Why Subject-Verb Agreement Errors Are Common in Academic Theses
Subject-verb agreement errors — where the verb does not match the number of its grammatical subject — are among the most common grammatical mistakes in Malaysian postgraduate theses. They are particularly prevalent when complex sentence structures place distance between the subject and its verb, making it easy to lose track of what the verb is agreeing with. The sentence “The results of the regression analysis shows that…” contains a subject-verb agreement error: the grammatical subject is “results” (plural), but the verb “shows” is singular. The correct form is “show.”
The Most Common Agreement Error Patterns
Several patterns reliably produce subject-verb agreement errors in Malaysian academic writing. The first is the prepositional phrase trap: a sentence where a prepositional phrase containing a noun of different number sits between the subject and the verb. “The impact of these variables is significant” is correct — “impact” is the subject, and “is” agrees with it. “The impact of these variables are significant” is incorrect — “variables” is not the subject, “impact” is. Always identify the true grammatical subject before choosing the verb form.
The second common pattern involves collective nouns and data-related terms. “Data” is plural in APA 7th — “the data show” not “the data shows.” “Criteria” is plural — “the criteria are” not “the criteria is.” “Phenomena” is plural — “these phenomena suggest” not “this phenomena suggests.” These are discipline-specific agreement issues that Malaysian students who learned “data is” in informal or pre-APA contexts must consciously correct.
The third pattern involves quantified subjects: “A number of studies have examined” (plural, because the subject is effectively “studies”) versus “The number of studies has increased” (singular, because “the number” is the subject). This distinction trips up even experienced writers.
A Targeted Search Strategy for Agreement Errors
During proofreading, search for the most problematic words in your thesis. Search for “data is” and replace with “data are.” Search for “criteria is” and replace with “criteria are.” Search for “phenomena is” and replace with “phenomena are.” These three targeted searches catch a high proportion of discipline-specific agreement errors in social science and education theses quickly and efficiently.
For sentence-level agreement errors involving complex subjects, the read-aloud technique helps significantly — the agreement mismatch often sounds wrong even when it looks plausible in print. Proofreading your thesis for subject-verb agreement errors is a targeted grammatical pass that requires only an awareness of the most common error patterns and the discipline to check each instance rather than assuming correctness.
