0
PreciousJones Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

Spanish

Reading and writing Spanish is difficult to me. OR

Reading and writing Spanish are difficult to me.

Are both useable.

Thank you.
  

Top answer

Reading and writing Spanish are difficult to me is correct. You only use is if your talking about only one of them. Visit [ Contact information is in your profile.

  • Reading and writing Spanish are difficult to me is correct.
  • You only use is if your talking about only one of them.
  • Visit [ Contact information is in your profile.
  • ]
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

4 Answers
0
Reading and writing Spanish are difficult to me is correct. You only use is if your talking about only one of them.

Visit [ Contact information is in your profile. ]
0
Hello everyone.

'Reading and writing Spanish is difficult to me' sounds fine to me; in fact, I'd prefer it over the are version.
0
I' d use "is" because that's what sounds natural to me. I'd also use "for" instead of "to". I think the reason for the singular verb is that we usually parse the original sentence as
[Reading and writing Spanish] is difficult for me.
rather than
[Reading (Spanish)] and [writing Spanish] are difficult for me.
0
PreciousJonesAre both useable?
Yes. The writer may be thinking of these as two separate things (are) or as one combined unit (is). The person writing (or speaking) has to make this decision on the basis of his own conceptualization of the subject of the sentence.

CJ

Related Questions