Students should have completed Lectures 2.1 and 2.2 before proceeding.
← Lecture 2.2 — Sentence Architecture and TypesAmong the most common grammatical errors in Nigerian undergraduate writing is the violation of concord — also called agreement. Concord is the grammatical requirement that certain elements within a sentence must match each other in number, person, or gender (Huddleston & Pullum, 2019, p. 130). The most critical form of concord in English is subject-verb agreement: the verb must reflect whether its subject is singular or plural (Iwuchukwu, 2020, p. 50).
Concord errors do not merely mark a student as grammatically weak — in formal academic and professional writing, they undermine the credibility of the entire argument. A sentence that lacks concord signals inattention to the conventions of standard written English (Oladele, 2021, p. 119).
The basic rule is straightforward. It is its application in complex grammatical environments that creates difficulty. The following are the most important concord rules for academic writing (Quirk et al., 2018, p. 105):
| Common Error Type | Incorrect ✗ | Correct ✓ | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intervening plural noun | "The list of requirements are long." | "The list of requirements is long." | Rule 2 |
| Indefinite pronoun | "Each of the students have a handbook." | "Each of the students has a handbook." | Rule 5 |
| Collective noun | "The jury are unanimous." | "The jury is unanimous." | Rule 4 |
| Neither…nor | "Neither the dean nor the staff are available." | "Neither the dean nor the staff are available." ✓ (proximity: staff — plural) | Rule 3 |
| Compound subject | "The lecturer and the student was present." | "The lecturer and the student were present." | Rule 6 |
A second form of concord that demands attention in academic writing is pronoun-antecedent agreement. A pronoun must agree in number and person with the noun it refers back to — its antecedent (Crystal, 2019, p. 115). Violations of this rule are frequent in student writing and often create ambiguity about who or what is being discussed (Oladele, 2021, p. 122).
Academic Writing Rule: When concord is in doubt — particularly with collective nouns or indefinite pronouns — restructure the sentence to avoid the problem entirely. Clarity is always preferable to a technically correct but awkward construction (Swales & Feak, 2020, p. 58).
Each sentence below contains a concord error commonly found in undergraduate essays at Nigerian tertiary institutions (Iwuchukwu, 2020, p. 55). Identify the error, state which rule is violated, and rewrite the sentence correctly.
For each sentence: (a) identify the error, (b) name the rule violated, and (c) rewrite the sentence correctly.
Concord is not a peripheral grammatical concern — it is the very mechanism by which English signals the logical relationships between subjects and their actions, and between pronouns and the entities they represent. Every violation of concord introduces ambiguity or inaccuracy into a text (Biber et al., 2021, p. 205).
The eight rules covered in this lecture address the vast majority of concord errors found in Nigerian undergraduate writing. A student who masters these rules — particularly the intervening phrase rule, the collective noun rule, and the indefinite pronoun rule — will eliminate the most persistent source of grammatical error in their academic essays (Iwuchukwu, 2020, p. 60).
Lecture 2.3 — The Rules of Agreement: Concord
In the sentence "The list of requirements are extensive," the error is caused by:
[1 mark]
Identify and correct the concord error in each sentence, stating which rule applies: (a) "Each of the departments have submitted their returns." (b) "The jury are divided on the verdict." (c) "Neither the students nor the lecturer were informed."
[3 marks — 1 per sentence]
State and explain the proximity rule as it applies to either…or and neither…nor constructions. Write two original sentences — one correctly applying the rule with a singular subject closest to the verb, and one with a plural subject closest to the verb.
[2 marks]
Which sentence demonstrates correct concord?
[1 mark]
Explain the difference between the uses of "the number of" and "a number of" in terms of subject-verb concord. Write one original sentence illustrating each usage correctly.
[2 marks]
In the sentence "The committee has reached a unanimous decision," the verb has is singular because:
[1 mark]
What is pronoun-antecedent agreement? Explain why the sentence "The dean met the lecturer and he submitted the report" is grammatically problematic, and rewrite it correctly.
[2 marks]
Rewrite the following paragraph, correcting all concord errors: "The team of researchers have submitted their findings. Each of the members were present at the conference. Neither the supervisor nor the assistants was able to attend the final session."
[3 marks — 1 per corrected sentence]
Which of the following sentences correctly applies the compound-subject rule?
[1 mark]
In a paragraph of 6–8 sentences, explain why concord errors are described as damaging to the credibility of academic writing. Use specific examples of the error types covered in this lecture to support your argument.
[4 marks]
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