In a sentence with one singular and one plural subject joined by or, the verb should agree with which subject?

• A. The plural subject
• B. The singular subject
• C. The nearer subject to the verb
• D. The subject that comes first

Answer: (C)

When a singular noun and a plural noun are joined by or (or nor), the verb agrees with the subject closest to it. This is because the closer subject is the one the verb is actually describing, so its number dictates the verb form.

For example, if you say “Either the boy or the girls are going,” the closer subject is the plural “girls,” so the plural verb “are” is used. If you switch the order to “Either the girls or the boy is going,” the closer subject is the singular “boy,” so you use the singular verb “is.” The same idea applies with nor: “Neither the teacher nor the students were invited” uses “students” as the closer plural subject, while “Neither the students nor the teacher was invited” uses the singular closer “teacher.”

In short, the verb should match the number of the noun closest to it.