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In a small dictatorship, the boss might hold a title like "The President and the Leader for Life." Would the following sentence take singular or plural verb?

The President and Leader for life request/requests your immediate presence.

How about the sentence:

The President and the Leader for Life is/are one and the same person.

My opinion is that either works, but I don't even know what to search in the style manuals.

And I don't mean to restrict to formal titles. I'd like to know about a sentence like, "The guy you hate so much and the guy sending you flowers are/is one and the same." Or "Batman and Bruce Wayne is/are the same person."

Laurel
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B. Goddard
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2 Answers2

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If you used a plural verb, the default expectation would be that you were talking about more than one person.

In The President and the Leader for Life are one and the same person you are overriding this expectation explicitly, and in this case I find the plural verb more natural.

In every other case, I would use the singular, the plural being positively misleading.,

Colin Fine
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    "5.The minor on whose behalf the deed marked “A” has been executed by the minor’s parent(s) and the minor referred to in the document marked “B” are one and the same person." UK Govt (legal) statutory declaration form for name change of a minor by deed poll. – Michael Harvey Apr 03 '22 at 11:13
  • Thanks. But my question isn't "which is better?" but "aren't both correct?" Also @MichaelHarvey – B. Goddard Apr 03 '22 at 11:57
  • @B.Goddard - this is enough for me: 'one and the same - the same thing or person: I was amazed to discover that Mary's husband and Jane's son are one and the same' - Cambridge Dictionary A and B are one and the same thing. Plural always. – Michael Harvey Apr 03 '22 at 12:13
  • Correct is a judgment of fashion, and I'm not interested in fashion. – Colin Fine Apr 03 '22 at 12:15
  • @ColinFine - so... opinion based? – Michael Harvey Apr 03 '22 at 12:26
  • @ColinFine I'm in an argument. Mr. A said, "is". Mr. B corrected him, saying "are." I interjected that I think either is fine. Now Mr. B is insisting that I prove that "is" is also correct. (His arguments are like the above: "Here's an example of when "are" is correct." But this says nothing about "is.") – B. Goddard Apr 03 '22 at 13:00
  • Let him win. He's just playing a superiority game - it costs nothing to let him have his little victory. You just carry on talking English. – Colin Fine Apr 03 '22 at 14:32
  • 'The President and Leader-for-life requests your immediate presence' is mandated if this is an appositive/appositive-like coordination (ie with the same referent). //// The second sentence is very tricky {partly because it uses a structure almost always constrained to apply to disjoint or component ('bacon and eggs') elements (note we have 'the A and the B' now) to apply to the same referent}. You probably won't find 'the' answer in a decent grammar or a recommendation in a style guide. I'm with Colin that 'are' sounds [far] more natural here. The sentence implies 'A and B are the same.' – Edwin Ashworth Apr 08 '22 at 19:03
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Whether you couple the two titles with a singular or a plural verb depends on whether you are treating them as a single entity or as multiple entities.

In your first example, the titles are merely separate labels for one individual, and it's that one individual doing the requesting. Hence singular agreement: "requests".

In your second example, the titles are treated as two different things, hence plural agreement: "are". The subsequent assertion of these two being the same doesn't change the fact that they are introduced as grammatically/logically-separate concepts.

So if you treat them as identical at the time you mention them, use singular agreement. If you treat them as distinct at the time you mention them, use plural agreement.

Lawrence
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