Study guide
6.1 Subject-Verb Agreement and Verb Tenses
Adamson University College Entrance Test AdUCET
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2 Chapter 2: Mathematics I — Numbers, Algebra, and Functions
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6 Chapter 6: English II — Grammar, Usage, and Written Expression
6.1 Subject-Verb Agreement and Verb Tenses 6.2 Pronouns, Modifiers, and Parallel Structure 6.3 Sentence Boundaries, Clauses, and Punctuation 6.4 Sentence Correction, Redundancy, and Idiomatic Usage 6.5 Verbal Analogies and Relationship Bridges 6.6 Paragraph Organization, Coherence, and Transitions
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6.1 Subject-Verb Agreement and Verb Tenses
Key Takeaways Explain This Topic AI
Phrases such as along with, as well as, together with and including never change the subject's number: 'The coordinator, along with three advisers, reviews every appeal.'
Subjects joined by or or nor follow the proximity rule, so the verb matches the nearer subject: 'Neither the registrars nor the dean has signed the memo.'
The SANAM pronouns (Some, Any, None, All, Most) take their number from the noun after 'of': some of the water has spilled, but some of the students have passed.
An amount of money, time or distance treated as one lump takes a singular verb: 'Five hundred pesos is a fair price' and 'Three years is a long time to wait.'
After suggest, recommend, demand, insist, require and 'it is essential that', the that-clause uses the base form: 'The adviser requires that every member be present.'
Last updated: August 2026
6.1 Subject-Verb Agreement and Verb Tenses
Grammar items on a college entrance test are rarely about obscure rules. They come down to two questions you must answer in seconds: which word is the real subject? and when did the action happen? This section drills exactly those two skills — subject-verb agreement , which matches the number of a verb to the number of its subject, and the tense system , the twelve verb forms that place an action in time. Pronouns and modifiers belong to 6.2; punctuation and sentence boundaries belong to 6.3.
Finding the True Subject
A verb agrees with its subject , never with the nearest noun. Test writers bury the subject under extra words, so train yourself to bracket out everything that cannot possibly be the subject before you pick a verb.
Intervening phrases
Words that sit between the subject and the verb never change its number. The most heavily tested group are the phrases that sound like and but are not coordinating conjunctions: along with, as well as, together with, in addition to, accompanied by, including, besides, and rather than .
- The scholarship coordinator, along with three faculty advisers, reviews every appeal. (subject = coordinator )
- A crate of ripe mangoes from Guimaras was delivered to the dormitory. (subject = crate )
- The list of endorsed candidates for the two open seats has already been posted. (subject = list )
A relative clause hides the subject the same way. In The bundle of laboratory reports that the Grade 12 students submitted last Friday is still on the table , cross out of laboratory reports and that … last Friday : the subject is bundle , so is is correct.
Compound subjects
Joined by and → plural verb: Nikko and Trina have finished their thesis.
Exception, one thing or one person: Chicken and pork adobo is the canteen's bestseller.
Exception, preceded by each or every : Every teacher and staff member was issued a new identification card.
Joined by or / nor → the proximity rule : the verb matches whichever subject is nearer.
Neither the dean nor the registrars have signed the memo.
Neither the registrars nor the dean has signed the memo.
Indefinite pronouns
Category Members Verb
Always singular each, either, neither, one, another, everyone, everybody, everything, someone, somebody, anyone, anybody, no one, nobody, nothing, much singular
Always plural both, few, many, several, others plural
Variable ( SANAM : Some, Any, None, All, Most) plus half, more, the rest , and fractions matches the noun after of
Each of the twelve finalists was given ten minutes to present.
Several of the specimens are damaged.
Some of the equipment needs recalibration. / Some of the applicants need more time.
Two-thirds of the budget has been released. / Two-thirds of the students have enrolled.
Collective nouns, inversions, and tricky endings
Collective nouns — committee, team, faculty, jury, class, audience, family, staff — take a singular verb when the group acts as one unit: The committee has released its findings. Use a plural verb only when the members clearly act separately, and it is usually cleaner to rewrite: The jury members were divided in their opinions. Memorize the contrasting pair: The number of applicants is rising , but A number of applicants are waiting outside.
In inverted sentences , there and here are placeholders, never subjects; the real subject follows the verb.
There is a long queue outside the registrar's office.
There are two long queues outside the registrar's office.
Here come the results. / Where are the permits?
Some nouns end in -s but are singular: news, mathematics, physics, economics, civics, ethics, athletics, measles, mumps , and the country name the Philippines ( The Philippines is an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands ). Others exist only in the plural: scissors, trousers, pants, pliers, tongs, binoculars, eyeglasses, premises, belongings ( The scissors are missing — but A pair of scissors is missing ).
Finally, an amount treated as a single lump takes a singular verb: Five hundred pesos is a fair price for a secondhand reviewer. Three years is a long time to wait. Two liters of distilled water is enough for the experiment.
The Twelve Tenses
- Tense Form (verb: submit ) Chief use
- Simple present she submits habit, schedule, general truth
- Present progressive she is submitting happening right now
- Present perfect she has submitted past action still relevant; unfinished time
- Present perfect progressive she has been submitting duration continuing up to now
- Simple past she submitted finished at a stated past time
- Past progressive she was submitting in progress when something interrupted
- Past perfect she had submitted the earlier of two past actions
- Past perfect progressive she had been submitting duration before a past point
- Simple future she will submit later action, prediction, promise
- Future progressive she will be submitting in progress at a future moment
- Future perfect she will have submitted finished before a future deadline
- Future perfect progressive she will have been submitting duration up to a future point
Signal words decide most tense items:
- since, for, already, yet, so far, up to now → present perfect
- yesterday, last week, in 2019, two hours ago → simple past ( I have finished the module yesterday is wrong)
- by the time, before, after, when plus a past clause → past perfect for the earlier action
- by plus a future date → future perfect
- Worked exemplar 1 — the earlier past action
Prompt. By the time the adviser announced the last five minutes, Miguel ______ (answer) only half of the science items, because he ______ (spend) too long on the first page.
Locate the reference point in the past: announced (simple past).
Ask which events happened before it. Both blanks did.
Put every earlier event in the past perfect ( had + past participle).
Answer. By the time the adviser announced the last five minutes, Miguel had answered only half of the science items, because he had spent too long on the first page. When before or after already marks the order, the simple past is acceptable ( He reviewed after he ate ), but by the time almost always keys the past perfect.
- Worked exemplar 2 — sequence of tenses in reported speech
- Direct. Ms. Reyes said, "The results are ready, and I will post them tomorrow."
When the reporting verb is past, every verb inside the reported clause back-shifts one step:
- present → past; present progressive → past progressive
- simple past or present perfect → past perfect
- will → would ; can → could ; may → might ; must → had to
- time words move too: tomorrow → the following day , yesterday → the previous day , now → then
Reported. Ms. Reyes said that the results were ready and that she would post them the following day. Two exceptions: a permanent truth may stay in the present ( Our teacher explained that water boils at 100 degrees Celsius at sea level ), and nothing back-shifts when the reporting verb is present ( She says that the results are ready ).
Conditionals and the Subjunctive
- Type If-clause Main clause Meaning
- Zero present simple present simple always true
- First present simple will + base real future possibility
- Second past simple ( were for every person) would + base unreal present
- Third past perfect would have + past participle unreal past
If you submit the form today, you will keep your slot. If I were the class president, I would push for longer library hours. If the typhoon had not hit Manila, the review session would have pushed through on Saturday. Mixed patterns are legal when the time frames genuinely differ: If she had reviewed trigonometry last month, she would be more confident now. Never write If I would have known ; the correct form is If I had known.
The mandative subjunctive appears after verbs and adjectives of demand or recommendation — suggest, recommend, propose, demand, insist, require, request, urge , and it is essential / necessary / imperative that . The verb in the that -clause takes the base form , with no -s and no to , whatever the subject:
The adviser requires that every member be present at the dry run.
I suggest that he review the periodic table tonight.
It is imperative that the borrowed microscope be returned before Friday.
Keeping Tense Consistent
Within a paragraph, stay in one time frame unless the meaning forces a change. Aira arrives at the campus at six. She found the queue already stretching to the gate and decides to wait near the chapel lurches from present to past and back. Fix it by choosing one: Aira arrived at the campus at six. She found the queue already stretching to the gate and decided to wait near the chapel. A shift is legitimate only when the second idea belongs to a different time: She realized that punctuality still matters.
What Examiners Test
A prepositional phrase parked between the subject and the verb.
As well as or along with mistaken for and .
Inverted There is / There are and Here comes / Here come .
Collective nouns, plus the number versus a number .
Nouns ending in -s that are singular ( news, mathematics, measles ).
Amounts of money, time, and distance taking a singular verb.
Non-standard participles: have went, had wrote, has ate .
Present perfect paired with a finished-time marker ( have submitted it yesterday ).
If I would have written in place of If I had .
A needless tense shift in the middle of a paragraph.