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Say I have this sentence:

My attention to sprinkle placement, sandwich-building artistry, and quest for the ultimate toast consistently contribute to satisfied clients and business success.

Is it correct to use "contribute" or "contributes"?

After searching online I am seeing that both are correct. It seems like "contribute" would be correct before there are multiple qualities that contribute. But something sounds off.

KillingTime
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CyberJ
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    The problem, as the answer suggests, is that the three items in the list do not match each other in meaning, although all three are grammatically the same. "Attention to sprinkle placement" is a specific quality which you possess. "Sandwich-building artistry" is a more general thing describing multiple qualities; it's unclear if it includes sprinkle placement and/or toast selection; and "quest for the ultimate toast" is not a quality that directly affects your performance (and certainly it's not going to have a consistent effect on your performance). – Stuart F Jan 11 '24 at 09:36
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    'My attention to sprinkle placement, sandwich-building artistry, and' is of a garden path nature. Does it mean 'My attention to A, B, [and C]' or 'My A, [my] B. [and my C]'? It is resolved by 'attention to quest' being untenable, but the sentence, as Stuart says, is infelicitous. As for the underlying question, notional agreement has been well covered on ELU. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 11 '24 at 10:58
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    Does this answer your question? Agreement With Compound Subjects Joined by And. Bacon and eggs is my favourite breakfast. Health and safety is our principal concern. BUT Bacon and eggs are both much more expensive than this time last year. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 11 '24 at 11:00
  • No one has questioned if this statement is helping your cover letter or resume. I do. – Yosef Baskin Jan 11 '24 at 15:52
  • Guys i just used some placeholder items. I just wanted to know about "Contribute" – CyberJ Jan 12 '24 at 07:36

3 Answers3

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It's contribute, but the issue is how quest relates to the other parts of the sentence.

{My attention to sprinkle placement and sandwich-building artistry} and {my quest for the ultimate toast} consistently contribute to satisfied clients and business success.

You need to repeat my because quest is too far from the first one and it's difficult to relate the two together; a quest is also rather too different from attention to be included in a single thought — you can't have "My attention to quest". Once that has been done, the two things which contribute are the two phrases {in braces} in my version.

The sentence would be said with commas after artistry and toast, in order to make sense of the several ands. I don't believe that that phrase is actually a parenthetical insertion though, because it's not simply additional information you could leave out; it's actually part of the subject of the verb contribute. The additional my helps to separate the two elements of the verb subject.

I'm sure there are those who are more au fait with the terminology of syntax and grammar who would be able to offer a more technical analysis.

Andrew Leach
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Contribute.

My attention to sprinkle placement, sandwich-building artistry, and quest for the ultimate toast consistently contribute to satisfied clients and business success.

In this sentence all three things contribute.

My attention to sprinkle placement, sandwich-building artistry, and quest for the ultimate toast consistently contributes to satisfied clients and business success.

In this sentence, only "the quest" contributes and the earlier parts of the sentence are fragments that actually don't make sense any more.

You should use the third person plural, not the third person singular.

michiamopapera
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  • If I were editing this sentence, I should be suggesting "My attention to sprinkle placement AND sandwich-building artistry, and MY quest for the ultimate toast consistently contribute to satisfied clients and business success." This now gives two noun phrase subjects, so requiring a plural verb. – Tuffy Jan 11 '24 at 16:53
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The subject is "attention", therefore, the verb must be "contributes".

The other items:

sprinkle placement, sandwich-building artistry, and quest for the ultimate toast

are all objects of the preposition "to".

Melissa M.
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