Grammatical Agreement in the Scholarly Prose of a Thesis or Dissertation

Grammatical Agreement in the Scholarly Prose of a Thesis or Dissertation

Clear scholarly writing depends on agreement—most visibly, the agreement between a sentence’s subject and its verb. In English, verbs must match their subjects in number (singular vs. plural) and, for the verb to be, also in person (I am, you are, she is). When agreement fails, meaning blurs and readers lose confidence. This guide distils the rules and the tricky edge cases common in theses and dissertations, with examples, quick tests, and an end-of-section checklist you can apply while editing.

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1) Core Patterns: Singular with Singular, Plural with Plural

• Singular subject → singular verb
  Mark writes his thesis. (3rd person singular)
  I am revising my chapter. (1st person singular of to be)
• Plural subject → plural verb
  They visit the library together. (3rd person plural)
  We were conducting our research last week. (1st person plural of to be)

Compound subjects with and are plural and take a plural verb: Mark and Mary visit the library.

Alternative subjects with or / nor usually take a verb that agrees with the closest noun or pronoun (the “proximity rule”):

• Either the supervisor or the students are attending.
• Neither the participants nor the PI was present.

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2) Inverted Constructions: There is/are and Questions

In sentences beginning with there is/are, the real subject follows the verb:

• There is a pile of interviews to transcribe. (singular subject: pile)
• There are fifty interviews to transcribe. (plural subject: interviews)

In questions, locate the subject after the auxiliary:

• Are the results significant?
• Is the argument sound?

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3) Intervening Phrases: Ignore “Noisy Neighbours”

Agreement is between the core subject and verb; prepositional phrases or relative clauses do not change verb number:

• The quality of the data and figures is high. (subject = quality)
• The results, which the student obtained despite delays, have been verified.

Quick test: Cross out the middle phrase and read the skeleton: The results … have been verified.

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4) Collective Nouns and Organisation Names

Words like team, committee, faculty, data set can be singular or plural depending on meaning and dialect:

• American English (AmE): default singular when acting as a unit: The committee is meeting.
• British English (BrE): plural to emphasise members: The committee are divided.

Be consistent within the thesis and align with your target style. When ambiguity threatens, recast: Members of the committee are divided.

Company and lab names treated as singular entities in AmE: Oxford Nanopore has released… (In BrE, plural is common: Oxford Nanopore have…)

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5) Indefinite Pronouns and Quantifiers

Some pronouns are always singular, some always plural, and some depend on the noun in an of-phrase.

Usually Singular	Usually Plural	Singular or Plural (depends on of-noun)
each, every, either, neither, anyone, everyone, someone, nobody	few, many, several, both	all, any, most, none, some, half, percentages/fractions

• Each of the studies was preregistered.
• Many of the participants were first-year students.
• None of the evidence is compelling. / None of the arguments are compelling.

More than one typically takes a singular verb: More than one student has raised the issue.

A number of is plural; the number of is singular: A number of studies have… The number of studies is increasing.

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6) Percentages, Fractions, and Measures

Agreement follows the noun after of or the way the quantity is conceptualised:

• Sixty percent of the sample is male. (sample = unit)
• Sixty percent of the participants are male. (participants = individuals)
• Two litres is sufficient. (treated as a unit)
• Two litres were spilled on the floor. (focusing on portions as countable units)

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7) Words that Look Plural (or Singular) but Aren’t

• Plural-looking but singular in meaning: mathematics, physics, economics, linguistics, news → singular verb in most contexts: Mathematics is challenging.
• Pluralia tantum (always plural): scissors, trousers, premises, contents → plural verb: The scissors are on the bench.
• Foreign plurals: bacterium → bacteria, criterion → criteria, phenomenon → phenomena → match verb to the form used: The data are noisy (many journals prefer plural); some fields accept singular data, but follow your discipline’s norm consistently.
• Titles and quoted terms: Singular: “Findings and Perspectives” is the most cited section.

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8) Special Constructions that Trap Writers

8.1 “Along with / as well as / in addition to”

These do not create a plural subject; they merely add a modifier:

• The PI, along with two assistants, was present.

8.2 Appositives

Nouns that rename the subject do not change number:

• The principal investigator, a leading epidemiologist, was invited.

8.3 “One of the … who/that …”

The verb in the relative clause (who/that …) agrees with the plural antecedent, not with one:

• She is one of the researchers who publish regularly.

8.4 Gerunds and Infinitives as Subjects

• Measuring baseline variability is essential.
• To replicate the analysis takes time.

8.5 “What” clauses

What can be singular or plural by sense; most often treated as singular:

• What we need is better replication.
• What remain are unresolved anomalies. (focus on multiple items)

8.6 Either … or / Neither … nor (mixed number)

Agree with the noun nearest the verb (proximity rule), but revise to avoid awkward shifts:

• Either the instruments or the protocol was flawed.
• Either the protocol or the instruments were flawed.

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9) Pronoun–Antecedent Agreement (and Inclusive Language)

Pronouns must agree with their antecedents in number and (where relevant) gender.

• Consistent number: Each participant completed their survey. (Singular they is now widely accepted in formal prose to avoid gendered language. Many style guides endorse it; use consistently.)
• Collective nouns: The committee changed its mind. (AmE singular; BrE may prefer plural: their)
• Demonstratives: Ensure this/these clearly point to a grammatically matching antecedent: This result suggests… / These results suggest…

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10) Agreement Inside Relative Clauses

Verbs inside who/that/which clauses agree with the antecedent of the relative pronoun:

• The researchers who analyze the data…
• The researcher who analyzes the data…

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11) Discipline-Specific Preferences (Know Your Field)

• Data: Plural in many STEM journals (data are), but singular mass noun in some social sciences and industry documents (data is). Check target journal guidelines and be consistent.
• Statistics and mathematics: Often singular when treated as a field (Statistics is required) but plural for multiple statistics (These statistics are concerning).

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12) Before–After Edits for Common Errors

1) The group of applicants are large.
→ The group of applicants is large.                    [Subject = group (sing.)]

2) Each of the variables were centered.
→ Each of the variables was centered.                  [Each = singular]

3) The data was processed and the outliers was removed.
→ The data were processed and the outliers were removed.  [Make both plural, or use singular consistently per field]

4) Either the reviewers or the editor were mistaken.
→ Either the reviewers or the editor was mistaken.     [Agree with the nearer noun 'editor']

5) The samples that was contaminated were discarded.
→ The samples that were contaminated were discarded.   [Relative verb agrees with 'samples']

6) A number of limitations is acknowledged.
→ A number of limitations are acknowledged.            [‘A number of’ = plural]

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13) Quick Decision Tests

• Strip test: Remove parenthetical phrases/clauses and prepositional phrases. What remains as subject? Match the verb to that.
• Nearest-noun test (or/nor): When subjects are mixed, agree with the noun closest to the verb—but prefer rewriting for clarity.
• Unit vs. members test: For collective nouns, ask whether you mean the group as one entity (singular) or the individuals acting separately (plural).
• Quantity sense test: For percentages/fractions/measures, decide whether you are treating the quantity as a single amount (singular) or as multiple items (plural).

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14) Practice: Diagnose and Correct

Exercise A — Fix the verb

1. The set of assumptions are unrealistic.
2. Neither the transcripts nor the audio were clear.
3. More than one reviewer have asked for raw data.
4. The committee have approved its report. (AmE context)
5. Fifty percent of the cohort were vaccinated.
6. The number of citations are increasing.
7. Statistics are a required module in year one. (Field = discipline)
8. One of the candidates who is shortlisted will present.

Suggested answers

1. is (subject = set)
2. was (nearest noun audio = singular); better: Neither the transcripts nor the audio was clear.
3. has (More than one → singular verb)
4. has (AmE treats committee as singular; consistent pronoun: its)
5. were (cohort as people → plural by sense; was also defensible if treating cohort as a unit—be consistent)
6. is (the number … is)
7. is (Statistics as discipline → singular)
8. are (verb in relative clause agrees with candidates → plural: who are shortlisted)

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15) Editing Checklist for Agreement

• [ ] I matched verbs to the true subject, not to a nearby noun in a phrase or clause.
• [ ] Compound subjects with and take plural verbs; with or/nor I used the proximity rule or rewrote for clarity.
• [ ] Collective nouns are treated consistently (AmE singular vs. BrE plural), and pronouns (its/their) match the choice.
• [ ] Indefinite pronouns (each, every, neither) take singular verbs; flexible quantifiers (all, none, some, most) agree by meaning.
• [ ] Percentages, fractions, and measures agree with the noun after of or with sense (unit vs. items).
• [ ] Verbs inside relative clauses (who/that/which) agree with the antecedent.
• [ ] There is/are agrees with the noun following the verb; question inversions are handled correctly.
• [ ] Pronouns agree in number and are inclusive (singular they used appropriately where needed).

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16) Practical Strategies for Your Thesis

• Outline sentences around verbs. In revisions, circle main verbs and draw lines to their subjects. This visual quickly exposes mismatches.
• Read “bare bones.” Temporarily delete modifiers and prepositional phrases to reveal the core clause; fix agreement there first.
• Standardise contentious terms. Decide early how your thesis will treat data, statistics, media, criteria and record the decision in your style sheet.
• Prefer clarity over proximity tricks. If either … or forces a mismatch risk, rewrite: We found that the protocol—not the instruments—was flawed.
• Align with house style. If you are submitting to a journal (or following your university guide), check their stance on collective nouns, singular they, and discipline-specific conventions.

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17) Final Thoughts

Grammatical agreement is not pedantry; it is precision. In a thesis or dissertation—where claims must be replicable and arguments must be exact—matching subjects and verbs is one of the simplest ways to secure clarity. Learn the patterns, watch the traps (intervening phrases, collective nouns, flexible quantifiers), and build a habit of checking agreement during your final edit. When the grammar aligns, your reasoning shines.

Need a last-pass check for agreement, parallelism, and style consistency before submission? Our academic editors can perform a rule-consistent review aligned to your preferred variety (AmE/BrE) and target journal or university guidelines.