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Which of the following sentences is correct?

1. Susan, as well as Ginny and Ralph, are born leaders.
2. Susan, as well as Ginny and Ralph, is a born leader.

Sentence #2 is correct. Why? Because the subject for the sentence is “Susan” and that’s a singular subject. Even though “Ginny and Ralph” are plural, they are not the subject of the sentence. They are simply part of a phrase that could be ripped out of the sentence without changing its primary meaning. You would not say “Susan are born leaders,” would you?

Here’s another quiz: Which of the next two sentences is correct?

1. My mortgage payment, in addition to my two car payments, is making me poor.
2. My mortgage payment, in addition to my two car payments, are making me poor.

If you think sentence #1 is right, you’re correct. The reasoning is similar. What is the subject of both sentences? It’s “my mortgage payment.” So the verb should agree with that singular subject. Yes, “my two car payments” is plural, but those two payments are not the subjects of the sentence. They are merely tagging along in a phrase that has been added to the sentence, and which could be deleting from the sentence without changing its meaning.

I just realized that my opening sentence in this post is yet another tricky subject that could cause some subject-verb agreement confusion. Some people might be tempted to write:

• Which of the following sentences are correct?

But not you! You would know that the subject of that sentence is the singular “which,” and the phrase “the following sentences” is part of a tag-along prepositional phrase that could be yanked from the sentence without changing its meaning. So, you would make the verb agree with the singular subject “Which” rather than the plural subject “the following sentences.”

… Wouldn’t you.

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