Is or are

Question

I have this sentence : Hussam and Ruba's mother is visiting.....

The question the auxillary verb after mother (is or are ) because I consider two person Hussam is one person and Ruba's mother is one person so the auxillary is (are) in this sentence.

If the axillary (is) so how do we consider them one person , is the mother of Hussam and Ruba

thank you

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

samersamer1974I have this sentence : Hussam and Ruba's mother is visiting.....

Your sentence is wrong. It should be

Hussam and Ruba's mother are visiting.

samersamer1974how do we consider them one person

You can't. That's why your sentence is wrong.

CJ

BillJ · Answer

samersamer1974
I have this sentence : Hussam and Ruba's mother is visiting.....
The question the auxillary verb after mother (is or are ) because I consider two person Hussam is one person and Ruba's mother is one person so the auxillary is (are) in this sentence.
If the axillary (is) so how do we consider them one person , is the mother of Hussam and Ruba
thank you

If the intended meaning is that two people (Hussam + Ruba's mother) are visiting, then of course the plural "are" would be correct.

But that wasn't the writer's intention in the original example, which was part of an activity workbook for learners called English for Starters. It was intended to mean that the mother of Hassam and Ruba is visiting (i.e. only one person is visiting) and hence singular is would be correct.

With coordinated genitive (possessive) nouns like this, it is normal to put the genitive marking ·'s on the second noun only, which in this case is "Ruba", so there's nothing wrong with the way it was written.

Ambiguities can arise when such expressions are taken in isolation, since the reader would not be able to tell which meaning the writer actually intended. But in this case, a simple glance at the book in question resolves the issue.

Is or are

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