Subject-Verb Agreement Rule 2

Words which intervene between subject and verb do not affect the verb

Examples:

A. My sister, together with her friends, arrives tonight.

B. The bus, loaded with boxes of fruits and vegetables, was abandoned in a solitary road.

C. The reason for all the problems and difficulties is not known to us.

SS (singular subject)+ IW (intervening words) = SV (singular verb)

PS (plural subject) + IW (intervening words) = PV (plural verb)

Explanation: In the following examples above the subjects are sister, bus,and reason respectively. Now, you might be confused with the words or phrases that follow after the subjects these words or phrases are the intervening words or also known as intervening phrases. The intervening phrases are "together with her friends", "loaded with boxes of fruits and vegetables", and "for all the problems and difficulties". You should not be confused if what form of the verb you will use because these intervening phrases should be ignored such that you only need to focus on the subject.

Exercise 02

Directions: Read the statements carefully and choose the best verb to be used in the following sentences.

1. The cargo ship, loaded with containers of oil, (dock, docks) at the seaport.

2. The captain, as well as his crew, (was, were) exhausted by fatigue, hunger, fear.

3. The editor, together with his guest, (is, are) in the conference room.

4. The tourists, together with the tour guides, (was, were) spotted on the island.

5. The contestants, as well as the hosts, (was, were) seen on tv last night.

Refs

• Intensive English Book

grammar, 14-04-19 16:50, 14-05-07 19:59, Marz