Verbs

Learning Objectives

In this section, you will learn how to: 

• Explain what it means for the subject and verb to agree in a sentence 
• Use logic and sequence of events to determine the proper tense for each verb in a sentence
• Apply the Kaplan Sentence Correction Method to sentences that may have subject-verb agreement or verb tense errors

The GMAT tests verbs in two ways: does the verb agree with its subject, and is the verb in the correct tense?

Subject-Verb Agreement

A sentence is defined as an independent sequence of words that contains a subject and a verb. Verbs must agree with their subjects. Singular subjects have singular verbs, and plural subjects have plural verbs. If you’re a native English speaker, this is probably so automatic that you may wonder why the GMAT tests it at all. But the test makers often craftily separate subject and verb with lots of text to make it harder to recognize whether the subject and verb agree. Also, it is sometimes hard to tell whether the subject is singular or plural. You should look out for the following common subject-verb agreement issues:

• Long modifying phrases or clauses following the subject
• Phrases and clauses in commas between the subject and the verb
• Subjects joined by either/or and neither/nor
• Sentences in which the verb precedes the subject
• Collective nouns, such as majority, committee, audience, team, group, flock, family, especially when preceded by the and followed by a prepositional phrase containing a plural noun (the group of legislators):
  • Collective nouns take a singular verb when the members of the collective act as a unit (the flock of geese is flying south) or are uncountable (a lot of water was spilled).
  • When the members of the collective act as individuals, the collective noun takes a plural verb (a majority of voters mail their ballots; a number of solutions are possible).

Subject-Verb Agreement Exercise

Answers follow this exercise.

Correct each of the following subject-verb errors.

1. The depletion of natural resources, in addition to the rapid increase in utilization of these resources, have encouraged many nations to conserve energy.
2. There is, without a doubt, many good reasons to exercise.
3. Among the many problems plaguing suburbanites is the ubiquity of shopping malls, the increasing cost of gasoline, and the unavailability of mortgages.
4. The neighbors told police investigators that neither Annette nor her brother are capable of telling the truth.
5. The assembly of delegates intend to scrutinize the governor’s policy decisions.

Subject-Verb Agreement Exercise: Answers

1. “Depletion” is the subject. Correct by changing “have” to has or by changing “in addition to” to and.
2. There are many good reasons. A good strategy for checking subject-verb agreement is to ignore, temporarily, any parts of the sentence that are set off by commas.
3. If the sentence ended at “malls,” “is” would be correct. But because there is more than one problem listed, are is the correct verb here.
4. “Neither Annette nor her brother is capable.” In or/nor constructions, the verb agrees with the subject it is closer to. So if this read Neither Annette nor her friends, then are would be called for.
5. Even though “delegates” is plural, the subject of the sentence, “assembly,” is a singular noun referring collectively to the group. “Assembly” therefore takes a singular verb: “The assembly intends to scrutinize.”

Verb Tense

A verb tense indicates the order in which separate actions or events occur. Deciding which verb tense is appropriate in a given situation isn’t just a matter of grammar; it’s also a question of logic. Many GMAT sentences are long and complicated, involving or implying several different actions. The correct tenses make the sequence of events clear.

To determine whether the verbs in a sentence are in the proper tenses, pick one event as a standard and measure every other event against it. Ask yourself whether the other events are supposed to have happened before the standard event took place, after it took place, or while it took place. Those aren’t mutually exclusive options, by the way: it is possible in English to have one action start before a second action and continue during that second action.

A frequent GMAT verb error is the inappropriate use of -ing forms: I am going, I was going, I had been going, and so on. As far as the GMAT is concerned, the only reason to use an -ing form is to emphasize that an action is continuing or that two actions are occurring simultaneously. To remember this rule, think of the word during and its -ing ending. Other than that, pick a simpler tense—one that doesn’t use the -ing form. In other words, avoid -ing forms as much as possible.

Most Commonly Tested Verb Tenses

• Simple Present—I am—Used for an action happening now, with no contextual information about when it started.
• Simple Past—I was—Used for an action that happened at a specified time in the past.
• Simple Future—I will—Used for an action that will happen in the future.
• Past Perfect—I had been—Used for an action that happened before another past action (e.g., I had been on the subway for 30 minutes before I realized that I was going the wrong direction).
• Present Perfect—I have been—Used for an action that started in the past but is still continuing now (e.g., I have been on the subway for two hours now, and I still don’t know where I’m going!) or for past events that happened at an unspecified time (e.g., He has read Don Quixote seven times).

There are other verb tenses in the English language, but these are the ones that are tested most often on the GMAT.

Verb Tense Exercise

Answers follow this exercise.

Correct the verb tenses in each sentence.

1. The criminal escaped from custody and is believed to flee the country.
2. Some archaeologists believe that the Minoans of 3,700 years ago had practiced a religion that involved human sacrifice.
3. If the experiment works, it will be representing a quantum leap forward for pharmaceutical chemistry.
4. He had seen that movie recently, so he doesn’t want to see it tonight.
5. By the time she retires, she will save enough money to allow her to live comfortably.
6. She already closed the door behind her when it occurred to her that she wasn’t able to get back in later.

Verb Tense Exercise: Answers

1. “The criminal escaped” correctly uses simple past tense to refer to an event that happened at a specific time. The believing happens now, so simple present “is believed” is correct. However, the fleeing happened at an unknown and unspecified time in the past, so the present perfect should be used: . . . is believed to have fled the country.
2. Here, there’s no indication the Minoans practiced human sacrifice for a while and then did something else. So use the simple past practiced instead of the past perfect “had practiced.”
3. The experiment won’t “be representing” a quantum leap; it will represent a quantum leap.
4. “Had” plus a past tense verb is used to indicate which of two things that went on in the past occurred earlier. That’s not necessary in this sentence. He saw that movie recently, so he doesn’t want to see it tonight. (He had seen the movie recently, so he didn’t want to see it tonight also works, although it changes the meaning of the sentence to indicate that the desire happened earlier tonight instead of happening now.)
5. Here, we’re indicating an action that began in the past but will end in the future. Think of it this way: at some future time, what will have happened? She will have saved enough money.
6. “Closed,” “occurred,” and “wasn’t able to get back in” are all in the simple past tense. But you need to indicate that she first closed the door and then something occurred to her—namely, that she wouldn’t be able to do something in the future. She had already closed the door behind her when it occurred to her that she wouldn’t be able to get back in later.

Applying the Kaplan Method: Verbs

Now let’s use the Kaplan Method on a Sentence Correction question dealing with verbs:

1. The governor’s approval ratings has been extremely high until a series of corruption scandals rocked his administration last year.
   1. has been extremely high until
   2. have been extremely high until
   3. had been extremely high until
   4. were extremely high as
   5. had been extremely high as

Step 1: Read the Original Sentence Carefully, Looking for Errors

Whenever a sentence contains an underlined verb, you need to make sure that it agrees with its subject and is in the correct tense. Here, the underlined portion contains a singular verb, “has been,” that disagrees with the plural subject, “ratings.” The verb is also in the wrong tense—“has been” indicates that the ratings are still high, but the sentence contradicts that. You can eliminate answer choice (A) immediately.

Step 2: Scan and Group the Answer Choices

Now it’s time to look for a split in the answer choices. You see that the choices begin with many different verb forms: two “had been,” one “were,” one “have been,” and one “has been.” That’s not a very helpful split. If you don’t find a split at the beginnings of the answer choices, look for a split at the ends. Answer choices (A), (B), and (C) end with “until,” whereas (D) and (E) end with “as”; this is a 3-2 split.

Step 3: Eliminate Choices Until Only One Remains

You eliminated answer choice (A) because the subject, “ratings,” is plural, so the singular verb, “has been,” cannot be correct. But verb tense is also at issue here. The correct verb tense is “had been extremely high,” because the past perfect tense is used to indicate that something had already happened in the past before something else happened in the past. Here, the governor’s ratings had been high, until scandals “rocked” his administration. This eliminates (B) and (D). And (E) can be eliminated, since changing the preposition from “until” to “as” loses the sense that the scandals occurred before, and led to, the reversal in the governor’s approval ratings. For the record, note that (D) also contains this error. The GMAT will often give you multiple opportunities to eliminate answer choices. This leaves (C) as the only flawless answer. Read this choice back into the sentence to confirm:

The governor’s approval ratings had been extremely high until a series of corruption scandals rocked his administration last year.

Takeaways: Verbs

• A complete sentence consists, at minimum, of a subject and a verb.
• The verb must agree with the subject of the sentence; plural subjects take plural verbs and singular subjects take singular verbs.
• The verb tense must relate that action to the time frame of other actions and the sentence as a whole.
• Don’t fall for needlessly complicated verb tenses. Go for the simplest verb tense that makes sense given the time frame of the sentence.
• Use the past perfect tense (had done, had seen) to indicate something that happened prior to another past event.
• Use the present perfect tense for an action that happened at an unspecified time in the past (have read, has said) or an action that started in the past and has continued until the present time (have lived, has been, have had).
• Use the present perfect continuous tense (have been studying, has been waiting) for an action that started in the past and is still continuing now.

Practice Set: Verbs

1. The string section, which included more than 30 violinists and violists as well as more than a dozen cellists and bassists, were justly praised for the tremendous passion they invoked in last night’s performance of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.
   1. were justly praised for the tremendous passion they invoked
   2. were justly praised for invoking their tremendous passion
   3. were justly praised for the passion they were tremendous in invoking
   4. was justly praised for invoking tremendous passion
   5. was justly praised for the tremendous passion they invoked
2. Galileo Galilei had discovered four moons orbiting Jupiter, including Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system, by the time Christiaan Huygens discovered Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, in 1655.
   1. had discovered four moons orbiting Jupiter, including Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system
   2. had discovered four moons orbiting Jupiter, which includes Ganymede, being the largest moon in the solar system
   3. will have discovered four moons, including Ganymede, orbiting Jupiter, which is the largest moon in the solar system
   4. will have discovered four moons orbiting Jupiter, the largest moon in the solar system including Ganymede
   5. has discovered four moons orbiting Jupiter, with the largest moon in the solar system being Ganymede
3. While Thomas Edison is often credited with inventing the incandescent light bulb, historians note that several people have designed and created similar light bulbs before Edison received his patent.
   1. several people have designed and created similar light bulbs before Edison received his patent
   2. several people having designed and created similar light bulbs before Edison receiving his patent
   3. several people had designed and created similar light bulbs before Edison received his patent
   4. similar light bulbs had been designed and created by several people before Edison receives his patent
   5. similar light bulbs having been designed and created by several people before Edison received his patent
4. Discovered by a French soldier in 1799, the Rosetta Stone was inscribed with three distinct scripts in two languages, Egyptian and Greek, and were instrumental in helping scholars decipher the hieroglyphs used by ancient Egyptians.
   1. and were instrumental in helping scholars decipher the hieroglyphs used by ancient Egyptians
   2. instrumental in helping scholars decipher the hieroglyphs being used by ancient Egyptians
   3. which was instrumental in helping scholars decipher the hieroglyphs the ancient Egyptians have used 
   4. and was instrumental in helping scholars decipher the hieroglyphs used by ancient Egyptians
   5. and was instrumental in its deciphering of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, which helped scholars 

Advanced Practice Set: Verbs

5. Companies need to ensure that the language in all of their financial reports are reviewed carefully by a team of legal experts since any errors can lead to serious problems for employees as well as shareholders and other investors.
   1. are reviewed carefully by a team of legal experts
   2. being reviewed by a careful team of legal experts
   3. is reviewed carefully by a team of legal experts
   4. was reviewed carefully by a legal team of experts
   5. were reviewed by a legal team of experts carefully
6. While the skeleton of a typical human adult will contain 206 bones, that of a newborn human baby usually has approximately 270, some of which fused together as the baby’s body grew.
   
   1. will contain 206 bones, that of a newborn human baby usually has approximately 270, some of which fused together as the baby's body grew
      
   2. contains 206 bones, that of a newborn human baby usually has approximately 270, some of which fuse together as the baby’s body grows
      
   3. contained 206 bones, that of a newborn human baby usually will have approximately 270, some of which fuse together as the baby’s body grows
      
   4. contains 206 bones, that of a newborn human baby usually has approximately 270, some of which fused together as the baby’s body grew
      
   5. will contain 206 bones, that of a newborn human baby usually has approximately 270, some of which fuse together as the baby’s body grows
      
7. There is a booming tourism industry in Scotland centered around the so-called Loch Ness monster; however, evidence that tends to support the existence of the monster, such as grainy photographs that purport to show the creature, is outweighed by the evidence that supports the idea that there is no such monster.
   1. is outweighed by the evidence that supports
   2. are outweighed by the evidence that supports
   3. are outweighed by evidence that supports
   4. is outweighed by evidence for supporting
   5. is outweighed by evidence that supports