Korean Job Discussion Forums

[murmanjake]

Both sound correct to me. But "was" sounds a little better.

Does anyone have a rule for this.

Something about subject/verb agreement when there is a compound subject.

It's different from "A dog and a cat walk out of a bar." Something about the verb preceding the subject, but I'm not sure.

Here's the sentence that prompted this question "There was an explosion and a fire."

I feel unequivocally that "was" and not "were," is correct in that case.


Does anyone have an explanation/rule I could explain my feeling with?

[edwardcatflap]

There is a rule.

'there were a cat and a dog' is wrong

lists beginning with 'there' should be followed by singular verbs

[murmanjake]

There were two dogs and a cat.

Is that incorrect?

Just saw my misspelling of grammar. Please don't blast me for that.

[edwardcatflap]

not a list

[edwardcatflap]

sorry i didn't read it properly

there was a cat and a dog - correct
there were two cats and a dog - correct
there were a cat and a dog - wrong
there was a cat, a dog, two horses and a rabbit - correct

[murmanjake]

Edit:

Posted at the same time.

Is it just that when making a list the verb must agree with the first item in the list?

[edwardcatflap]

forget the 'not a list' comment I meant 'there' followed by a list beginning with a singular noun takes the singular

[edwardcatflap]

yes

[murmanjake]

ok thanks.

I think I was just over-thinking that one...

[Calvin09]

"there was a cat and there was a dog" -> there was a cat and a dog
"there were two cats and there was a dog" -> there were two cats and a dog