| Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993. |
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| AGREEMENT OF COMPOUND SUBJECTS WITH THEIR VERBS AND SUBSEQUENT PRONOUNS |
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| Two generalizations are simple and clear: (1) Compound subjects joined by and always require plural verbs: A horse and a cow were in the field. (2) Compound subjects, when composed of singular nouns connected by or (or nor), take a singular verb: A dog or a cat is good company. Then the complications begin. If one part of the compound is plural, then the verb will agree with the number of the part closer to it: Either a companion or several pets are necessary. And if the compound seems notionally plural, even if grammatically singular, it will frequently take a plural verb, especially at Conversational and Informal levels: We concluded that the cause for all these robberies, killings, and other crimes are not known. Finally, in compound like constructions with with, together with, and the like, and those in which the second element is set off with dashes or parentheses (The husband, with his wife and baby, comes in every morning; Fred—and Mary when she has time—jogs every morning), usually, if the first element of a near-compound subject is singular, the verb will be singular, and if plural, the verb will be plural, as in The parents—and their large dog—are waiting for the school bus. But because of the so-called principle of proximity, no matter how singular the first element, enough intervening plural material will cause the verb to be plural too, unless the sentence is carefully edited. Hence most problematic instances occur at the Conversational levels of speech and Informal writing, not at Oratorical levels or in Edited English. | 1 |
| Similarly, when a pronoun refers to a compound subject, the grammatical plurality of Dick and Jane will call for a plural pronoun such as they: Dick and Jane are punctual, and they will arrive on time. But with the compound Dick or Jane, particularly if the pronoun is some distance away, the notion of plurality is very likely to call forth a plural they, despite the grammatical call for a singular to match the singular in gender: Jane or Dick is likely to do the job well, and they can be counted on. And frequently we anticipate the problem and avoid it thus: The piano music of Schubert or the piano music of Schumann—both are romantic, but in different ways. See AGREEMENT OF SUBJECTS AND VERBS (4); COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS; HE; INCLUSIVE LANGUAGE; SEXIST LANGUAGE; S/HE. | 2 |
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| | | The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. Copyright © 1993 Columbia University Press. |
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