Results 1 to 3 of 3
Like Tree2Likes
  • 2 Post By 5jj

Thread: Is or are?

  1. #1
    Jamgirl is offline Junior Member
    • Member Info
      • Member Type:
      • Student or Learner
      • Native Language:
      • English
      • Home Country:
      • England
      • Current Location:
      • England
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Posts
    62

    Default Is or are?

    I am in a pickle about this. Do we say:

    'Your knowledge and experience is invaluable'
    or
    'Your knowledge and experience are invaluable'.

    To my ear, 'is' sounds better. Logically though, should it be 'are' because there are two things in the sentence?

    If it is 'is', can someone explain why?

    Thanks

  2. #2
    5jj's Avatar
    5jj
    5jj is offline Moderator
    • Member Info
      • Member Type:
      • English Teacher
      • Native Language:
      • British English
      • Home Country:
      • England
      • Current Location:
      • Czech Republic
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    16,937
    Teacher

    Default Re: Is or are?

    Quote Originally Posted by Jamgirl View Post
    'Your knowledge and experience is invaluable'
    or
    'Your knowledge and experience are invaluable'.
    Only 'are' is correct.

    I think it is possible that some speakers, with a mental picture of 'combination of knowledge and experience' might use 'is', and I also feel that many listeners would not notice anything unusual.

    It seems unacceptable to me in writing.
    bhaisahab and Rover_KE like this.

  3. #3
    Jamgirl is offline Junior Member
    • Member Info
      • Member Type:
      • Student or Learner
      • Native Language:
      • English
      • Home Country:
      • England
      • Current Location:
      • England
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Posts
    62
    Threadstarter / Original Poster

    Smile Re: Is or are?

    Quote Originally Posted by fivejedjon View Post
    Only 'are' is correct.

    I think it is possible that some speakers, with a mental picture of 'combination of knowledge and experience' might use 'is', and I also feel that many listeners would not notice anything unusual.

    It seems unacceptable to me in writing.
    Thank you for that. I knew logically it had to be 'are' and many arguments here took place about whether you could group the 2 things (knowledge and experience) together to consider it as 1 thing, and use 'is'. I'll have to let my colleagues know that it is 'are'.

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0