Subject–verb agreement · Year 2

The verb must agree with its subject: a singular subject takes a singular verb, and a plural subject takes a plural verb. The cat runs. The cats run. In the present simple, a singular verb usually ends in -s, the opposite of nouns.

Key facts

• One person or thing (he, she, it, my sister): is, was, has, does, and -s on the verb: She plays.
• More than one (they, we, the boys): are, were, have, do, and no -s: They play.
• The verb agrees with the main noun, not the nearest one: The box of pencils is on the desk. One of my friends lives in Cairo.
• Two subjects joined by and are plural: Omar and his sister are here.
• everyone, nobody, each and every are singular: Everyone is ready. People, children and police are plural: The people are kind.
• After there, the verb agrees with the noun that comes next: There is a cat. There are three cats.

Worked examples

Other years

• Subject–verb agreement · Year 3
• Subject–verb agreement · Year 4
• Subject–verb agreement · Year 5
• Subject–verb agreement · Year 6
• Subject–verb agreement · Year 7