressions have fixed agreement patterns. More than one is followed by a singular noun and usually takes a singular verb, so Statement 1 correctly uses has. Many a also takes a singular noun and singular verb; therefore Statement 2 should read has misunderstood, not have misunderstood. A number of means several and takes a plural verb, so Statement 3 correctly uses were. Hence only Statements 1 and 3 are grammatically correct.

Explanation

The subject of the quoted sentence is The quality of the submissions. The head noun is quality, which is singular. The phrases of the submissions and despite several late revisions contain plural nouns, but they are only modifiers and do not determine the verb. Therefore the singular verb was agrees correctly with quality. The reason states exactly this rule, so both the assertion and the reason are true, and the reason explains the assertion.