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I was taught that when you form a comma-separated list, they should have the same form (singular or plural).

I encountered the sentence below and I can't tell if it is grammatically correct.

I understand that all other company policies, handbooks, standard operating procedures, work instructions, and other mandatory documentation that relates to computer system security is available to me. [emphasis added]

It has a list of pluralized nouns (policies, handbooks, etc). This would usually go with the form are. However the item in this list (documentation) is a mass singular noun and would use the form is.

So in the sentence above:

  1. Is the use of is correct?
  2. Can plural nouns and mass singular be used together like this (in other words, sound documentation be changed to documents)?
Scribblemacher
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    I like rock music, jazz, and horror movies is fine. So I don't see any ground for the thing you were taught. – Arm the good guys in America Sep 27 '17 at 12:22
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    If you have more than one thing in a list, connected by and, the verb should be are. For example: an apple and an orange are on the table. – Peter Shor Sep 27 '17 at 12:24
  • So in my example in the question, should "is" then be changed to "are"? Is the sentence simply not correct? I think the reason the author used "is" is because there are so many words between the list and the verb that they thought the verb should go with "documentation" by itself. – Scribblemacher Sep 27 '17 at 12:47
  • @Peter How are you defining 'list' – associated items presented sequentially or associated items considered individually? Bacon and eggs is my favourite meal / Bacon and eggs are both to be found on aisle 12. – Edwin Ashworth Sep 27 '17 at 15:49
  • Yes and in a case like that, pare away the unnecessary.

    How is the basic structure of the example any different from …company policies and handbooks is/are available… please?

     – Robbie Goodwin Sep 28 '17 at 20:30
  • The marked duplicate is about two things, both of which are mass nouns, and the answer contends that the two things are taken together to mean one thing (in the way that "bacon and eggs" takes singular as it is the name of a dish). The marked duplicate has nothing to do with both mass nouns and count nouns in a list. Voting to reopen. – AndyT Oct 24 '19 at 11:33

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