2. When two subject nouns are so closely related in thought that they seem to mean one thing, the verb is in the singular: “His courage and bravery is well approved.”
3. In writing a long sentence, glance back at the number of the subject before you write the verb. A plural near the verb often leads one to forget that the subject is singular. Thus: “The great number of the crows that settle nightly in the grove and fill the air with their cries, makes [not make] the place a bedlam.”
4. When a singular subject precedes a parenthetical phrase, the former reaches over the head of the latter, and makes the verb singular. This rule holds even when the parenthesis is introduced by with. Thus: “Napoleon, with all his army, was on the march.”
5. Either, neither, when used as distributive conjunctions, take a singular verb. Mr. Carpenter[15] gives this instance of the error: “Neither Senators Dawes nor Hoar were in their seats to-day.” How shall the sentence be changed to distribute the senators properly?
6. If two subjects connected by either—or, etc., differ in person, it is possible to make the verb agree with the subject nearest; as “Neither she nor you are to blame in this; either I or he is to blame.” But this construction is awkward. Avoid the difference in person, or else say, “Neither she is to blame, nor are you; either he is to blame, or I am.”
7. Each, every, either, neither, when used as pronouns, always take a singular verb. “Each of us knows; neither of us is ignorant.”
8. None takes either a singular or a plural verb. It is originally no one, and many careful writers prefer to keep the singular with it.
Concord of Adjective (or Participle) and Noun.
1. There is an old phrase, these kind, which, though permitted a century ago, was essentially ungrammatical, and is not allowed to-day. Say, this kind, that kind, etc.