The subject is who or what the sentence is about. A singular subject takes a singular verb (The dog barks). A plural subject takes a plural verb (The dogs bark).
Watch out for tricky subjects. Everyone, each and somebody are singular: “Everyone needs a ticket.” In “The box of pencils is on the desk”, the subject is box, not pencils.
With there is and there are, look at the noun that follows: there is a bird; there are three birds.
Worked example
Choose: “The box of crayons ___ on the shelf.” (is / are)
- What is on the shelf? The box.
- Box is singular, so it takes is.
Answer:The box of crayons is on the shelf.
Key words
- subject
- who or what does the action
- singular
- one
- plural
- more than one
Practise this
New questions every time.
Common Core-referenced: L.3.1f