My Name and Address *IS* or *ARE*???

[AmandaMarx]

This one confuses me. I want to say my name and address are since we're
talking about *two* things...however, I know that *is* could also be correct
since terms that are frequently used together use *is*. Any feedback would be
appreciated. Thanks.

A.

[Benjamin Krefetz]

AmandaMarx <amand...@aol.com> spewed forth:

It would depend how you're completing the sentence. On the one hand, you
would say:

"My name and address is Amanda Marx, 123 Main St., Anytown, OH 12345,"
because in that case you're treating them as a single entity, as they
would be on a mailing label, for example.

However, you would say:

"My name and address are Amanda Marx and 123 Main St., respectively,"
since in that case you're distinguishing them as two separate entities
(though the sentence would be more confusing than a simple "my name is XXX
and my address is XXX").

Ben

[AmandaMarx]

Thank you, Ben.

[Robert M. Wilson]

AmandaMarx wrote in message
<19990803151213...@ng-fq1.aol.com>...

>This one confuses me. I want to say my name and address are since we're
>talking about *two* things...however, I know that *is* could also be
correct
>since terms that are frequently used together use *is*. Any feedback would
be
>appreciated. Thanks.

Interesting.

I would tend to say "My name and address are ------,"
but
"His name and address is --------" and "What is your name and address?"
["What are your name and address?" while grammatical, doesn't sound right.]

The phrase could be looked on as a collective compound (cf. bacon and eggs,
pie and ice-cream), so that I am thinking of mine being separate, and his
being one.