When it comes to writing, proper agreement between verbs and subjects is crucial. It’s not only important for clarity and comprehension, but it also affects the overall SEO performance of your content.
In English, the verb in a sentence should always agree with the subject in both number and person. This means that a singular subject should have a singular verb, while a plural subject should have a plural verb. For example, “She eats” is correct because the subject “she” is singular and the verb “eats” agrees with it. On the other hand, “They eat” is also correct because the subject “they” is plural, and the verb “eat” agrees with it.
To ensure proper agreement between verbs and subjects, here are some guidelines to follow:
1. Identify the subject of the sentence: The subject is the person, place, thing, or concept that performs the action or is being described in the sentence. It could be a noun, a pronoun, or a group of words acting as a single entity.
2. Determine if the subject is singular or plural: A singular subject refers to one person, place, thing, or concept, while a plural subject refers to two or more.
3. Match the verb with the subject: If the subject is singular, the verb should also be singular. If the subject is plural, the verb should also be plural.
4. Watch out for tricky subjects: Some subjects can be tricky to identify, such as collective nouns (e.g. team, family, audience) and indefinite pronouns (e.g. anyone, nobody, someone). With collective nouns, it depends on whether you’re referring to the group as a single entity or as separate individuals. With indefinite pronouns, you need to determine if the pronoun is singular or plural.
Proper agreement between verbs and subjects is not only important for grammatical correctness but also for SEO. Search engines crawl through your content to understand what it’s about and rank it accordingly. If your sentences are poorly constructed and the verb and subject don’t agree, search engines might have difficulty understanding the content, which could negatively impact your SEO.
In conclusion, taking the time to ensure proper agreement between verbs and subjects is crucial for clear and effective writing. By following these guidelines, you can avoid common mistakes and ensure that your writing is grammatically correct and SEO-friendly.