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Two action nouns together , plural or singular?

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MorningMoment
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Two action nouns together , plural or singular? [#permalink] New post   07 Feb 2018, 01:05
Hi!

I just think of a question : 2 action nouns get put together as the subject of a sentence ,should the verb be singular or plural ?

For exemple : The discovey of eletricity and the invention of lamp ____(be) revolutionary.

A. were
B. was

or:

What you said and what you did _____(mean) a lot to me.
A. means
B. mean

(Sorry i didn`t make it to find relative questions on OG or Manhattan but i`m pretty sure i came across this issue before.)

Thank you so much for your help!
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mihir0710
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Re: Two action nouns together , plural or singular? [#permalink] New post   07 Feb 2018, 02:57
MorningMoment wrote:
Hi!

I just think of a question : 2 action nouns get put together as the subject of a sentence ,should the verb be singular or plural ?

For exemple : The discovey of eletricity and the invention of lamp ____(be) revolutionary.

A. were
B. was

or:

What you said and what you did _____(mean) a lot to me.
A. means
B. mean

(Sorry i didn`t make it to find relative questions on OG or Manhattan but i`m pretty sure i came across this issue before.)

Thank you so much for your help!


Hey buddy,

The rule is when two subjects are separated by an "and", the subsequent/corresponding verb has to be PLURAL.
Its a hard rule so you can use it without any ambiguity.

So the answers to your e.g sentences are:
For exemple : The discovey of eletricity and the invention of lamp ____(be) revolutionary.

A. were
B. was

or:

What you said and what you did _____(mean) a lot to me.
A. means
B. mean
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EducationAisle
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Re: Two action nouns together , plural or singular? [#permalink] New post   07 Feb 2018, 04:21
Expert Reply
MorningMoment wrote:
Hi!

I just think of a question : 2 action nouns get put together as the subject of a sentence ,should the verb be singular or plural ?

i`m pretty sure i came across this issue before.

Hi MorningMoment, you might be referring to the following official question:

According to a recent poll, owning and living in a freestanding house on its own land is still a goal of a majority of young adults, as it was of earlier generations.

In this question, while owning and living might sound sound like two separate activities, the question uses the singular verb is.

This is a unique question, where the intent of the sentence is basically to convey that owning and living is just one consolidated activity (basically equivalent to: living in an owned house).

The good part is that even in this question, GMAT isn't really testing you on is/are.

So, for all practical purposes, you can continue to choose plural verbs, when there are two subjects, connected by and.
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MorningMoment
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Re: Two action nouns together , plural or singular? [#permalink] New post   07 Feb 2018, 07:06
EducationAisle

Hi ! Thank you so much for your reply.

So basically we need to follow such a rule :
Step 1: To see if there is a clue in parts which are not underlined;
Step 2: If there`s no clue in Step 1, choose plural

Am I correct?

Thank you and have a nice day :)
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MorningMoment
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Re: Two action nouns together , plural or singular? [#permalink] New post   07 Feb 2018, 07:07
mihir0710

Hi ! Thank you for your reply , I totally get it now :)
Have a nice day !
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Re: Two action nouns together , plural or singular? [#permalink]
07 Feb 2018, 07:07
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