Ham and Eggs is or are?

11 Responses to “Ham and Eggs is or are?”

1. Krishna Warrier on December 2, 2009 4:36 am

   Hi Maeve, This refers to your post, ‘Ham and eggs is or are’. I work for an economic research agency and have a question for you. Which of these statements is correct and why?
   1. Sales of the auto industry declines by 3.1% in December quarter
   2. Sales of the auto industry decline by 3.1% in December quarter
   Krishna

2. Rajagopal on December 2, 2009 9:55 am

   The 1st is the right option. Sales is not really plural here. “Sale of the auto industry” doesnt mean the same as “Sales of the auto industry”. Do you see the difference? Since “sales” is singular, it would be the 1st option which uses “declines” – the verb form corresponding to singular noun.

3. Emma on December 2, 2009 1:19 pm

   Hi Krishna,
   Personally, I’d have the sales IN the auto industry declining … unless you were actually selling car factories …

4. Brad K. on December 2, 2009 3:56 pm

   Krishna,
   “Sales of the auto industry declines by 3.1% in December quarter”

   I would have said,
   Auto industry sales declined (or declines, if the December quarter hasn’t eneded, or been completed, yet) by 3.1% in the December quarter.

   It is the sales, as a measurement or name of a concept, that declined, not any of the transactions that the concept “sales” represents.

5. beth johnstone on December 2, 2009 4:32 pm

   True story. My friends had breakfast in a diner here in Texas. The husband said ..”boy these grits are good”.His wife said …”No you say these grits is good” …finally the waitress came by and said…”ain’t them grits good”?

6. Krishna Warrier on December 3, 2009 4:44 am

   Thanks for your suggestions Rajagopal, Emma and Brad. For now, I’ve decided to stick with ‘Sales of the auto industry declines by 3.1% in December quarter’ because ‘Sales’ here represents a numerical measurement, not the various transactions that the concept “sales” represents. Krishna

7. Andy Knoedler on December 5, 2009 5:42 am

   First, I always keep a Beatles lyric in the back of my mind to help me decide about singular or plural verbs in this case:

   Eight days a week
   Is not enough to show I care.

   Second, let’s change the order of Krishna’s headline around so that it reads “Auto industry sales decline/declines by 3.1%”. We can see now that “decline” is the better verb choice. In the original order the prepositional phrase “of the auto industry” deflects attention away from the obvious fact that “sales” is a plural noun and therefore requires a verb without final s.

8. ShelleyD on December 6, 2009 4:29 am

   Ham and eggs are. The use of the conjunction makes it a unit, but the plural of eggs demands the use of are. If it the second noun were singular, then the verb would be singular as well.

9. Andy Knoedler on December 7, 2009 6:15 am

   Sorry, Shelley, but “ham and eggs” is a phrase acting together to constitute a single dish of food and thus takes the singular verb. I would say “Ham and eggs is my favorite breakfast dish”.

   If we were thinking of them as items on our shopping list, on the other hand, ham and eggs would take a plural verb, as in “Ham and eggs are on my list”.

10. kimberly Willy on February 9, 2010 2:40 pm

    which is right? what is the time? or what time do you have?

11. Emma on February 10, 2010 11:56 am

    I’m vegetarian … saves a lot of bother, cos I just have the eggs

    However, I’d agree with those that see “Ham and eggs” as a breakfast dish & thus singular.

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