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Singular-Plural

A Grammar Error on the SAT

+Singular-Plural Errors

Verbs and their subjects

The banana are ripe.

Pronouns and their antecedents

Every coat on this rack has outlived their usefulness.

+Tip #1: Some words are ALWAYS singular. Anybody

Anything

Anyone

Everybody

Everything

Everyone

Nobody

Nothing

No one

My professor believes that anybody are fully capable of exploring their full potential.

Example

My professor believes that anybody is fully capable of exploring his or her full potential.

+Tip #2: Some words are ALWAYS plural.

SeveralFewBothMany

Both of the authors makes his or her point very well.

Example

Both of the authors make their point very well.

+Tip #3: “A” number and “The” numberA number of X is always plural.

A number of students eats at the cafeteria every day.

The number of X is always singular.

The number of students at my school have steadily increased over the

years.

+Tip #4: “Either…or” and “Neither…nor”

For “Either…or” and “Neither…nor”, the antecedent pronoun agrees with CLOSEST noun.

Neither the driver nor the tour guides does his job.

Examples

Neither the tour guides nor the driver do his job.

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The SAT is a trickster.

The sheer number of calculation errors in Timmy's formal lab report, done the morning after prom, were, even by Timmy's lackluster standards, incredibly overwhelming.

The painting, stolen by the men in the ski masks, were found hidden in a warehouse behind the church.