Vocabulary, grammar and punctuation
Agreement with a tricky subject
Make the verb agree with its real subject, even when other words come in between.
A verb must agree with its subject: he walks, they walk. That is easy when the two sit next to each other. English gets tricky when it slides a few words in between, and your ear starts agreeing with the wrong noun.
The trick that solves most of them
Cross out everything between the subject and the verb. "The bundle of old newspapers is in the shed" — cross out "of old newspapers" and you are left with "the bundle is". The subject was never "newspapers".
Each, every, one of — always singular
Each of the singers has a copy. Every one of the trees was planted last year. One of the doors sticks in the rain. The plural noun after "of" is not the subject.
Neither...nor — agree with the nearer one
Neither the teacher nor the pupils were told. Neither the pupils nor the teacher was told. Swap them round and the verb changes with them.
Some -s words name one thing
Physics is her strongest subject. The news travels fast. A subject name and a word like news each count as one, however plural they look — and so does a measured stretch of time, which is a single length rather than a heap of separate years.
Worked example
Choose the verb: "A packet of sweets ____ (was / were) left on the shelf."
Find the head of the subject: packet.
"Of sweets" only describes the packet; it cannot be the subject.
Try it together
Let us cross a sentence down to its real subject, together.
The sentence: The crate of glass jars that the driver unloaded ____ (was / were) cracked.
1.Cross out everything sitting between the subject and the verb. Write the two words that are left standing as the subject.
Have a go
The bowl of fresh mangoes ____ on the table.
Ready to practise?
Eight questions on what you have just read. Nothing is timed, and you can play as many times as you like.