Dick asks for "authorities" who propose a different rule.  I'm afraid they will be difficult to find.  In addition to Hacker, I find the rule in Troyka's Simon & Schuster Handbook for Writers (p 242), in the Little, Brown Handbook (p 336), in the Prentice Hall Reference Guide (p 54), and even Greenbaum & Quirk's Student's Grammar of the English Language (p 217).

And yet, as Dick noted, sentences like "His speech as well as his manner is objectionable" don't "sound right."  To suggest that this is an effective sentence, as all the handbooks seem to do, strikes me as encouraging students to write awkwardly.  If we have to live with the authorities' rule on agreement, then I would urge the writer to recast the sentence so that it does "sound right."  

I did, however, find one "authority" who sees this rule differently.  Huddleston, Payne, and Peterson, writing in the Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (2002), provide the following example:

i. b. Abstraction as well as impressionism were Russian inventions.

In these, "as well as behaves like the coordinator and," they observe.  

Then they provide the following:

ii. a. Beauty as well as love is redemptive.

One possible explanation for this distinction lies in the movability of the as well as phrase.  In ii. a., the phrase can be fronted:

As well as love, beauty can be redemptive.

In 1. b., this fronting is more problematic:

?As well as impressionism, abstraction was a Russian invention.



Peter Adams


On Jun 16, 2008, at 10:08 AM, Carol Morrison wrote:

Here is a citation from A Writer's Reference (sixth edition) by Diana Hacker: "Make the verb agree with its subject, not with words that come between...Phrases beginning with the prepositions as well as, in addition to, accompanied by, together with, and along with do not make a singular subject plural" (166). Hacker provides the following example:

The governor as well as his press secretary was shot.



--- On Mon, 6/16/08, Veit, Richard <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

From: Veit, Richard <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: a subject-verb-agreement question
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Monday, June 16, 2008, 9:10 AM

Michael,

 

You are saying that you disagree with Strunk and White (quoted by Carol below). Are there equivalent authorities you can cite? I am not saying “authorities” are ipso facto right (for example, you can still find textbooks that pronounce it ungrammatical to end a sentence with a preposition), but in matters like this there is often an agreed upon consensus.

 

Dick

 

From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Michael Keith Pen Ultimate Rare Books
Sent: Sunday, June 15, 2008 11:30 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: a subject-verb-agreement question

 

Dick et al

 

Ask yourself why "his speech as well as his manners is objectionable" doesn'tsound right.  In that sentence I suspect that "as well as his manners" serves as a delayed, emphatic additional subject--something akin to: also especially his manners!--and is therefore and thereby plural.  Remember, if the subject is plural, the verb should be as well.  Many subjects succeeded by "as well as" are intended indeed to be singular.  The subject/example you provided, in most contexts, emphatically is NOT.  Grammar, like language and concepts, is contextual and objective.

 

Michael  
-------------- Original message from "Veit, Richard" <[log in to unmask]>: --------------
Thanks, Carol. That is most helpful. Is it is. I knew that intellectually but wish it soundedright too. For example, change “manner” to “manners” in the Strunk and White example and it doesn’t seem as clear cut: "His speech as well as his manners is objectionable."

 

Dick Veit

 

From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Carol Morrison
Sent: Sunday, June 15, 2008 4:11 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: a subject-verb-agreement question

 

According to Strunk and White in The Elements of Style, "[a] singular subject remains singular even if other nouns are connected to it by with, as well as, in addition to, except, together with, and no less than (21). So I believe that your last example would take the verb "is". Strunk and White give the following example: "His speech as well as his manner is objectionable" (21).

I'm not sure if the comma between "society at large" and "as well as" changes that in your sentence though.

 

--- On Sun, 6/15/08, Veit, Richard <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

From: Veit, Richard <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: a subject-verb-agreement question
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Sunday, June 15, 2008, 3:32 PM
A little help, please, with subject/verb agreement in a sentence. These I have no trouble with:

 

  • Good policy will come when society at large is educated about HPV.
  • Good policy will come when at-risk individuals are educated about HPV.
  • Good policy will come when society at large and at-risk individuals areeducated about HPV.

 

And pretty sure about this:

 

  • Good policy will come when society at large (not just at-risk individuals)is educated about HPV.

 

But what about this one?

 

  • Good policy will come when society at large, as well as at-risk individuals, is/are educated about HPV.

 

Do the commas make the second phrase an aside so that the verb should agree with “society” only (i.e., “is”)? Or do we treat “as well as” as equivalent to “and,” making “are” the right choice? I seek your informed guidance on the matter. Any specific reference to authority is especially welcome.

 

Dick
________________________________
Richard Veit
Department of English
University of North Carolina Wilmington

 

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