Subject-verb agreement and verb tenses , Tūmahi me ngā wāreo

Singular subject

Everyone, everybody, every student, each of the students, nobody, someone, the team, the group, the family

Singular verb

has, is, was, does

Plural subject

The students, the teacher and the student, both the students, several students, a few of the students, many students

Plural verb

have, are, do, need

You're always presented with options when using 'either… or' and 'neither… nor'.

When there are 2 singular subjects in a sentence, only 1 subject can carry out the action meant by the verb. For example:

• Either the president or prime minister is attending the event.
• Neither the president nor the prime minister is attending the event.

When there are 2 plural subjects in a sentence, the verb should always be in plural. For example:

• Either the teachers or students have to attend the event.
• Neither the teachers nor the students have to attend the event.

Mixed singulars and plurals with either and neither

If 1 of the subjects is a singular and the other a plural, the verb should agree with the closest subject. For example:

• Either the teacher or students have to attend the event.
• Either the students or teacher has to attend the event.
• Neither the teacher nor the students have to attend the event.
• Neither the students nor teacher has to attend the event.

If a sentence has 1 subject and more than 1 verb, the verbs in the sentence must agree with the subject. For example:

Semi-structured interviews are used to gain an in-depth understanding of a phenomenon and allow researchers to probe further.

In a more complex sentence, there may be an additional word or phrase between the subject and the verb. For example:

• The teacher, accompanied by the students, is joining the protest.
• The boy with all the degrees is inspired to be a doctor.

In this case, the verb agrees with the subject regardless of whether the phrase is plural or singular.

• The teacher is joining the protest.
• The boy is inspired to be a doctor.

If a sentence begins with 'There' or 'Here', the verb agrees with the plural or singular subject which follows it. For example:

• Here are the steps on how to bake a banana cake.
• There is one major factor that affects student performance.

Expressions of distance, weight, money and time are singular even if the form is plural. For example:

• 2 million dollars was given to the lawyer.

If the amount of money refers to units that can be individually counted, the verb is plural. For example:

• 10 fifty-dollar notes were found.

The words tongs, shears, scissors, pliers, trousers and pants are always plural, but if the word 'pair' is used, the verb is singular. For example:

• The pair of scissors is on the table.

Simple past tense:

• Brown (2019) argued that… However, Small (2020) suggested that…

Present perfect tense:

• Doñoso (1992) has demonstrated that…

A shift of tense may be used to indicate that the research findings are still relevant or if they're out of date.

• Molland (2018) discovered that educational outcomes improve when….

Simple past tense:

• The participants were interviewed…

Present perfect tense:

• Other researchers have followed a similar procedure.

Simple past tense:

• The results supported the hypothesis.

Simple present tense:

• I believe…

Simple past tense:

• I felt…

Present perfect tense:

• I have encountered challenges…

Simple present tense:

• The findings indicate that…

Simple present tense:

• The limitations of this case study are…

Simple present tense:

• We can conclude that…

Simple present tense:

• This is an area for future research.

No matter how long ago the work was published, the present tense is used, and even a deceased author ‘argues’ or ‘claims’.

Simple present tense:

• Vasquez and Lopez argue that…

Present perfect tense:

• Bailey has outlined…

Simple present tense:

• In Episode 4 of James Joyce’s Ulysses, Leopold Bloom walks to the butchers and buys a pork kidney.

Simple present tense:

• The plot of Ulysses centres on the wanderings and encounters of Leopold Bloom in Dublin, Ireland, over the course of a single day (16 June 1904)

Simple present tense:

• James Joyce structures Ulysses around 18 episodes that loosely mirror episodes in Homer's Odyssey
• The themes of Ulysses include compassion and remorse

If the context is clearly historical (rather than textual), use of the past tense is acceptable.

• Ulysses was published on 2 February 1922, James Joyce’s 40th birthday.

In this verb form, the auxiliary verbs, 'am', 'is', 'are', 'was', 'were', 'be' and 'been', are combined with the -ing form of the action word.

Present progressive – it is happening now

• I am writing my essay in the library.
• She is studying for her exams.
• The students are measuring the strength of the new type of rope.

Past progressive – it was ongoing but has finished

• I was just finishing my last question when the supervisor told me to stop writing.
• You were writing very fast.
• The students were listening to their tutor and were writing notes about the discussion.

Future progressive – it will be ongoing, but has not happened yet

• I shall be taking 4 courses next semester.
• You will be aiming for high grades if you wish to do an honours course next year.
• She will be looking for a job when she gets to Tasmania.

Perfect tense describes an action that has been completed, usually at an unspecified time in the past, and the results are still true or relevant. They use the helping verbs, 'has', 'have' and 'had' to convey the time period with the -ed form of the action verb.

Present perfect

The present perfect tense is used for 2 types of action:

The action started and finished in the past at an unspecified time.

• I have located all the references I need to complete my assignment. ('Finding the references' finished at some unspecified time in the past and writing can start)
• They have made a PowerPoint presentation to accompany their talk.
• I have drawn up a plan and (have) put it on the wall, so that everyone knows when to pack up their equipment.

The action started in the past and are understood to be ongoing.

• I have written 3 pages of my assignment so far. (I started writing at some unspecified time in the past and I am still writing).
• He has found Google Scholar to be excellent source of academic material.

Past perfect

This tense describes an action that occurred in the past, before another past action. Use simple past tense if you have a specific time or the meaning is the same as using past perfect.

• All the students had submitted their assignments before the 5pm deadline expired. (All the students completed submission before 5pm).
• I had made summaries of the first 5 topics before the lecturer told us that the test was on topics 3 to 8.

Future perfect

This tense describes actions that will start and end in the future.

• All going well, by the end of next semester I will have completed my degree. (The degree will be completed in the future, at the end of next semester).
• The students will have finished tea by 7pm.
• The contact workshop will have been held in the first week of July.

The helping verbs, 'have', 'has' and 'had' combined with the -ing form of the action verb.

Present

• I have been writing my assignment since 10 o'clock (I started writing in the past and am still writing).
• He has been spending hours on the internet researching the topic.

Past

• They had been studying for their exams all morning (They were studying but have now finished).
• She had been practising her talk as the oral presentations have to be done this week.

Future

• She will have been travelling for 12 hours by the time she arrives (In the future, she will have travelled for 12 hours before arriving).
• They will have been monitoring the changes in appearance for three months by the end of the experiment.
• The report states that by next week, Mr Williams will have been working without a contract for six months.

Source: Exploring language: A handbook for teachers (Massey Library login required)

Source: Paragraph essentials: A writing guide (Massey Library login required)