Which is grammatically correct? "Doubt and hopelessness fills my heart" Or "doubt and hopelessness fill my heart"?
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3Doubt and hopelessness are two things, are they not? A feeling of doubt and hopelessness is one thing. – Michael Harvey Dec 17 '20 at 18:56
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@MichaelHarvey has a very good point. Beyond that, for a native speaker fills sounds off. – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ Dec 17 '20 at 20:44
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I must say that I often come across this problem in writing and there are occasions when I do choose the singular (more rarely than the plural though) in order to show that the two subjects refer to two different aspects of the same thing. Let me explain myself. In this sentence:
My faith and hope is that she shall survive this ordeal and stand tall to claim her rights.
I am saying that faith and hope are two ways of describing my one aspiration.
On the other hand, if I say:
My faith and (my) hope are that she shall survive this ordeal and stand tall to claim her rights.
I am considering my faith and my hope as two different feelings, of belief in the fact that something will happen and of optimistically desiring something to happen.
So in certain ways, this is a matter of what you really mean. If doubt and hopelessness are two different things for you, put fill. If they are the aspects of the same feeling, put fills.
fev
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