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ashkrs
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Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite meal. Is the above 28 Jul 2007, 21:33
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Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite meal.

Is the above sentence correct ?

MGMAT SC says AND always makes compound plural subject and it should take plural verb .So I guess above sentence is wrong but KALAN says it's right and has following explanation

Kaplan -> Spaghetti and meatballs together as a unit constitute the favorite meal, so they act as a singular subject. They are different foods, but the sentence doesn't discuss them as separate foods. As a single meal, they take the singular "is," so the sentence is correct as it stands.

Any takers?

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Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite meal. Is the above 28 Jul 2007, 21:36
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ashkrs
Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite meal.

Is the above sentence correct ?

MGMAT SC says AND always makes compound plural subject and it should take plural verb .So I guess above sentence is wrong but KALAN says it's right and has following explanation

Kaplan -> Spaghetti and meatballs together as a unit constitute the favorite meal, so they act as a singular subject. They are different foods, but the sentence doesn't discuss them as separate foods. As a single meal, they take the singular "is," so the sentence is correct as it stands.

Any takers?
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Kaplan's explanation makes sense.. they should be treated as singular, not plural.

"Spaghetti and meatballs are my favorite meal." just doesn't sound right either...
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Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite meal. Is the above 28 Jul 2007, 21:39
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beckee529
ashkrs
Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite meal.

Is the above sentence correct ?

MGMAT SC says AND always makes compound plural subject and it should take plural verb .So I guess above sentence is wrong but KALAN says it's right and has following explanation

Kaplan -> Spaghetti and meatballs together as a unit constitute the favorite meal, so they act as a singular subject. They are different foods, but the sentence doesn't discuss them as separate foods. As a single meal, they take the singular "is," so the sentence is correct as it stands.

Any takers?

Kaplan's explanation makes sense.. they should be treated as singular, not plural.

"Spaghetti and meatballs are my favorite meal." just doesn't sound right either...
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Spaghetti & meatballs is a name. therefore singular.
Example:Dave & Busters is opening a new branch.
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Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite meal. Is the above 28 Jul 2007, 21:43
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well...i dont agree that "Spaghetti and meatballs" is analogous to "dave & busters"

because "dave& busters" is a single thing..its a name of a company but "Spaghetti and meatballs" is not.....you can have just Spaghetti (or meat balls) at a restaurant if you want to but you cant just go to Dave and leave Buster out :).

It not necessarily one single dish.
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Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite meal. Is the above 28 Jul 2007, 22:32
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ashkrs
Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite meal.

Is the above sentence correct ?

MGMAT SC says AND always makes compound plural subject and it should take plural verb .So I guess above sentence is wrong but KALAN says it's right and has following explanation

Kaplan -> Spaghetti and meatballs together as a unit constitute the favorite meal, so they act as a singular subject. They are different foods, but the sentence doesn't discuss them as separate foods. As a single meal, they take the singular "is," so the sentence is correct as it stands.

Any takers?
Show more


Beg to differ....
Referring to Manhattan SC guide, A singular subject linked to another subject with an additive phrase is singular.
(Eg: Spaghetti, alongwith meatballs is my fav meal )

Two singular subjects linked by 'and' are plural.

Hence I believe the correct sentence would be :

Spaghetti and meatballs are my favorite meals.

I find the Kaplan reasoning unconvincing.. If we take that reasoning, are we right when we say "bush and blair is my favorite leader" No way ...
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Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite meal. Is the above 28 Jul 2007, 22:47
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Amit05
ashkrs
Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite meal.

Is the above sentence correct ?

MGMAT SC says AND always makes compound plural subject and it should take plural verb .So I guess above sentence is wrong but KALAN says it's right and has following explanation

Kaplan -> Spaghetti and meatballs together as a unit constitute the favorite meal, so they act as a singular subject. They are different foods, but the sentence doesn't discuss them as separate foods. As a single meal, they take the singular "is," so the sentence is correct as it stands.

Any takers?

Beg to differ....
Referring to Manhattan SC guide, A singular subject linked to another subject with an additive phrase is singular.
(Eg: Spaghetti, alongwith meatballs is my fav meal )

Two singular subjects linked by 'and' are plural.

Hence I believe the correct sentence would be :

Spaghetti and meatballs are my favorite meals.

I find the Kaplan reasoning unconvincing.. If we take that reasoning, are we right when we say "bush and blair is my favorite leader" No way ...
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Is this correct? "Spaghetti and meatballs is one of my favorite meals" or should it be "Spaghetti and meatballs are one of my favorite meals" . It just seems spaghetti and meatballs is one entity and not separate to me. I understand the difference between "apples and oranges" being plural over maybe something like "peanut butter and jelly" which is singular to me. Anybody?
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Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite meal. Is the above 28 Jul 2007, 23:00
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lol...i like the "bush and blair" example...that would be wrong even morally.. :wink: ..just kidding....
I would also go with "Spaghetti and meatballs are " ..unless somebody can come up with a more convincing reason.


Amit05
ashkrs
Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite meal.

Is the above sentence correct ?

MGMAT SC says AND always makes compound plural subject and it should take plural verb .So I guess above sentence is wrong but KALAN says it's right and has following explanation

Kaplan -> Spaghetti and meatballs together as a unit constitute the favorite meal, so they act as a singular subject. They are different foods, but the sentence doesn't discuss them as separate foods. As a single meal, they take the singular "is," so the sentence is correct as it stands.

Any takers?

Beg to differ....
Referring to Manhattan SC guide, A singular subject linked to another subject with an additive phrase is singular.
(Eg: Spaghetti, alongwith meatballs is my fav meal )

Two singular subjects linked by 'and' are plural.

Hence I believe the correct sentence would be :

Spaghetti and meatballs are my favorite meals.

I find the Kaplan reasoning unconvincing.. If we take that reasoning, are we right when we say "bush and blair is my favorite leader" No way ...
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Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite meal. Is the above 28 Jul 2007, 23:36
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[/quote] Is this correct? "Spaghetti and meatballs is one of my favorite meals" or should it be "Spaghetti and meatballs are one of my favorite meals" . It just seems spaghetti and meatballs is one entity and not separate to me. I understand the difference between "apples and oranges" being plural over maybe something like "peanut butter and jelly" which is singular to me. Anybody?[/quote]

I doubt if it is logically correct using one for 2 things as in u used :

"Spaghetti and meatballs is/are one "
In this context I think "Spaghetti and meatballs are amongst my fav meals" would sound more logical...
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Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite meal. Is the above 28 Jul 2007, 23:47
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I agree.... when you put it in the context that Amit05 just did, stating "Spaghetti and meatballs is/are one." It seems from that, the answer must be "are."
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Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite meal. Is the above 29 Jul 2007, 10:14
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Well thanks for all your input . Interesting to read all your views.
I guess I would still go with Kaplan . Spaghetti and meatballs constitutes a favourite meal , which is singular . In this case the writer is basically constituting two singular object to make one more singular object and hence should be followed by singular verb.
While AND always makes compound , I think this case is an exception .
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Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite meal. Is the above 29 Jul 2007, 10:31
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One possible explanation is-
This sentence is an inverted one so subject really is my favourite meal.

So, My favourite meal is Spaghetti and meatballs.
My favourite meal are Spaghetti and meatballs....is wrong..
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Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite meal. Is the above 29 Jul 2007, 10:33
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It's strange how these things have kept confusing generations of people trying to understand the subtleties of something as basic as SV agreement.

I have never been able to completely understand how these things work though I have studied this so many times in so many different places and in so many different forums.

We know about SANAM pronouns, indefinite pronouns, additives and so forth - yet I have not read one convincing article that explains everything and seals it once and for all.

I want to quote some interesting pieces -

The boys were scratching their head(s)? What do we use here? head or head(s). Obviously the sentence talks about more than one boy - but each boy has only one head - but together there are MANY heads.
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Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite meal. Is the above 29 Jul 2007, 10:51
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Logically it should be
The boys were scratching their heads .

The object need to match with subject number.
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Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite meal. Is the above 30 Jul 2007, 02:19
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Spaghetti and meatballs is my favourite meal.

Spaghetti and meatballs are my favourite meals.

You have to pluralize meal if you want to treat it as two. If you see a singular object (favourite meal), then consider the possibility if spaghetti and meatballs is one thing.
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Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite meal. Is the above 02 Nov 2007, 19:17
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ashkrs
Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite meal.

Is the above sentence correct ?

MGMAT SC says AND always makes compound plural subject and it should take plural verb .So I guess above sentence is wrong but KALAN says it's right and has following explanation

Kaplan -> Spaghetti and meatballs together as a unit constitute the favorite meal, so they act as a singular subject. They are different foods, but the sentence doesn't discuss them as separate foods. As a single meal, they take the singular "is," so the sentence is correct as it stands.

Any takers?
Show more



are you sure that Kaplan says? can you post the book and page with year and edition. if you are sure with what kaplan says as above, trash it.
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Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite meal. Is the above 03 Nov 2007, 08:58
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ashkrs
Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite meal.

Is the above sentence correct ?

MGMAT SC says AND always makes compound plural subject and it should take plural verb .So I guess above sentence is wrong but KALAN says it's right and has following explanation

Kaplan -> Spaghetti and meatballs together as a unit constitute the favorite meal, so they act as a singular subject. They are different foods, but the sentence doesn't discuss them as separate foods. As a single meal, they take the singular "is," so the sentence is correct as it stands.

Any takers?
Show more


Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite meal.
Correct.

Spaghetti and meatballs are my favorite meals.
Correct.

I guess 'meal' vs. 'meals' indicates whether we are talking about spaghetti & meatball as one thing or not.
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Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite meal. Is the above 06 Nov 2007, 02:19
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Strunk Jr. and EB White's Elements of Style points out that some words that certain compounds, often clichés, are so inseparable they are considered a unit and so take a singular verb, as do compounds subjects qualified by each or every.

So I guess that if you talking about the dish, spaghetti and meatballs, you would need to use a singular verb. If you are talking about 2 different things, then you would need to use a plural verb.

Hope that helps!

ps. Book is awesome. I assumed it was going to be about 500 pages and decided I did not had time for it, but fortunately I came accross it and turns out it's a really small book. It's helping me understand a lot of things I was having a hard time understanding.
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Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite meal. Is the above 08 Nov 2007, 22:59
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asdert
Strunk Jr. and EB White's Elements of Style points out that some words that certain compounds, often clichés, are so inseparable they are considered a unit and so take a singular verb, as do compounds subjects qualified by each or every.

So I guess that if you talking about the dish, spaghetti and meatballs, you would need to use a singular verb. If you are talking about 2 different things, then you would need to use a plural verb.

Hope that helps!

ps. Book is awesome. I assumed it was going to be about 500 pages and decided I did not had time for it, but fortunately I came accross it and turns out it's a really small book. It's helping me understand a lot of things I was having a hard time understanding.
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Nice.

I agree w/ Startupaddict.

Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite MEAL.

Spaghetti and meatballs ARE my favorite MEALS.

Thanks for clarifying that!
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Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite meal. Is the above 11 Nov 2007, 00:46
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I agree with StartupAddict too.


Rice and Dal is my favorite dish

Rice and Dal are my favorite dishes

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