Subject-Verb agreement with compound subjects

[potioncat]

 "Geoff Bannister" <gbannister10 at ...> wrote:
 
> Taking Madam Hooch's comment, I might have put it as: 
> "I see a single broom in the air, the person riding it will be out 
of Hogwarts 
> before he or she can say 'Quidditch'!"
> 
> Old-fashioned, non-PC? Maybe. But I prefer the more accurate 
grammar.

Potioncat:
I'm older-fashioned. 

I prefer "I see a single broom in the air, the person riding it will 
be out of Hogwarts before he can say 'Quidditch'!"

Just because I can't stand 'he or she'. I do sort of like the trend 
in paranting magazines to alternate between  he and she. But I would 
be quite content with the nonspecific 'he' to go along with the 
generic 'you'.