Barb,

I also am not an expert, but can't help but try to get in my 2 cents worth.

There is a difference here between the syntactic and the semantic structure.  Syntactically I see the sentences as containing a compound subject, i. e., two elements connected with _and_: 

Learning (new information) 
and 
assimilating new information

Conceived of as two different things, this compound would require a plural verb _are_.  This might be the end of the story, except that the author probably meant that _assimilating new information_ was just another way of expressing what was meant by _learning_.  In other words the _and_ was not meant as a compounder, but as a means of making the second phrase an appositive of the noun _learning_, which might normally be done with a phrase like _that is_.  This does introduce ambiguity, as this is not a normal use of this conjunction.  Yet the meaning seems clear enough: these are indeed two expressions for the same thing.  

In speech and "careless" writing these kinds of difficulties creep in all the time.  Sometimes it is best to rewrite the sentence to clarify the logical relationship.  I would be inclined to say, 

Learning in general is nothing more than assimilating new information, and this is always easier when the teacher presents the new information in a pattern  already familiar to the learner.  

Bruce

>>> [log in to unmask] 07/30/01 08:15AM >>>
I am also not an expert here, but by using "it" you are weighing in with the
singular camp--otherwise the choice would be they.  I am inclined towards
the singular also--first, learning and assimilating information are not
separate acts, but really only two different words to describe the same
occurrence (taking in information).   Does that make sense?

-----Original Message-----
From: Barbara Grimes [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Monday, July 30, 2001 9:55 AM
To: [log in to unmask] 
Subject: Re: Help with verbal as subject


Hi. I'm no expert in these matters, but what would happen if you substituted

the pronoun "it" for your second "information"?

      "Learning and assimilating new information is always easier when it is

presented in a familiar pattern." Do we still have the same problem? Would
the disagreement still arise over the use of a singular vs. a plural
pronoun?
Is such a substitution viable?

Barb

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