1.2 SAT Writing - Subject-Verb Agreement

Subject-Verb Agreement:  The subject of a sentence must always agree with the verb.  Take a common mistake: He run.  It is obvious that the subject of the sentence "He" does not agree with the verb "run."  The correct verb is "runs."  Don't you wish that the test were this easy?  It's not!  However, the SAT test makers typically present this type of question in three ways:

Subject-Verb Split

The subject-verb split:instead of the typical subject near the verb (as my first example), the test maker loves to separate the subject from the verb with many distracting words, phrases, and clauses.  For example, consider this:  The teacher along with his students (is/are) going on a field trip.  The correct verb? IS.  "Teacher" functions as the subject, and "along with his students" is merely a prepositional phrase that is a hiccup before we reach the verb.  The test makers really love to use a noun that is plural right before the verb so that students will pick a verb that sounds right.  Do not be deceived by this! If you can find the subject of the sentence with confidence by cancelling out the hiccup before the verb, then you will find their trap- every time!

Correlative Conjunction

Correlative Conjunctions: The test makers love to pull the correlative conjunction trick.  The two most common correlative conjunctions are the "Neither/Nor" combo or the "Either/Or" combo.  The trick here is rather simple.  The closest subject to the verb determines the verb.  For example, take this sentence:  Neither the student nor his classmates ARE enjoying the game.  As you can see, there are two subjects in the sentence, namely, "student" and "classmates."  Since "classmates" is closest to the verb, the verb is plural, thus "are."  This simple trick works with any correlative conjunction.  Keep your eye out for this construction since it appears quite frequently on the SAT test. 

Inverted Word Order

Inverted Word Order: Another notable confusion is the inverted word order trick.  The test maker loves to begin sentences with long-winded phrases at the beginning that commit the sentence to a verb usage first before the subject.  In this sense the reader gets lost since he may (a) lose track of the subject on the back end of the clause or (b) mistake the subject for object that begins at the sentence.  Take this example:  At the back of the room ARE a small desk and a large desk for visitors.  A reader may only hear the "small desk," which is singular, not noticing the other subject "large desk," which makes the sentence plural.  Be careful for these inverted constructions since the mediocre readers miss the subjects allowing themselves to make careless mishaps with subject-verb agreement.