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Compound Subject

What Is a Compound Subject? (with Examples)

A compound subject is one which consists of more than one noun. (This includes pronouns, noun phrases, and noun clauses.)

When the subject of a sentence is made up of two or more elements, it's called a compound subject.

The individual elements in a compound subject are joined by words like and and or (called coordinate conjunctions) or pairings like either/or and neither/nor (called correlative conjunctions).

Examples of Compound Subjects

Here are some examples of compound subjects (shaded):

• A clean driving licence, sales experience and team spirit are essential.
• A fool and his money are easily parted.
• The pigeon and the falcon fell from view.
• My wife and I cannot attend unfortunately.
• Neither the British Army nor the Metropolitan Police had any suitable vehicles.

Is a Compound Subject Singular or Plural?

When and is used to join the elements in a compound subject, the compound subject is treated as plural. For example:

• Mark and Craig are flying on Saturday.

However, when using terms like in conjunction with, as well as, and alongside, the compound subject might not necessarily be plural. For example:

• Mark as well as Craig is flying on Saturday.

Read more about the quirks of subject-verb agreement.

When using or, either/or, or neither/nor, the compound subject might be singular or plural. Generally, if all elements are singular, then the compound subject should be treated as singular.

There is a little more to it than that though.