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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

X, along with y, -- plural or singular?

Hi grammar gurus. Thanks in advance for help with this question:

My sentence reads: "X, along with Y, indicates that ..."

Am I correct to use the plural "indicates" rather than thhe singular "indicate"?

By the way, X in my sentence is a singular noun and Y is a plural noun. (Would the answer be different if Y was a singular noun?)

Thanks.

Doug
  

Top answer

Hi, The subject is the singular X. 'Along with Y' is just a parenthetical comment. Clive

— Clive

  • Hi, The subject is the singular X.
  • 'Along with Y' is just a parenthetical comment.
  • Clive
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4 Answers
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Hi,

The subject is the singular X. 'Along with Y' is just a parenthetical comment.

Clive
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Hi Doug,

With an "X, along with Y," structure, the official answer is to make the verb agree with X. If it's singular, use indicates, and if it's plural, use plural.

The practical answer is that people have a very strong desire to make the verb agree with the last noun before it and to think of two things as needing a plural verb, even when they have the "along with" structure.
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Thank you, Clive!

Doug
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GG: Thank you. I think you're right that the preferred option is to re-write the sentence to avoid the problem.

Doug
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