Which sentence shows correct subject-verb agreement?

Which sentence shows correct subject-verb agreement?

• A. There is not enough chairs for everyone.
• B. There are not enough chairs for everyone.
• C. There is not enough chair for everyone.
• D. There are not enough chair for everyone.

Answer: (B)

Subject-verb agreement is tested here. When the noun is plural, the verb must be plural too. In the sentence with chairs, the plural noun chairs pairs with the plural verb are, which correctly expresses that more than one chair is involved. The other options mix singular and plural in ways that don’t match: using is with chairs breaks the agreement because is is a singular verb, and there isn’t enough chair also disrupts the natural count form for more than one item. The natural, correct way to talk about a shortage of multiple items is to say there are not enough chairs for everyone.

Subject-verb agreement is tested here. When the noun is plural, the verb must be plural too. In the sentence with chairs, the plural noun chairs pairs with the plural verb are, which correctly expresses that more than one chair is involved. The other options mix singular and plural in ways that don’t match: using is with chairs breaks the agreement because is is a singular verb, and there isn’t enough chair also disrupts the natural count form for more than one item. The natural, correct way to talk about a shortage of multiple items is to say there are not enough chairs for everyone.