Monday, April 9, 2018

subject verb agreement - "Both John and Christina takes an apple." or "Both John and Christina take an apple."?



Both John and Christina takes an apple





Both John and Christina take an apple.



Which one is correct? Why?



Answer



"take"


When you have a compound noun joined with "and", it is plural. This makes logical sense. "John and Christina" are presumably two people. So you use the plural form of the verb.


When you have two singular nouns joined by "or", you use a singular verb. If it was "John OR Christina", then the sentence would be "John or Christina takes an apple."


If you have a singular and a plural joined by "or", then the rule is that the one closest to the verb governs the number of the verb. So "John or the Miller twins take an apple", versus "The Miller twins or John takes an apple."



No comments:

Post a Comment

Simple past, Present perfect Past perfect

Can you tell me which form of the following sentences is the correct one please? Imagine two friends discussing the gym... I was in a good s...