The SAT contains two types of verb questions. The first was being subject verb agreement, and the second of being verb tense.

Although some questions may test both concepts, it is important to understand that they are distinct.

• Agreement answers the question singular or plural verbs must agree with their subjects. Singular subjects must take singular verbs and plural subjects must take plural verbs

• Tense answers the question when and indicate past press and future.

A subject verb agreement errors can be very difficult to hear. So when they occur in the original version of a passage, many students will quickly glance through the answer choices before picking the no change option and moving on without a second thought. This is not what you want to do.

If you cannot identify the error immediately, the key to dealing with subject verb agreement question is to work backwards using the answer choices to determine what the question is saying.

1) Look at the Answer Choices

When some mandator choices contain singular verbs, while other answer choices contain plural verbs, the question is testing subject-verb agreement.

2) Identify the subject, and determine whether it is singular or plural

Remember that the noun, right before a verb, usually won't be the subject. If it were, the question would be too easy, and it wouldn't be on the test in the first place. When an underlying verb is located close to the beginning of a sentence, the subject is typically right at the beginning of a sentence. So backup and look at the first word in the sentence. Alternately, if you don't really want to worry about grammar, you can think about it logically.

3) Find the verb that agrees with the subject

You do not need to worry about the tents at all in order to answer the question correctly. The only thing that matters is subject of agreement. The fact that different answers contain different tenses are simply a distraction technique designed to make questions look more complicated than they actually are.

Subject Verb Agreement on the SAT

• The subject and verb in a sentence must agree in number (singular or plural).

• Singular subjects take singular verbs, and plural subjects take plural verbs.

• To determine the correct verb form, identify the subject of the sentence and decide if it is singular or plural.

• Be careful with subjects that are separated from the verb by phrases or clauses. The verb must still agree with the subject, not the intervening words.

• Collective nouns (e.g. team, group, audience) can be singular or plural depending on the context of the sentence.

• Indefinite pronouns (e.g. everyone, somebody, each) are always singular and require singular verbs.

• Compound subjects joined by "and" are usually plural and require plural verbs.

• When a compound subject is joined by "or" or "nor," the verb agrees with the subject closest to it.

• In sentences with "either...or" or "neither...nor," the verb agrees with the subject closest to it.

• In sentences with "not only...but also," the verb agrees with the subject closest to it.

Remember to pay attention to subject-verb agreement when answering SAT questions.

Verb Tense on the SAT

• The SAT tests your understanding of verb tense, which refers to the time frame in which an action takes place.

• The three main verb tenses are past, present, and future.

• The SAT may also test your understanding of perfect tenses, which indicate that an action was completed at a specific point in time.

• It is important to use the correct verb tense in order to convey the intended meaning and avoid confusion.

• When answering SAT questions, pay attention to the context and time frame of the sentence to determine the appropriate verb tense.

• Be aware of irregular verbs, which do not follow the standard rules for forming past tense and past participle forms.

• Practice identifying and using different verb tenses in order to improve your understanding and performance on the SAT.