Dick,

I did cause some needless confusion with my choice of terms.  I'm distinguishing collective interpretation from collective noun.  Collective nouns do, of course, take singular agreement.  I'm not sure what the term would be for the interpretation of "one or two" as "several."  But I did mean it to take plural agreement.

Herb

-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Veit, Richard
Sent: 2009-01-12 09:33
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Unusual SV agreement problem

Herb,

By a collective interpretation, do you mean you opt for singular verbs (is/takes) in both clauses?

Dick
________________________________
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of STAHLKE, HERBERT F [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Sunday, January 11, 2009 6:47 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Unusual SV agreement problem

What the plural object and possessive pronoun suggest is the collective interpretation of "one or two."  Agreement is triggered by the number of the (nearest) subject term.  The question in this case is whether the proximity rule applies or the subject is collective.  I lean towards the latter.

Herb

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