Free subject-verb agreement worksheets

How to use these worksheets in class

• Grade 2 to 3: the -s rule. Start with One or more than one?. Have children underline the subject and write 1 or 2+ above it before they look at the verbs. Point out the odd thing about English: the -s goes on the plural noun but on the singular verb.
• Is/are/was/were. Ask for the two decisions in order, first number, then time. Items with there is/are and where are need the reminder that the subject comes after the verb.
• Grade 4 to 5: tricky subjects. Read the three rules on the sheet aloud and then do items 3 and 10 together ("The box of crayons", "A bunch of grapes"): bracket the phrase, and the subject appears. Item 8, "Peanut butter and jelly is my favorite sandwich", is deliberately arguable and makes a good two-minute debate.
• Proofreading. Find and fix the error includes four correct sentences so students cannot just change everything. The paragraph edit has twelve errors, all listed on the key; ten out of twelve is a pass.
• Read aloud. Most agreement errors are audible. When a child gets one wrong, read both versions aloud and let them hear it before you explain it.

Answer key

Every practice sheet carries its own answer key on page 2 of the PDF. The keys are repeated here for quick marking.

• One or more than one?: 1. b) sleeps 2. a) play 3. b) tells 4. a) drink 5. b) appears 6. a) share 7. b) barks 8. a) walk 9. b) drinks 10. a) make 11. b) stops 12. a) live 13. b) laughs 14. a) fall
• Is, are, was or were?: 1. is 2. were 3. are 4. was 5. are 6. were 7. is 8. are 9. was 10. are 11. are 12. is 13. were 14. were Your turn: 1. Any correct sentence with a plural subject. 2. Any correct sentence with a singular subject.
• Tricky subjects: 1. a) go 2. b) has 3. a) is 4. b) washes 5. a) has 6. b) receive 7. b) knows 8. a) is 9. a) clean 10. b) sits 11. a) is 12. b) lives
• Find and fix the error: 1. X: play 2. C 3. X: are 4. X: Do 5. X: smell 6. C 7. X: are 8. X: doesn’t 9. C 10. X: is 11. C 12. X: come
• Edit the paragraph: Corrections: 1 | hold | holds 2 | bakes | bake 3 | brings | bring 4 | is making | are making 5 | want | wants 6 | they is | they are 7 | teach | teaches 8 | shops | shop 9 | go | goes 10 | leave | leaves 11 | gets | get 12 | are | is

Common mistakes to watch for

• Matching the verb to the nearest noun. "The flowers in the vase smells": the subject is flowers, not vase. Bracketing the phrase fixes this.
• Treating "everyone" as plural. It refers to many people but is grammatically singular, like each and nobody.
• "There is" for everything. "There is many reasons" is one of the most common errors in children’s writing; it appears on the fourth sheet.
• "Don’t" with he, she and it. "She don’t" is common in speech; the fourth sheet corrects it to doesn’t.