Which sentence has correct subject-verb agreement?

• A. The list of suspects are on the board.
• B. The list of suspects is on the board.
• C. The lists of suspects is on the board.
• D. The list of suspects were on the board.

Answer: (B)

Subject-verb agreement is about making the verb match the subject in number. In the phrase “the list of suspects,” the main subject is the singular word list. The part “of suspects” is a prepositional phrase that describes the list and doesn’t change the number. So the verb must be singular: is.

The other sentences break agreement in different ways. Using are after a singular list is incorrect because the subject is singular. Using lists (the plural) would require a plural verb, not is. And using were with a singular list mismatches tense and number, since were is the past plural form. Therefore, the correct sentence is the one with is.