Subject-Verb agreement with compound subjects

[Geoff Bannister]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Carol" <justcarol67 at ...> wrote:
>
> --- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Geoff Bannister"
> <gbannister10@> wrote:
> >
> > --- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, Lee Kaiwen <leekaiwen@> wrote:
> > 
> > > CJ, ever the populist, who thinks the only relevant English 
> > > "authorities" are the people who speak it.
> > 
> > 
> > Geoff:
> > Hear, hear. Well said, sir!
> > 
> > The only problem now is that someone will start a discussion 
> > on whether the only relevant English  "authorities" are those 
> > who speak  UK English or US English.
> > :-(
> >
Carol: 
> FWIW, the whole concept of standard English is not based on
> "correctess" (prescriptive grammar) but an agreed upon set of
> conventions, similar to those for spelling (which, of course, varies
> somewhat depending on whether you're British or American) whose
> purpose is to make communication easier. (If you've ever tried to read
> letters written in Early Modern English, which had conventions of
> courtesy but not of spelling, you'll appreciate those conventions.) If
> not for the conventions of standard English, we would all be using our
> own spelling and grammar (which, alas, appears to be the case among
> many young Americans today who have not been taught grammar (standard
> usage), spelling, punctuation, or even penmanship. Standard English
> also eliminates regional variations that could confuse readers and
> speakers not familiar with a particular dialect. There's a reason why
> most newscasters in the UK use "received pronunciation" and most in
> the US use "general American." 

Geoff:
Nowadays, there are many newsreaders (not newscasters) in the UK who 
have dialects but who speak perfectly good English. I think that you are 
inadvertently bringing dialect words into your discussion. "Received 
pronunciation' and "Oxford English" are seen as anachronisms which 
date a film or report as being well in the past.

Carol:
> "There are a few minor differences between standard usage in England
> and the United States, but these differences do not significantly
> affect communication in the English language." 

Geoff:
Excuse me laughing loudly about that one. There are spelling differences, 
words which carry one meaning or nuance in the UK and another in the 
US and and words which exist only in one of the two.
 
> Carol, who can think of no better way of determining a standard than a
> consensus of the informed and educated

Geoff:
Provided that the "informed and educated" - whoever they may be - are 
prepared to accept a consensus and not argue that they and they alone 
are the arbiters of the language.