the corner office : On a related grammatical note...

On a related grammatical note...

... is it proper to say 'rhetoric and scaremongering is back' or 'rhetoric and scaremongering are back'? The latter seems grammatically correct being a plural but it sounds just as wrong and I've spent too much time joking in a fake Afrikaans accent today to trust my judgement, and my copy of Strunk & White are at the cleaners.

(Update: 'are' were correk. What it is! Thanks guys! (and lest posterity condemn me, the S&W thing was tongue in cheek ;-)

{2006.05.10 20:32}

Comments:

1. Ben Langhinrichs (2006.05.11 - 00:26) #

No, your copy of Strunk and White IS at the cleaners. Since mine is right on the bookshelf next to me, I'll inform you that it certainly should be 'rhetoric and scaremongering are back' (not that I needed Strunk and White for that particular point).

2. Chris Whisonant (2006.05.11 - 13:01) #

Ben are right... =)

"Strunk and White" are not at the cleaners, but your "copy" IS at the cleaners. Just as "rhetoric" is back but both "rhetoric and scaremongering" ARE back.