Question
Which of the following violate the rule of subject-verb agreement? How would you correct the errors?
Either Sue or I are supposed to respond.
Is it supposed to be:
Either Sue or I am supposed to respond.
OR
Either Sue or I were supposed to respond.
?
Either Sue or I are supposed to respond.
Is it supposed to be:
Either Sue or I am supposed to respond.
OR
Either Sue or I were supposed to respond.
?
Answers
Anonymous
the second one.
Ms. Sue
Anonymous is correct. The second one is not right. It puts the verb in the past tense and is plural. With the construction of "either . . . or" you need a singular verb. Since "I" is closer to the verb, "am" is the correct verb.