Spotting Errors in English: Subject-Verb Agreement and Common Traps
The grammar rules that most often appear in error-spotting questions, with clear examples of each trap.
Error-spotting questions test whether you can find the mistake in a sentence. The same rules appear again and again, so learning them pays off.
Subject-verb agreement
The verb must match its subject in number.
| Rule | Correct example |
|---|---|
| Singular subject, singular verb | The boy is here. |
| Plural subject, plural verb | The boys are here. |
| Each, every, either, neither take singular verbs | Each of the students has a book. |
| One of the + plural noun takes a singular verb | One of my friends is a doctor. |
| The number of + plural takes a singular verb | The number of students is growing. |
| A number of + plural takes a plural verb | A number of students are absent. |
| Neither ... nor / either ... or: the verb agrees with the nearer subject | Neither the teacher nor the students were present. |
| Collective nouns (team, committee) are usually treated as singular | The committee has decided. |
Ignore the words in between
The verb agrees with the subject, not with a noun in a phrase that comes between:
- The box of chocolates is on the table. (not "are")
- The quality of the products has improved.
Tenses
- Actions that started in the past and continue use the present perfect: "He has lived here since 2010."
- Finished past actions use the simple past: "He lived here in 2010."
- Since and for: "since 2010" (point in time), "for ten years" (duration).
Articles
- A/an before a singular countable noun mentioned for the first time.
- The for something specific.
- No article with general plural or uncountable nouns: "Information is useful."
Prepositions
Some words take fixed prepositions:
| Word | Preposition |
|---|---|
| Good at | maths |
| Afraid of | dogs |
| Interested in | music |
| Different from | this |
| Depend on | you |
| Prefer | tea to coffee |
Pronouns
- Use I as the subject and me as the object: "Between you and me."
- Its (possessive) has no apostrophe; it's means "it is".
Uncountable nouns
Words like furniture, information, advice, luggage and news have no plural: "some advice", not "advices".
Method
- Read the sentence once fully.
- Find the subject and verb.
- Check each part in order: agreement, tense, article, preposition, pronoun.
- If nothing seems wrong, choose "no error", if available.
Practice
Short daily sets of error-spotting quickly make these patterns familiar.
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