English majors! Help me resolve this dispute w/ my friend.

[CarpeDeo]

My friend and I are having a dispute about which of these sentences are proper:

1) There is a closet, a curtain, and a clamp in the bedroom.
2) There are a closet, a curtain, and a clamp in the bedroom.

I know for sure that #1 is correct, but he wants definitive proof from a website that explicitly states the rules of subject-verb agreement regarding a list.

Can anybody link me to a specific web page with the answer? I can't seem to find any specific example online . . .

 

[gistech1978]

Originally posted by: CarpeDeo
My friend and I are having a dispute about which of these sentences are proper:

1) There is a closet, a curtain, and a clamp in the bedroom.
2) There are a closet, a curtain, and a clamp in the bedroom.

I know for sure that #1 is correct, but he wants definitive proof from a website that explicitly states the rules of subject-verb agreement regarding a list.

Can anybody link me to a specific web page with the answer? I can't seem to find any specific example online . . .

shouldnt #2 be worded
There are closets, curtains and clamps in the bedroom?
im not an english major, but i just know what sounds right or wrong.
#2 reads wrong worded that way
#1 reads right.

 

[ggavinmoss]

Give your friend a copy of Elements of Style or the AP Style Guide, or something like that.

-geoff

 

[samgau]

1 is the correct way.... in my opinion at least...

 

[Legendary]

Let me check my MLA book to see what it has to say about lists and subject/verb agreement.

 

[Cerb]

I can't, either. If it helps in your search, the reason is that the firt is the same as:
There is a closet in the bedroom, there is a curtain in the bedroom, and there is a clamp in the bedroom.

 

[Crusty]

There is a closet, a curtain, and a lamp in the bedroom.
There are closets, curtains, and lamps in the bedroom.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

Originally posted by: MCrusty
There is a closet, a curtain, and a lamp in the bedroom.
There are closets, curtains, and lamps in the bedroom.

I think the above are correct. Except the last comma in each sentence should be deleted.

There is a closet, a curtain and a lamp in the bedroom.
There are closets, curtains and lamps in the bedroom.

 

[conjur]

In the bedroom, there is a closet, a curtain and a lamp.

 

[CarpeDeo]

Originally posted by: yamahaXS

Originally posted by: MCrusty
There is a closet, a curtain, and a lamp in the bedroom.
There are closets, curtains, and lamps in the bedroom.

I think the above are correct. Except the last comma in each sentence should be deleted.

There is a closet, a curtain and a lamp in the bedroom.
There are closets, curtains and lamps in the bedroom.

Removing the last comma is optional. Typically in newspaper they'll remove the last comma to save space, but in formal writing like essays and reports, you should insert the comma.

 

[Savij]

I thought the word "and" made it a compound subject so it needs a plural form of the verb.

Compound subjects joined by and are usually plural.*

Examples:
Rock and Rockell were going to Midnight Yell.
Rudder Tower and G. Rollie White are landmarks on the Texas A&M University Campus.

*Exception to the rule: Compound subjects take singular verbs when the subject denotes one person or a single unit.

Example:
Bacon and blueberry pancakes is Rock's idea of a perfect breakfast.

http://uwc.tamu.edu/handouts/grammar/svagree.html

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

Originally posted by: CarpeDeo

Originally posted by: yamahaXS

Originally posted by: MCrusty
There is a closet, a curtain, and a lamp in the bedroom.
There are closets, curtains, and lamps in the bedroom.

I think the above are correct. Except the last comma in each sentence should be deleted.

There is a closet, a curtain and a lamp in the bedroom.
There are closets, curtains and lamps in the bedroom.

Removing the last comma is optional. Typically in newspaper they'll remove the last comma to save space, but in formal writing like essays and reports, you should insert the comma.

That is incorrect.

 

[Savij]

A closet, a curtain, and a lamp is in the bedroom.

A closet, a curtain and a lamp are in the bedroom.

Second one sounds correct to me.

 

[dabuddha]

Originally posted by: yamahaXS

Originally posted by: CarpeDeo

Originally posted by: yamahaXS

Originally posted by: MCrusty
There is a closet, a curtain, and a lamp in the bedroom.
There are closets, curtains, and lamps in the bedroom.

I think the above are correct. Except the last comma in each sentence should be deleted.

There is a closet, a curtain and a lamp in the bedroom.
There are closets, curtains and lamps in the bedroom.

Removing the last comma is optional. Typically in newspaper they'll remove the last comma to save space, but in formal writing like essays and reports, you should insert the comma.

That is incorrect.

There's nothing incorrect about the last comma. You're supposed to have it there.

 

[Kelvrick]

Originally posted by: yamahaXS

Originally posted by: CarpeDeo

Originally posted by: yamahaXS

Originally posted by: MCrusty
There is a closet, a curtain, and a lamp in the bedroom.
There are closets, curtains, and lamps in the bedroom.

I think the above are correct. Except the last comma in each sentence should be deleted.

There is a closet, a curtain and a lamp in the bedroom.
There are closets, curtains and lamps in the bedroom.

Removing the last comma is optional. Typically in newspaper they'll remove the last comma to save space, but in formal writing like essays and reports, you should insert the comma.

That is incorrect.

We're goign to need some proof here because I for sure don't know which is right. I learned to leave the comma there, but I see a lot of people leave it out so I'm not really sure.

 

[Venix]

Originally posted by: yamahaXS

Originally posted by: CarpeDeo

Originally posted by: yamahaXS

Originally posted by: MCrusty
There is a closet, a curtain, and a lamp in the bedroom.
There are closets, curtains, and lamps in the bedroom.

I think the above are correct. Except the last comma in each sentence should be deleted.

There is a closet, a curtain and a lamp in the bedroom.
There are closets, curtains and lamps in the bedroom.

Removing the last comma is optional. Typically in newspaper they'll remove the last comma to save space, but in formal writing like essays and reports, you should insert the comma.

That is incorrect.

"Commas separate words in series (a horse, a dog, and a cow; note that American English prefers and many editors require the comma after dog, but the British rarely use it, and some Americans don?t use it either)" -- American Heritage Book of English Usage

 

[CarpeDeo]

Originally posted by: yamahaXS

Originally posted by: CarpeDeo

Originally posted by: yamahaXS

Originally posted by: MCrusty
There is a closet, a curtain, and a lamp in the bedroom.
There are closets, curtains, and lamps in the bedroom.

I think the above are correct. Except the last comma in each sentence should be deleted.

There is a closet, a curtain and a lamp in the bedroom.
There are closets, curtains and lamps in the bedroom.

Removing the last comma is optional. Typically in newspaper they'll remove the last comma to save space, but in formal writing like essays and reports, you should insert the comma.

That is incorrect.

Umm . . . right

Wilson Follett, Modern American Usage: A Guide. Edited and completed by Jacques Barzun in collaboration with Carlos Baker, Frederick W. Dupee, Dudley Fitts, James D. Hart, Phyllis McGinley, and Lionel Trilling. NY: Hill & Wang, Inc., 1966, pages 397-401.

Follett argues for using the final comma. He examines the reasons for the comma's omission:

What, then, are the arguments for omitting the last comma? Only one is cogent ? the saving of space. In the narrow width of a newspaper column this saving counts for more than elsewhere, which is why the omission is so nearly universal in journalism. But here or anywhere one must question whether the advantage outweighs the confusion caused by the omission.

Having analyzed the confusion created by the comma's omission, Follett concludes:

The recommendation here is that [writers] use the comma between all members of a series, including the last two, on the common-sense ground that to do so will preclude ambiguities and annoyances at a negligible cost.

This advice is unchanged in the most recent edition of Modern American Usage (NY: Hill and Wang, 1998) ? even though its editor, Erik Wensberg, substantially revised many of the work's other prescriptions.

 

[Jzero]

"Is" is the correct form, as ruled at this site

 

[GasX]

Originally posted by: Kelvrick

Originally posted by: yamahaXS

Originally posted by: CarpeDeo

Originally posted by: yamahaXS

Originally posted by: MCrusty
There is a closet, a curtain, and a lamp in the bedroom.
There are closets, curtains, and lamps in the bedroom.

I think the above are correct. Except the last comma in each sentence should be deleted.

There is a closet, a curtain and a lamp in the bedroom.
There are closets, curtains and lamps in the bedroom.

Removing the last comma is optional. Typically in newspaper they'll remove the last comma to save space, but in formal writing like essays and reports, you should insert the comma.

It is entirely optional, which in my thinking makes it wrong to have it there as it is superfluous.
That is incorrect.

We're goign to need some proof here because I for sure don't know which is right. I learned to leave the comma there, but I see a lot of people leave it out so I'm not really sure.

 

[dabuddha]

Originally posted by: Kelvrick

Originally posted by: yamahaXS

Originally posted by: CarpeDeo

Originally posted by: yamahaXS

Originally posted by: MCrusty
There is a closet, a curtain, and a lamp in the bedroom.
There are closets, curtains, and lamps in the bedroom.

I think the above are correct. Except the last comma in each sentence should be deleted.

There is a closet, a curtain and a lamp in the bedroom.
There are closets, curtains and lamps in the bedroom.

Removing the last comma is optional. Typically in newspaper they'll remove the last comma to save space, but in formal writing like essays and reports, you should insert the comma.

That is incorrect.

We're goign to need some proof here because I for sure don't know which is right. I learned to leave the comma there, but I see a lot of people leave it out so I'm not really sure.

All of my English teachers have taught me that the comma needs to be there. From middle school to college.

 

[Electric Amish]

Originally posted by: CarpeDeo
My friend and I are having a dispute about which of these sentences are proper:

1) There is a closet, a curtain, and a clamp in the bedroom.
2) There are a closet, a curtain, and a clamp in the bedroom.

I know for sure that #1 is correct, but he wants definitive proof from a website that explicitly states the rules of subject-verb agreement regarding a list.

Can anybody link me to a specific web page with the answer? I can't seem to find any specific example online . . .

"is" is the correct form because the object are singular. Singular objects require a singular noun.

As for the last comma, every English teacher I ever had said it was optional. HS and College teachers. I, personally, prefer to include it.

 

[blackdogdeek]

Originally posted by: Savij
A closet, a curtain, and a lamp is in the bedroom.

A closet, a curtain and a lamp are in the bedroom.

Second one sounds correct to me.

agreed.

as in "a closet, a curtain, and a lamp are there". or simply "A, B, and C are there".

also, i'd always been taught that the final comma is optional.

 

[Savij]

Originally posted by: Electric Amish

Originally posted by: CarpeDeo
My friend and I are having a dispute about which of these sentences are proper:

1) There is a closet, a curtain, and a clamp in the bedroom.
2) There are a closet, a curtain, and a clamp in the bedroom.

I know for sure that #1 is correct, but he wants definitive proof from a website that explicitly states the rules of subject-verb agreement regarding a list.

Can anybody link me to a specific web page with the answer? I can't seem to find any specific example online . . .

"is" is the correct form because the object are singular. Singular objects require a singular noun.

As for the last comma, every English teacher I ever had said it was optional. HS and College teachers. I, personally, prefer to include it.

Would you say "A dog, at cat, and a weasel is fighting."

The "and" in there makes it a compound subject which means a plural verb has to be used.

 

[CarpeDeo]

As shown in my previous post, the comma is optional in modern usage. It's always omitted in newspapers to save space but should be used in all other contexts. We learned this in our journalism/newspaper class. The AP (Associated Press) Style Guide specifically describes it, if any of you want to check it out.

 

[Legendary]

Originally posted by: blackdogdeek

Originally posted by: Savij
A closet, a curtain, and a lamp is in the bedroom.

A closet, a curtain and a lamp are in the bedroom.

Second one sounds correct to me.

agreed.

as in "a closet, a curtain, and a lamp are there". or simply "A, B, and C are there".

also, i'd always been taught that the final comma is optional.

This is true because your verb applies to the entire list of nouns. In the OP's case, the verb applies to each singular noun, not the collective.