Subject Verb Agreement Teaching Resources

Teach students subject verb agreement this school year with printable worksheets, sentence-building activities, sorting games and more elementary school teaching resources designed to help extend your students' understanding of how verbs change in sentences and provide practice for this foundational language topic.

This extensive collection of teaching resources has been created by teachers for teachers like you. Aligned to the Common Core curriculum, the ELA collection includes editable worksheets and teaching presentations and more to save elementary teachers time on lesson planning.

Created by expert teachers, each resource in this sentence collection has been carefully reviewed and curated by our team. That means it's ready to use in the classroom! You'll even find editable resources, plus differentiated options.

New to teaching about subject/verb agreement, or just looking for fresh ways to engage your students? Read on for a primer from our teaching team, including the key subject-verb agreement rules to add to your lesson plans!

What Is a Subject Verb Agreement? Kid-Friendly Definition

Here's a way to explain to your students what it means to make the subject of a sentence and verb agree.

Subject verb agreement is a way of making sure that the subject of a sentence and the verb that goes with it match each other. It's like having the right team players in a sentence. When we write or speak, we want to ensure that the subject and the verb agree in number, meaning they need to be singular or plural together.

Doing this helps us communicate clearly and correctly. After all, if the subject and verb don't agree, our sentences can sound strange or confusing! Using the right subject and verb forms makes our writing and speaking more accurate and easier to understand.

Subject Verb Agreement Examples

Now how do you ensure these two sentence parts match up? Let's look at some examples!

1. The sloth sleeps. (singular subject + singular verb)
2. The sloths sleep. (plural subject + plural verb)
3. My friend plays soccer. (singular subject + singular verb)
4. My friends play soccer. (plural subject + plural verb)
5. The dog runs fast. (singular subject + singular verb)
6. The dogs run fast. (plural subject + plural verb)

What Are the Subject-Verb Agreement Rules Kids Need to Know?

Want to make sure you cover all the key rules for this section of English grammar and writing conventions? Our teacher team has you covered with a substantial list. Although English is tricky and has some exceptions and special use cases that are sure to pop up in your students' writing, this provides a good foundation for teaching about subjects and verbs and how they relate to one another in sentence structure.

1. Singular subjects usually take singular verbs, and plural subjects usually take plural verbs. Example: She likes math. / They like math.
2. Singular indefinite pronouns — words like everyone, anybody, each and someone — take singular verbs. Example: Everyone did their homework. / Somebody didn't do their homework.
3. Plural indefinite pronouns — words like both, few and several — take plural verbs. Example: Both of them are coming. / Few have arrived.
4. Collective nouns can take either singular or plural verbs, depending on the context. This one can be confusing for kids because it changes, so here's how to break it down. When the group is seen as a single unit, a singular verb is used. When individual members of the group are emphasized, a plural verb is used. Example: The team is practicing. / The team are wearing their jerseys.
5. Subjects joined by "and" usually take plural verbs. Example: Sherika and Tyron are working on a STEAM project.
6. Subjects joined by "or" or "nor" agree with the closer subject and take a verb that agrees with that subject. Example: Either the teacher or the students are responsible.
7. When the subject and the predicate are separated by words like "along with," "as well as," "in addition to," the verb agrees with the subject before the phrase. Example: The book, in addition to the pen, belongs to me.
8. Indefinite pronouns ending in "-body" or "-one" take singular verbs. Example: Somebody ate my cheese. / No one will say who ate the cheese.
9. People's titles and the names of countries, companies and organizations are singular and take singular verbs. Example: Teach Starter is a great resource for teachers. / Australia is sometimes called "the land down under."
10. The verb "to be" (am, is, are, was, were) must agree with the subject in number and person. Example: He is at school. / We were at school.