Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Artris]

My text book has the following sentence:

What are the boy's problem and the woman's advice in each dialog?

To me this should be:
What is the boy's problem and the woman's advice in each dialog?

My co-teacher says that the original sentence is fine. Basically her analysis is that we use ARE because we are addressing two items (problem, advice) in the conjunctive phrase.

My analysis is that the conjunction joins two singular items, these items share the rest of the sentence separately as far as grammar goes. IE:
What is the boy's problem in each dialog?
What is the woman's advice in each dialog?
What is the boy's problem AND the woman's advice in each dialog?

I couldn't find a good example in my Oxford Practical English Usage text. Thoughts?

[edwardcatflap]

You're right

[koreatimes]

Both are fine. The two actions could be seen collectively or separately. If "these items share the rest of the sentence separately" I would think "are" should be used instead of "is".

[The Cosmic Hum]

[schwa]

I would definitely favor "are" here.

In the context of "in each dialog," the question clearly asks the reader to consider both the problem & the advice in multiple situations. Plural problems & advice. Thats two good arguments for a plural verb.

"What is the boy's problem and the woman's advice in this dialog?" -- then I'm fine with "is" (but I wouldnt squawk at "are" there either).

[koreatimes]

[The Cosmic Hum]