Subject-verb agreement is an important grammatical rule that ensures that a sentence is structured correctly and grammatically sound. Among the many cases where subject-verb agreement is crucial is when you use “has been” in a sentence.
“Has been” is a present perfect verb tense that is often used to describe an action that started in the past and is still ongoing. The present perfect tense is formed by using the auxiliary verb “has” or “have” along with the past participle of the main verb. When using “has been” in a sentence, the subject is singular, and the verb must agree with the subject in number.
For example, consider the sentence, “The company has been implementing new policies.” In this sentence, “the company” is the subject, which is singular, and “has been” is the verb, which agrees with the subject in number. The use of “has been” implies that the company started implementing new policies in the past, and the action continues to the present.
On the other hand, if the subject of the sentence is plural, the verb that follows should also be plural. For example, “The teams have been practicing hard all week.” In this sentence, the subject is plural (teams), and the verb “have been” agrees with the subject.
Another case where subject-verb agreement is essential when using “has been” is when the subject is compound. A compound subject is one that consists of two or more nouns that act together as the subject of a sentence. In this case, the verb must agree with the subject in number and person.
For example, “John and Mary have been working together on the project.” In this sentence, “John and Mary” is a compound subject, and the verb “have been” agrees with the subject in number and person.
In conclusion, subject-verb agreement is an essential grammatical rule that must be observed when using “has been” in a sentence. Remember that “has been” is a present perfect verb tense that implies ongoing actions that started in the past, and the verb must agree with the subject in number and person. Always double-check your sentences to ensure they are grammatically correct and structured appropriately to avoid confusion.