Subject and verb agreement

[Japanfan]

Hello

Hope someone can help me with this little grammer issue.
I just wanted to know which of the following was correct:

1. Communication and collaboration among researchers has begun

and

2. Communication and collaboration among researchers have begun

I need a grammatical explanation for the correct answer.

Thanks for your time

[Tdol]

If you see them as a single thing, use 'has', but if you see them as separate, use 'have'. They can both be seen as correct.

[leolyy]

From the context with the sentence itself, it seems to be more reasonable to use 'has', but it may be 'have' if in certain context at large.

[Japanfan]

Thanks so much for your help on this. This is the first time I've used the site and I think it's great!

[Tdol]

You're welcome, Japanfan.

[matilda]

you have (and) in your sentence, so i think have is better to use.

[Tdol]

Not necessarily- it could be like (a + b) or a + b. Here, the two things are closely related, so it would be fine to see them as a single thing if you like.

[zaed_salah]

He said :

" I just wanted to know which of the following was correct"
I suppose it will be more correct if he said " just wanted to know which of the following is correct".


Am I right??

[Tdol]

As the introductory verb 'wanted' is in the past, even though the request and the wish are present at the time of writing, the past is fine. However, as correctness is a fact, the present is also OK.