Rule #3: When the subject comes after the verb, make sure the verb still agrees with the real subject, especially if the subject includes multiple things.

❌ There is, in the box, a pen and a notebook.

✅ There are, in the box, a pen and a notebook.

🤔 Why "are" is correct?

Because even though the subject appears after the verb, the verb must still match the real subject ("a pen and a notebook"), which is plural (two items).

🎓 Remember: Always clearly count your subjects - even if they’re placed after the verb - to match your verb correctly!

🧨Trap #3: Placing the Subject after Main Verb

In our regular life, we mostly use the subject first and then the verb. For instance, we say:

I eat rice.

Here, subject is “I” and main verb is “eat”. And as you can see, the verb comes after the subject.

We are used to using the following sentence structure:

Why is this important?

IBA faculties know that you are used to seeing this sentence structure, so they try to take advantage of it. In order to trick you and lead you into a trap, they change the sequence or order of this sentence structure.

That is to say, in our day-to-day life, we use the subject first and then the main verb to construct sentences while writing or speaking. That’s why the exam alters the sequence.

The exam often sets traps by placing the subject after the verb so that you end up choosing the number of the main verb for the wrong subject.

When this happens, it’s easy to match the verb incorrectly because it "feels" right.

Always identify clearly how many subjects you have, even if they're placed after the verb.

Common Trap: You might see "There is..." and assume it’s always correct because it's common in speech.

Example Trap:

My tactic is pretty simple, and I implement it in 3 stages:

1. I first question myself: what is this sentence about - who or what is this sentence talking about?
   

2. Then, I try to rearrange the sentence to figure out the real subject.
   
   Consider the following sentence:
   
   From difficult experiences comes/come some of our greatest lessons.
   
   At first glance, you may think “difficult experiences” is the subject in this sentence. But it’s not. Let’s rearrange the sentence:
   
   Some of our greatest lessons comes/come from difficult experiences.
   
   You can see that once we rearrange the sentence, it becomes visible that “some of our greatest lessons” is the real subject. And since the real subject is plural, our main verb “come/comes” must also be plural - “come.”
   

3. After the main subject becomes visible, I count the number of subjects - are there multiple subjects?
   

4. Lastly, I simply match the number of the main verb with the number of subjects I’ve counted.
   

👉 Match the main verb to the real subject coming after the verb, ignoring the introductory words.

🚫 Ignore introductory phrases (like "There is" or "There are") and directly count your subjects clearly.

💥 Examples

🔸 Example #1 (Question Form)

✅ Correct: Were, because "laptop and headphones" = two items.

🔸 Example #2 (Inverted Structure)

✅ Correct: lie, because multiple items - chest, keys, and map - make it plural.

🔸 Example #3 (Rule #1 & #3 In Action)

✅ Correct: was

In this example, you can see both our Rule #1 and Rule #3 in action.

Rule #1 (Subject-Verb Agreement):
You must match the verb to the real subject.

Here, the real subject is "the necklace", which is a singular item.

Rule #3 (Subject Placed After the Verb):
The subject ("the necklace") appears after the verb ("was").

The placement can confuse you into mistakenly using a plural verb because of additional plural words like "several valuable rings."

However, phrases like "along with" are extra details and do not change the number of your real subject.

🔑 Simple Logic:

• The real subject = necklace (singular)

• Ignore extra phrases ("along with...")

• Verb must match singular subject = was

🔸 Example #4 (Rule #1, #2 & #3 In Action)

✅ Correct: were, because textbook and calculator together form multiple essential items.)

We have tweaked Example #3 to show you Rule #1 (Subject-Verb Agreement), Rule #2 (Multiple Subjects with "and"), and Rule #3 (Subject Placed After the Verb) in action. This will help you to connect the dots.

Rule #1 (Subject-Verb Agreement): 

The verb must match the real subject.

Rule #2 (Multiple Subjects with "and"): 

"Necklace" and "several valuable rings" together make a plural subject, requiring the plural verb "were".

Rule #3 (Subject Placed After the Verb): 

The real subject ("the necklace and several valuable rings") comes after the verb, making it tricky.

The phrase "along with a small note" is extra info and doesn't affect the verb.

🔸 Example 5 (Description First)

✅ Correct: sit, as "a vase of flowers and several picture frames" constitute plural items.

🔸 Example 6

✅ Correct: come, because "achievements" is plural.