English Language · Lesson 7

Concord: making verbs agree

JAMBWAECNECO

What the syllabus asks

JAMB: Sentence structure (concord, tenses, pronouns, mood)

WAEC: Lexis and Structure; Paper 2 essay accuracy

NECO: Lexis and Structure; Paper 2 essay accuracy

What you will learn

Find the true subject of a sentence and make the verb agree with it.
Apply the special concord rules that JAMB and WAEC test most often.
Choose the correct tense, including the sequence of tenses and the three conditionals.
Use pronouns in the correct case, including "who" and "whom" and reflexives.
Answer "choose the option that best completes the sentence" questions quickly and accurately.

Key points

The verb agrees with the head noun; ignore "of…" phrases and "as well as/together with…" additions.
"And" usually makes a plural subject, but not when the pair is one thing ("rice and beans is…").
Either/or and neither/nor: agree with the nearer subject.
Each, every, everyone and nobody are singular; both, few, many and several are plural.
News and mathematics are singular; police and cattle are plural; furniture, equipment and advice never take -s.
"One of the… who" takes a plural verb; "the only one of the… who" takes a singular verb.
No present perfect with finished times (yesterday); the past perfect marks the earlier past event.
Conditionals: if + present → will; if + past (were) → would; if + had + past participle → would have + past participle.
Subject pronouns for subjects; object pronouns after verbs and prepositions; whom = him.

Start here: What is concord, and why does it matter?

Imagine a football team where the goalkeeper wears the other team's shirt. Everyone would be confused! In a sentence, the subject and the verb must "wear the same shirt": both singular or both plural. This matching is called concord (or agreement).

Definition. Subject–verb concord means that a verb must agree with its subject in number (singular or plural) and person (first: I/we; second: you; third: he/she/it/they).

Why does it matter? In WAEC essays, concord errors are counted under "mechanical accuracy", and every error costs you. In JAMB, about one in five Lexis and Structure questions tests concord directly. It is one of the easiest places to gain marks.

Step one: find the true subject

Ask the question: "Who or what is doing this?" The answer is the subject. Be careful: long sentences often place another noun between the subject and the verb to trick you.

Worked example 7.1

The colour of the curtains ___ beautiful. (is / are)

Ask: what is beautiful? The colour is. "Of the curtains" just describes which colour.
"Colour" is singular, so we choose the singular verb.

Worked example 7.2

The prices of foodstuffs in the market ___ risen. (has / have)

What has risen? The prices.
"Prices" is plural, so "have".

have

Notice the pattern: a phrase starting with "of", "in", "with", "among" and similar prepositions is never the subject. Mentally cross it out, and the answer becomes obvious.

⚠️ Common mistake: agreeing with the nearest noun. "The cost of the books ~~are~~ high" is wrong; the head noun is "cost", so "is".

Try it yourself. One of my friends ___ in Kano. (live / lives)

Show solution

The subject is "One" (of my friends), which is singular: lives.

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Practice questions

1. Choose the option that best completes the sentence: Each of the students ___ a laptop.

has
have
are having
were having

Show answer

A: has
"Each" is singular → has.

2. Neither the principal nor the teachers ___ aware of the change.

was
is
has been
were

Show answer

D: were
Proximity rule: the nearer subject "teachers" is plural → were.

3. The news of the floods ___ shocking.

are
have been
was
were

Show answer

C: was
"News" is uncountable and singular.

4. The box of mangoes ___ on the table.

have been
is
are
were

Show answer

B: is
The subject is "box" (singular).

5. If I ___ the President, I would fix the roads.

were
was
am
had been

Show answer

A: were
Subjunctive mood for unreal conditions: "If I were".

Key words

Concord: Agreement between parts of a sentence, especially subject and verb.
Subject: The noun or pronoun that does the action or is described.
Head noun: The main noun in a noun phrase (e.g. "box" in "the box of mangoes").
Collective noun: A noun naming a group: team, committee, jury.
Uncountable noun: A noun with no plural form: furniture, information, equipment.
Tense: The verb form that shows time: past, present or future.
Aspect: How an action is viewed: simple, continuous or perfect.
Past participle: The verb form used after "have": eaten, gone, written.
Conditional: A sentence with an "if" clause.
Subjunctive: A verb form for wishes, demands or imaginary situations (If I were…; I insist that he be…).
Case: The form of a pronoun that shows its job: subjective (I), objective (me), possessive (mine).
Antecedent: The noun a pronoun refers back to.

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