Compound Subject, Singular Verb

That title sounds like a practice I would disagree with, but a compound subject with a singular verb can be correct! Here’s the rule:

• A compound subject with “and” gets a plural verb.

Here’s an example of getting this wrong. “zone and others” is plural, so the verb should be plural:

Our results provide new insights into how this subduction zone, and possibly others, behaves over geologic timeframes of millions of years.

https://earthsky.org/earth/cascadia-megathrust-fault-earthquake-probability

Here’s the other rule: A compound subject with “or” takes the number of the last item in the subject. If the last item is plural, use a plural verb, if the last item is singular, then use a singular verb.

A correct example:

Anomalous propagation, or AP, is the name given to radar echoes that are not related to precipitation.

https://www.wunderground.com/news/news/news/2019-07-24-traffic-highway-101-california-doppler-radar

Here’s an incorrect example. “rhetoric” is singular, so the verb should be singular:

Administration officials push back on the idea that Trump or his rhetoric have any responsibility to bear, saying the only people responsible for these mass shootings are the people shooting the guns.

https://www.npr.org/2019/08/05/748190808/trump-calls-for-strong-background-checks-following-el-paso-and-dayton-shootings

This is correct; plural second subject, plural verb.

I don’t think most schools or employers are there yet.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/08/05/new-ipads-make-strong-back-to-school-appeal-im-still-not-sold

This post first appeared on The Writing Rag.

Subscribe to this blog's RSS feed

If you have more than one, you have a plural, even if you have more than one of the same thing. Middle panel:

You can change this by changing the subject to “each.” So “…would you want to find each of them an good home?” Now “them” is the object of the the preposition and “each” is a nice singular to go with “a good home.

So be careful!

What??? You ask. Hear me out.

First, numbers in most contexts are adjectives. Adjectives don’t show number in English. We say “five apples” but not “fives apples.” But that’s not my point.

Let’s move on to arithmetic. We (correctly) say “Three and six are nine.” Plural verb, so plural numbers, right? Not quite. That sentence has a plural subject, three and six. You could as easily say “Tom and Pete are sick.” The two persons are one each, and they make a plural subject.

A number is singular when you talk about the number itself!

For example, you say, “six is half of twelve, thirteen is a prime number.” Singular verbs! You’re referring to the number itself (not themselves), not six of something, such as six people.

Finally we get to the comic. Third panel. The guy confuses referring to the number itself with the number of things. Sounds wrong, doesn’t it?

Anyway, there’s a little incongruity for you that I bet you never noticed.

This post isn’t a writing lesson, exactly; more of a linguistic commentary.

Some words don’t have plurals, or they look like plurals but aren’t, or they look singular but can still be plural. I suspect this makes English a bit tricky for English as a second language folks.

• Look like plurals but aren’t: physics, measles, shingles (adult measles), loggerheads, trousers, scissors, forensics (see the comic)
• Look like plurals whether singular or plural: species, premises
• Look like singular whether singular or plural: fish, deer, moose
• Don’t have plurals: information, cosmos
• Always plural: krill, plankton
• Can go both ways: Pair of trousers, pair of scissors, fishes

The trick, of course, is to use the correct singular or plural verb.

I pulled these off the top of my head. Can you add any? Send a comment.

Thought I’d share something that I noticed the other day. We treat abbreviations as if they were words separate from the phrase they represent. Here’s the sentence that I noticed:

Coincidentally, I used a clip from “Stalag 17” yesterday, and, in the movie version, Peter Graves plays a rat who is collaborating with government forces to betray Allied POWs.

http://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2019/02/27/csotd-piercing-the-cohen-of-silence/

What’s the plural of “prisoner of war”? It’s “prisoners of war.” But what’s the plural of “POW”? Yup, it’s “POWs.”—That certainly doesn’t mean “prisoner of wars.”

The plurals of “attorney general” and “court martial” both put the “s” on the first word, but after the abbreviation. Well, I’ve seen “AG” used for “attorney general.” I haven’t actually run into “CM,” though I suppose it could happen.

Not much of a lesson, but I thought I’d share. Can you think of any other examples? Put them in the comments.