When it comes to editing, one of the most important types of editing is agreement editing. Agreement editing, also known as subject-verb agreement, is the process of ensuring that the subject and verb in a sentence agree in number. This may seem like a minor detail, but it can have a huge impact on the clarity and professionalism of your writing.

Why is agreement editing important?

Agreement editing is important because it helps to ensure that your writing is clear and easy to understand. When the subject and verb in a sentence do not agree in number, it can make your writing confusing and difficult to read. This can also make your writing appear sloppy and unprofessional.

For example, consider the following sentence:

“The team of doctors was not able to come to a consensus.”

In this sentence, the subject (team) is singular, but the verb (was) is plural. This creates a lack of agreement between the subject and verb, which can make the sentence difficult to read and understand.

By editing this sentence to ensure that the subject and verb agree in number, we can create a clearer and more professional sentence:

“The team of doctors were not able to come to a consensus.”

In this edited sentence, the verb (were) now agrees in number with the subject (team), making the sentence much clearer and easier to understand.

How to perform agreement editing

Agreement editing is relatively easy to perform once you know what to look for. Here are some tips for ensuring that the subject and verb in your sentences agree in number:

1. Identify the subject and verb in the sentence.

The first step in agreement editing is to identify the subject and verb in the sentence. The subject is usually the noun or pronoun that is performing the action in the sentence, while the verb is the action or state of being that the subject is performing.

For example, in the sentence “The dogs barked loudly,” the subject is “dogs” and the verb is “barked.”

2. Determine whether the subject and verb agree in number.

Once you have identified the subject and verb in the sentence, you need to determine whether they agree in number. This means that if the subject is singular, the verb should be singular too, and if the subject is plural, the verb should be plural as well.

For example, in the sentence “The dog barks loudly,” the subject is singular (“dog”) and the verb is also singular (“barks”).

3. Make any necessary edits.

If you find that the subject and verb do not agree in number, you will need to make some edits to the sentence to ensure that they do. This may involve changing the verb to agree with the subject, or changing the subject to agree with the verb, depending on the situation.

For example, in the sentence “The team of doctors was not able to come to a consensus,” we needed to change the verb from “was” to “were” to make it agree with the plural subject (“team of doctors”).

In conclusion, agreement editing is an important aspect of copy editing that helps to ensure that your writing is clear and professional. By following these simple tips, you can easily perform agreement editing on your own writing and make sure that your sentences are grammatically correct and easy to read.