Compound Subjects

mason00

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/compound-subjects.aspx

Compound Subjects
Today we are discussing subjects that contain the word “and.” You generally think “plural” if you see and “and,” but that’s not always the case.
Simple singular and plural subjects
Let’s start some sentences that have definitely singular or definitely plural subjects. The subject in “The clown is juggling” is obviously singular; one clown is doing something. “Two clowns and the ringmaster are juggling” contains and “and,” and since three people are involved, that subject is plural.
Singular compound subject with “And”
Now for some subjects that contain word “and” but are singular. This might sound wired at first, but you probably say such sentences every day. Take these two singular sentences: “Peanut butter and jelly is available in the cafeteria,” and “Meat and potatoes way my grandfather’s favorite meal.” In these mouth watering sentences, the tow items combine to form a singular subject - one dish – and this is the crux (crucial) of the matter. As Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage explains, “When the nouns form ‘a collective idea’ or ‘an oneness idea,’ the singular verb is appreciate”. Another explains is “spaghetti and meatballs”: “Spaghetti and meatballs goes well with garlic bread.”
A compound subject that describes a singular person
You may also find yourself referring one person in two ways in a sentence, and if you do so, you will use a singular verb. Consider the sentence in which the writer is saying her husband is also her best friend: “My husband and best friend like doing the dishes,” the two people are scrubbing. In this case, your husband is not your best friend.
Different and separate compound subjects
What if the ideas joined by “and” refer to more than one person or do not form one concept? Then, the sentence is plural. Noted grammarian Bryan Garner explains, “If two or more subjects are joined by and are different and separable, they are plural verb”. If you say, “Peanut butter and potatoes are my favorite foods,” you are listing two separate items you like. I’ve never heard of combined the dish “peanut butter and potatoes.” If it did exist, however, it would take a singular verb.
Singular or plural subject
Now, let’s analyze some contentious (arguable) sentences. The subjects in these may or may not be plural, depending upon your point of view. First up is this sentence with singular verb: “His humility and his decency reflects very bad American spirit.” Or should it be “reflect,” a plural verb? We need to assess whether the “humility and decency” are two variations on a theme and therefore one thing, or if these two personalities are “different and separable.” They seem separate ideas to me. A person could be decent but not humble. Others may disagree with this point of view. An anonymous commenter on the Sentence Sleuth blog, where this sentence is criticized as Criminal Sentence 513, argued, “The author intends them to be considered as a unit, as a representation of a singular quality, his “goodness.” I think you can get away with either a singular or plural sense – it’s discretionary (feel free).
There was even more discussion on the blog when it came to the following sentence (labeled Criminal Sentence 519): “There capture and successful prosecution is what we want”. Some commenter argued that the police had one goal – to put the criminals behind bars – so capture and prosecution represented one idea. They therefore felt the verb should be singular. Others thought these two actions were distinct and the verb should be plural.
With sentence with these two, we may have to agree to disagree; you can make a coherent argument for either point of view. If you’d like to weigh in with your opinion, you can find both these criminal sentences at sentencesleuth.blogspot.com
Rewrite to avoid compound subjects problems
If you come across this problem in your own writing, you may probably make someone unhappy no matter which kind of words you choose. Your best chance to pleasing everyone is to recast the sentence so you no longer have to wrestle the idea of singular or plural. One way to rewrite the sentence about humility and decency is “He embodies the very best of the American spirit with his humility and decency.” As for the second problematic sentence, you can very easily turn “Their capture and successful prosecution is what we want” into “We want to capture and successful prosecute them.” It’s less wordy, too.
Summary
Singular and plural is not as easy a concept as it might seem (notice how I said, “singular and plural is”; here we’re combining the two to refer to one grammatical concept). When you are deciding singular or plural, think about whether the items joined with “and” constitute one concept. A Sentence Sleuth blog reader point out that “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” is a good example of a single idea that comes with an “and”. If you don’t know which verb to choose, just rewrite the sentence and avoid the problem.