Agreement: make the verb match the subject.
One of the most common accuracy errors in IELTS is a verb that does not match its subject, and most of these start with the noun: a dropped third-person -s (“he go”), a pluralised uncountable (“informations”), or a verb that agrees with the nearest word instead of the real subject (“the range of options are”). Fix the noun’s number first, then make the verb agree, and a whole band of small errors disappears.
Why this matters. Grammatical Range and Accuracy is half of your grammar mark, and agreement slips are the errors examiners hear most: small, frequent, and easy to fix. Two things cause nearly all of them. First, the third-person -s in the present simple (he works, she goes, it depends), dropped by almost everyone under pressure. Second, noun number: English marks singular and plural, and some nouns behave in ways your first language may not. Information, advice, research and equipment are uncountable and never take -s; police and people are always plural. Get the number right and the verb follows.
Get the noun’s number right, then make the verb agree.
Agreement is simple in principle: a singular subject takes a singular verb, a plural subject takes a plural verb. The errors come from four places, and the first two account for most of them.
The third-person -s
he / she / it + verb + s
In the present simple, a singular third-person subject adds -s to the verb (works, goes, watches, tries). I, you, we, they take the bare verb. Dropping the -s is a clear, band-capping slip.
She works in a bank. The government spends heavily. It depends on the context. (not “he go”, “she watch”)
Find the real subject
subject … [phrase] … verb
A phrase between the subject and the verb does not change the agreement. The verb matches the head noun, not the nearest word. “The range of options is wide” (subject = range), not “are wide”.
The impact of these changes is hard to measure. One of my friends lives abroad.
Tricky subjects
each / every / neither → singular
Each, every, everyone, someone, either, neither take a singular verb. Collective nouns (team, government, family) take a singular verb in careful writing. “A number of” is plural; “the number of” is singular.
Neither answer is correct. Each of the countries has its own system. A number of people were waiting.
Countable and uncountable
uncountable → no plural, singular verb
Countable nouns have a plural (one policy, two policies). Uncountable nouns (information, advice, research, knowledge, equipment, furniture, progress) have no plural and take a singular verb. A few nouns are always plural (police, people, clothes) and take a plural verb.
This information is useful. The research shows a link. The police are investigating. (not “informations”, “researches show”)
The errors that mark you down
Four recur. First, the dropped -s: “he go to work”, “she watch television” instead of “he goes”, “she watches”. It is the single most common of all. Second, the nearest-noun trap: agreeing with the word just before the verb instead of the true subject, “the impact of these changes are” instead of “is”. Third, the pluralised uncountable: “informations”, “advices”, “researches”, “equipments”. None of these exist. Fourth, the there is / there are slip: the verb agrees with what follows, so “there are several reasons”, “there is one problem”.
What agreement control reads like at each band.
At Band 5
The third-person -s is dropped often (“he live”, “it cost”), uncountables are pluralised (“informations”, “advices”), and the verb frequently agrees with the nearest noun. The errors are frequent enough to affect clarity.
At Band 6
Basic agreement is usually right, but the -s slips under pressure, uncountables are sometimes pluralised, and a phrase between the subject and the verb still pulls the agreement to the wrong noun (“the list of tasks are”).
At Band 7
Agreement is accurate in most sentences, including with uncountables and simple tricky subjects. The occasional slip appears inside a long or complex subject, but it does not obscure meaning.
At Band 8+
Agreement is consistently correct, including collective nouns, quantifiers such as each and neither, and subjects separated from their verb. It is simply not a source of error.
Which subject takes which verb.
Decide whether the subject is singular or plural, then choose the verb to match. The rows below cover the cases that trip people up most.
| Subject | Takes | For example |
|---|---|---|
| he / she / it (present simple) | verb + s | She depends on it. It costs more. |
| I / you / we / they | bare verb | They depend on it. We agree. |
| each / every / everyone / neither | singular verb | Everyone agrees. Neither is right. |
| a number of + plural | plural verb | A number of people were late. |
| the number of + plural | singular verb | The number of people has grown. |
| uncountable (information, advice) | singular verb, no plural | The information is clear. |
| always plural (police, people) | plural verb | The police are here. |
| there + be | agrees with the following noun | There is one issue. There are two. |
Uncountables are the quiet trap. Words like information, advice, research, knowledge, equipment, furniture, news and progress feel plural in many languages, but in English they are uncountable: no -s, singular verb, and “a piece of” when you need to count them (“two pieces of advice”). For choosing a, an, the or no article with these nouns, see articles →.
Ten to drill.
Choose the correct verb or form for each. Press Check answers for your score and the reason behind each one. Nothing is sent anywhere.
You know the rule. Holding agreement together across a long sentence, while you think, is the work.
Agreement errors are small and frequent, and the ones buried inside a long subject slip past even strong speakers and writers.
In a lesson I catch the dropped -s and the pluralised uncountable the moment they appear, in your speaking and in your writing, until agreement is automatic. Lessons are £20 for fifty minutes, one to one, in proper British English, and the first step is a free 25-minute introduction. This page is adapted from the grammar chapter of the forthcoming Ultimate Guide to IELTS Speaking.