pluralagreement

Plural agreement, or number agreement, is the grammatical requirement that related words reflect the same number (singular or plural) within a sentence. It can involve verbs, pronouns, determiners, adjectives, and other parts of speech, depending on the language’s system of concord.

In English, the best-known case is subject-verb agreement. A singular subject takes a singular verb (The cat runs), while a plural subject takes a plural verb (The cats run). There are variations and exceptions, such as with collective nouns that may be treated as a single unit (The team is winning) or as a group of individuals (The team are arguing). When subjects are joined by "and," the verb is typically plural (The cat and the dog are outside). With "or" or "nor," the verb generally agrees with the nearer subject (Neither the teacher nor the students were ready).

Pronouns must also agree in number with their antecedents (Each student submitted his or her assignment; they arrived early). Determiners and adjectives that accompany a noun may reflect number in some languages, while in English adjectives do not mark number as a rule.

Cross-linguistically, languages vary in how they encode number agreement. Some languages mark number on the verb, the noun, determiners, adjectives, and even pronouns; others have more limited or no agreement. In the study of grammar and linguistics, plural agreement is central to understanding how languages encode reference to quantity and how speakers maintain coherence between related elements.

Common issues include disagreements with collective nouns, conjoined phrases, and nonstandard collective interpretations; teachers and writers often monitor agreement to preserve clarity and grammaticality.