Day 276: And makes plurals; Or makes singular.

Most people will correctly choose a plural verb in sentences like

“The computer and the telephone make life easier.”

In this sentence, both “computer” and “telephone” serve as the subject for “make,” and they can be substituted with the pronoun they, which is plural. This is why we need the plural verb “make.” This is pretty simple.

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On the other hand, I see many errors with the use of or. Consider this sentence.

“The computer or the phone is a necessary tool for business.”

Again, “computer” and “telephone” are both serving as subjects to the verb. Because we have used “or,” however, we are referring to these subjects individually. We cannot substitute they for the two subjects; we have to use it for each subject. As such, we need the singular verb “is.”

The second sentence is a condensed version of “Either the computer IS a necessary tool for business, or the phone IS a necessary tool for business.” When we write out the sentence this way, the choice of the singular verb becomes obvious.