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Step 1
Identify the subject of your sentence by asking, "Who or what is this sentence about?". Read this sentence: The fluffy puppy rolls around in the freshly cut grass. Ask yourself who or what is this sentence about and the answer is "puppy."
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Step 2
Determine if the subject "puppy" is singular or plural. "Singular" means one and "plural" means more than one. Often times, plural subjects will end with "-s" or "-es", but not always. The spelling of some plurals completely change such as in "children," which is the plural of "child".
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Step 3
"Puppy" is singular; therefore the verb also needs to be singular. To find the verb ask yourself, "What does the subject ("puppy") do?" The answer is "rolls." "Rolls" is also singular, so there is subject and verb agreement in this sentence. You must add and "-s" or "-es" to the end of verbs to make them singular if your subject is singular.
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Step 4
Read this sentence: The puppies roll around in the freshly cut grass. "Puppies" is the subject and it's plural, meaning more than one puppy. "Roll" is the verb and it's also plural. This sentence has subject and verb agreement. Remember, when the subject is plural, the verb will not end with an "-s" or "-es."
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Step 5
Be careful with indefinte pronouns as subjects, such as "everyone" and "everybody." These subjects may seem like they are plural, but they are always singular and require a singular verb. For example: "Everyone is chasing the puppy" demonstrates correct subject/verb agreement. "Everyone are chasing the puppy" does not demonstrate correct subject/verb agreement.
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Step 6
Be careful of phrases in between the subject and the verb. Read this sentence: Each of the fluffy puppies is rolling around in the freshly cut grass. The subject of this sentence is "each," and "each" is always singular. Although it may sound tempting to say, "Each of the fluffy puppies are rolling around in the freshly cut grass" this would not demonstrate correct subject-verb agreement because "each" is a singular subject and "are" is a plural verb.
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Step 7
If "or" or "nor" is used to connect a compound subject, the verb should be in agreement with whichever subject is closer to it. Read this sentence: Either Matthew or my parents walk the dog when I am gone. In the above sentence the compound subject is "Matthew" and "parents." The verb is "walk." Since "my parents," a plural subect, is closer to the verb the verb must also be plural. Read this sentence: Either my parents or Matthew walks the dog when I am gone. In this sentence "Matthew," a singular subject, is closer to the verb so the verb must also be singular in order to have subject/verb agreement.
