ESL Grammar: VERBS (3) – Subject-Verb Agreement

This ESL grammar lesson introduces students to subject-verb agreement, with a short error correction worksheet to practice using verbs correctly with different subjects.

Subject-verb agreement refers to the grammatical rule that the verb in a sentence must agree in number (singular or plural) with the subject. In other words, if the subject is singular, the verb must also be singular; if the subject is plural, the verb must be plural.

ESL Grammar: Basic Rules of Subject-Verb Agreement

1. Singular Subjects Take Singular Verbs

   • Rule: Use the base form of the verb with singular subjects (for example, “is” for the verb “to be”).
   • Examples:
     • “She writes a letter.”
     • “The cat is on the roof.”

2. Plural Subjects Take Plural Verbs

   • Rule: Use the base form of the verb plus “s” or “es” with plural subjects.
   • Examples:
     • “They write letters.”
     • “The cats are on the roof.”

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This lesson is available for free download, and you can download many more English grammar lessons focusing on all different parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and lots more!) in our comprehensive, beginner-level ESL grammar textbook Great, Great Grammar! (Book 1: Parts of Speech).