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For you and Tom as well, the same question about question eight. Joel Send a noteboard - 05/10/2011 08:33:39 PM
Since I noticed you both (in effect) cited the same objection: Subject/verb agreement. I (perhaps incorrectly) took "Twitter and texting" to be examples of a single general phenomenon suspected to have "eroded proper grammar for today's youths" and so thought nothing of introducing the question with "has." My logic is expounded at better length here, in an About.com entry written by one Richard Norquist, whose bio there states him to be a Doctor of English with 35 years experience teaching composition:
Normally a subject made up of more than one element takes a plural verb ("The President and Congress are at loggerheads"), although occasionally, when the elements add up to the same idea, the verb is singular ("The wear and tear on the car was tremendous"). But focus an eye on these compound subjects followed by singular verbs, all of which are correct:

Everything in the cupboard and everything on the table was smashed.
Everybody favoring the plan and everybody leaning toward it was interviewed.
Nobody in my house and nobody on my street has been robbed.
Anyone who has read the book and anybody who has even heard of its ideas agrees with the author.

Strange, eh? . . . The explanation would seem to be that in each instance the second 'particularizer' is superfluous and has no grammatical efect; it could just as well be omitted, and in some of the instances the and would change to or. . . .

"An odd quirk that proves nothing aside from the fact that some rules do have exceptions."
(Theodore Bernstein, Miss Thistlebottom's Hobgoblins, 1971)

Bolding is mine, for emphasis (and yes, I noticed that he mispelled "effect." Several of the examples here, the first especially, are similar to the language in question eight: "Everything on the table" and "everything in the cupboard" are clearly and wholly distinct groups, but a singular verb is used to reference the singular destruction of both groups.
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Grammar junkies Dark Knight - 05/10/2011 06:46:31 PM 1144 Views
I'm not always sure that I'm correct, but.... nossy - 05/10/2011 07:04:13 PM 839 Views
I didn't see any errors Dark Knight - 05/10/2011 07:24:27 PM 823 Views
Re: I didn't see any errors nossy - 06/10/2011 03:14:07 PM 702 Views
You mean ... Nate - 06/10/2011 03:58:32 PM 790 Views
Must ... have ... grammar. Nate - 05/10/2011 07:53:34 PM 1016 Views
For you and Tom as well, the same question about question eight. Joel - 05/10/2011 08:33:39 PM 1302 Views
Tom can probably give you actual terms and correct rules, but here's my take on it. Nate - 05/10/2011 08:43:47 PM 790 Views
Er...yes I meant them as a singular idea... *NM* Dark Knight - 05/10/2011 08:47:34 PM 474 Views
Use them together, and only together, for fifteen years and we can discuss this again. *NM* Tom - 05/10/2011 09:32:30 PM 406 Views
That makes sense as far as it goes. Joel - 05/10/2011 09:02:42 PM 825 Views
But do you actually regard them that way? Nate - 05/10/2011 09:08:36 PM 808 Views
Yeah, pretty much. Joel - 05/10/2011 09:25:18 PM 769 Views
Re: Yeah, pretty much. Nate - 05/10/2011 09:29:33 PM 651 Views
OK then. Joel - 05/10/2011 09:59:50 PM 812 Views
No, Joel. You're just wrong. Again. Get used to it. We have. Tom - 05/10/2011 09:31:21 PM 707 Views
I can live with being wrong, at least in the sense of technical error. Joel - 05/10/2011 10:06:30 PM 816 Views
Let's just pare this down to the bare bones. Tom - 06/10/2011 01:37:30 AM 663 Views
He made a mistake that I did not recognize as a mistake because I read his words as he intended. Joel - 06/10/2011 04:43:39 AM 817 Views
You bring up a point that I was researching the other day Dark Knight - 05/10/2011 08:53:40 PM 860 Views
You guys mean a hyphen, not a dash. Rebekah - 05/10/2011 09:00:25 PM 820 Views
You're right of course! Nate - 05/10/2011 09:13:44 PM 886 Views
I frequently am. Rebekah - 05/10/2011 09:16:38 PM 895 Views
So I've noticed. Nate - 05/10/2011 09:19:38 PM 806 Views
I like telling people, too. Rebekah - 05/10/2011 09:34:50 PM 800 Views
You can use charmap. Joel - 05/10/2011 10:21:32 PM 851 Views
Re: You guys mean a hyphen, not a dash. Stephen - 06/10/2011 01:15:02 PM 749 Views
Mmm, dashing. Nate - 05/10/2011 09:02:53 PM 802 Views
Emdashing is an entirely different form of punctuation. Joel - 05/10/2011 09:07:36 PM 873 Views
Achtung! Grammatik! :insert Nazi-saluting smiley as the Wehrmacht marches by: Tom - 05/10/2011 08:10:45 PM 917 Views
I love this bit. Nate - 05/10/2011 08:26:52 PM 901 Views
Bring back the BSG! Joel - 05/10/2011 08:55:32 PM 838 Views
Re: your 2nd irritating error for question 2 Sareitha Sedai - 06/10/2011 04:12:49 PM 775 Views
Good poll, especially for this site. Joel - 05/10/2011 08:11:10 PM 927 Views
Re: serial comma. Nate - 05/10/2011 08:31:58 PM 803 Views
Maybe I was being a little anal there. Joel - 05/10/2011 08:35:33 PM 777 Views
Same here Dark Knight - 05/10/2011 08:43:34 PM 680 Views
I think it's conventional to use a comma before "etc". Rebekah - 05/10/2011 08:55:11 PM 757 Views
Re: Grammar junkies random thoughts - 05/10/2011 08:33:06 PM 818 Views
Re: Grammar junkies Dark Knight - 05/10/2011 08:49:43 PM 877 Views
People should talk in a way that can be understood, else they are not communicating. Joel - 05/10/2011 09:17:37 PM 866 Views
Re: "everyone's". ~winky~ *NM* Nate - 05/10/2011 09:22:18 PM 399 Views
Is it time for my lecture on superfluous apostrophes again? Joel - 05/10/2011 09:43:47 PM 776 Views
You mean your lecture on "superfluous" apostrophes. Rebekah - 05/10/2011 09:53:31 PM 719 Views
As have I. Multiple times. *NM* Ghavrel - 05/10/2011 09:55:08 PM 382 Views
I am not stubborn, just true to my convictions. Joel - 05/10/2011 09:56:39 PM 968 Views
Unsurprisingly, I don't really agree with you at all on this point. :p Nate - 05/10/2011 10:29:59 PM 861 Views
I do not really think I am "right" on this one so much as "not wrong." Joel - 06/10/2011 12:01:36 AM 780 Views
But contradictions are inherent in the entire English language! Nate - 06/10/2011 01:25:39 AM 767 Views
Ghoti. Also, this is why Rebekah and don't argue this any more. *NM* Ghavrel - 06/10/2011 04:44:42 AM 359 Views
Sure, but not deliberate ones created by grammarians who know better. Joel - 06/10/2011 05:40:58 AM 780 Views
I'm going to listen to the others. Nate - 06/10/2011 06:17:18 AM 788 Views
Like I say, I appreciate exceptions when justified (and again, only claiming to be "not wrong." ) Joel - 06/10/2011 07:26:18 AM 679 Views
But you are wrong Sareitha Sedai - 06/10/2011 02:17:40 PM 815 Views
that is OK he is very good at being wrong *NM* random thoughts - 06/10/2011 03:43:23 PM 412 Views
I disagree. Joel - 07/10/2011 12:15:14 AM 758 Views
How utterly unsurprising Sareitha Sedai - 07/10/2011 02:21:38 PM 737 Views
"We want to be nothing if not persistent." Joel - 07/10/2011 02:39:19 PM 787 Views
Doesn't matter. Sareitha Sedai - 07/10/2011 03:12:14 PM 796 Views
Perhaps not, but it should, and I am not above being a lone voice crying in the wilderness. Joel - 08/10/2011 05:17:35 PM 883 Views
What. Zeeb - 06/10/2011 06:17:41 PM 864 Views
Those cases are not the same, because those words are already possessive in their own right. Joel - 06/10/2011 10:52:06 PM 852 Views
if you have trouble understanding my post it is more likely do to typing skills than grammar random thoughts - 05/10/2011 09:31:42 PM 766 Views
Likely so; I have the same problem, but usually when writing by hand. Joel - 05/10/2011 09:53:08 PM 742 Views
You called? Rebekah - 05/10/2011 08:53:54 PM 853 Views
Grammar schmammar! Avendesora - 05/10/2011 09:01:47 PM 886 Views
Wongy tip #77 Two Wongs - 05/10/2011 11:15:12 PM 750 Views
#1) I do not use NetSpeak while playing games, texting or using social media. TaskmasterJack - 05/10/2011 11:34:12 PM 754 Views
What about NateSpeak? *NM* Nate - 06/10/2011 04:01:08 PM 368 Views
I did use that once to tell the story of you and CNRedDragon going to see Ice Princess. *NM* TaskmasterJack - 07/10/2011 01:46:50 AM 389 Views
A timeless classic. Nate - 07/10/2011 01:53:36 AM 727 Views
Re: Grammar junkies wolfsister - 06/10/2011 01:17:28 AM 779 Views
Yes. Camilla - 06/10/2011 06:53:46 AM 717 Views
I forgot about "of" for "have." Joel - 06/10/2011 07:31:11 AM 754 Views
I try ironclad - 06/10/2011 09:18:29 AM 810 Views
I freebase split infinitives on a regular basis. Stephen - 06/10/2011 01:53:36 PM 685 Views
The split infinitive is not grammatically incorrect. Tom - 06/10/2011 02:04:34 PM 774 Views
I wish more people knew this. Rebekah - 06/10/2011 07:38:46 PM 710 Views
Junky Grammar. Sareitha Sedai - 06/10/2011 04:24:01 PM 707 Views
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