A Word, Please: Congratulations, as well as clarification, are in order

Congratulations are in order. Congratulations to you. I’m more than a little late extending them. But it has only recently come to my attention that you’ve been walking a linguistic tightrope for your entire English speaking life and, for the most part, you’ve done so well you haven’t even noticed the difficulty of your task.

I’m talking about your — everyone’s — use of the term “as well as.” I presume you, like everyone else, have used “as well as” from time to time in your speech and writing. And I also presume you’ve been using it so well, so effortlessly, that you have no idea how difficult it is to employ.

Behold: “He, as well as the producer, are Broadway newcomers.”

“The theme, as well as the writer’s art, makes the novel a work of art.”

“Available evidence as well as past experience suggests as much.”

“John as well as Jane was late for dinner.”

All these sentences are lifted from Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English usage, the first three are real-world examples and the fourth a deliberately simplistic made-up usage. But they all prove the same point: As a coordinator — meaning a term that, like “and,” links nouns and other parts of speech — “as well as” is a minefield.

Look at the verbs to see what I mean. In the first example, the verb “are” suggests that the subject is plural — that “he as well as the producer” is grammatically the same as “he and the producer.” Hence it’s a plural subject with a verb to match: “he as well as the producer are.”

Now look at the verb in the second example, “makes.” That’s conjugated for a singular subject, like “Ed makes.” Yet the presumably singular subject of this sentence, “the theme, as well as the writer’s art,” is grammatically the same as “he as well as the producer.” Yes, this one has commas and, yes, those commas seem to have an effect on whether the subject is plural. But commas alone don’t explain why “the theme, as well as the writer’s art” takes the singular verb “makes.”

So what’s going on here? The term “quasi-coordinator,” which some experts have used to refer to “as well as,” sheds some light. The word “and” is a full-fledged coordinator and, as a coordinator, it can link two single things in a way that calls for a plural verb: Bob is here. Jane is here. Bob and Jane are here. The coordinating conjunction “and” changes everything.

“As well as” is not a coordinating conjunction. But it can act like one: Bob as well as Jane are here. Bob, as well as Jane, is here. A lack of commas can indicate that the writer considers the second noun to be part of the subject, making it plural. Commas, on the other hand, can indicate that the writer thinks of the second noun as essentially parenthetical. Parentheticals don’t affect the grammar of the main sentence: Bob (not to mention Jane) is here. But commas or no, the truth is there’s no clear rule to tell you whether “as well as” triggers the need for a plural verb.

“Our advice to you is that if you join singular subjects with ‘as well as,’ you should follow your instinctive feeling for the singular or plural verb, but it will help your readers if you omit the commas with the plural verb and insert them with the singular verb,” Merriam’s usage guide suggests.

In other words, congratulations. You’re already your own go-to expert on this subject. But if you want a little more outside help, consider this advice from Merriam’s: “If your instinct does not lead you to prefer one approach over the other and you do not want to rewrite … choose commas and a singular verb. That will offend no one.”

The writer is the author of “The Joy of Syntax: A Simple Guide to All the Grammar You Know You Should Know.” She can be reached at JuneTCN@aol.com.

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