Subject-Verb agreement with compound subjects

[Geoff Bannister]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Goddlefrood" <gav_fiji at ...> wrote:
>
> > CJ much earlier:
> > "Either he or I ____ going."
> 
> > Carol:
> > You're correct that the verb in an "or" phrase agrees with the 
> > nearest noun or pronoun.
>  
> > CJ (Now):
> > This is not a rule I'd ever heard -- let alone been taught 
> 
> Goddlefrood:
> 
> I'm not a grammarian and know very little about the rules of 
> grammar per se. I do know that the answer to the above would 
> be to insert 'are'. Then it sounds right. Any inserion of other 
> possible conjugations of the verb to be would sound wrong to a 
> native of the benighted isles, even were he residing in the 
> Clundy or indeed on its other side.

Geoff:
To disagree, to say "Either he or I are going" would sound anything 
but right to me because of the juxtaposition of "I" and "are". 

I agree with  Carol that the wording - which,in the original English 
edition, is  "Philosopher's Stone" chapter "The Midnight Duel" p.110
 - as being the best rendering.