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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

Subject Verb agreement

Hello,

I have been having trouble locating an answer to the following grammatical construct.

"There is no indication that Mary, Jeff or Amber have/has been home today."

Since the subjects are individuals and if their being home is not conditional upon any of the others being home also, then "has" makes sense. However, "have" sounds more correct to me. Is the use of "have" only correct if their being home is conditional on all three being present, or am I wrong in both ideas of have/has usage in this situation.

Thanking you in advance

Rhys
  

Top answer

edu/owl/resource/599/01 / See Rule 2. W, X, Y, or Z is/has ... CJ

— CalifJim

  • edu/owl/resource/599/01 / See Rule 2.
  • W, X, Y, or Z is/has ...
  • CJ
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7 Answers
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A singular verb, eg is, has etc, is to be used afer OR.

O.Abootty
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CalifJimSee Rule 2.
W, X, Y, or Z is/has ...
CJ
hello CalifJim

I am veryy sorry for my question, but I am a new student in english grammar,

and didn't understand, what did you mean by W, X, Y, or Z - what is it ?

thanks
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JULIANA-ZIPW, X, Y, or Z - what is it ?
It's a symbolic form meaning "any number of items connected by or".

Jane or Jill / The ham, the turkey, or the chicken / A man, a woman, a boy, or a girl / ...

CJ
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O.ABOOTTYA singular verb, eg is, has etc, is to be used afer OR.O.Abootty
True only if the last element after the "or" is a singular noun.

The dog or the cats are to blame. -- Clearly this take a pural verb because "cats" are plural.
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Yes, you are right. But my answer was to the question mentioned only.

O.Abootty
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"Has" it is then.

Thanks to everyone who replied.
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