# Grammar Question: Was or Were? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 21, 2013, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-was-or-were/674412 "2013-11-21T05:38:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-was-or-were/674412/21 "2013-11-21T22:14:10Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > A friend of mine is writing a book… The king and queen used to fight with each other a lot, but always made peace. But now they’re both dead. > > “There were no more king of queen to reconcile with one another.” > > Were? Was? My ear tells me “was” but my head tells me “were.” “…sed to fight” is OK for colloquialism but not for a narrative in a book, and I don’t think much of “a lot” either. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-was-or-were/674412/22 "2013-11-22T07:47:35Z")
“EITHER king or queen” is singular. “king or queen” can be plural, but it sounds clunky. “each other” is plural. If you plan to end with a plural, you’d better start with one. I’d probably use, “There was neither king nor queen to reconcile.” ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-was-or-were/674412/23 "2013-11-22T09:44:29Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > I think I agree; a re-write is probably best. > > Thank you all for the suggestions; I’ll pass 'em along. > > **Shodan** : thank you specifically for the clarification on singular vs. plural. I somehow never got that lesson in any of my old English classes. “King or queen” is singular. Now I know! > > (My “ear” was right!) FYI, the actual rule is that, when a sentence contains multiple subjects separated by “or,” the verb agrees in number with the closest subject. With “and”, the verb agrees in number with the all the subjects combined. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-was-or-were/674412/24 "2013-11-22T10:10:33Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > FYI, the actual rule is that, when a sentence contains multiple subjects separated by “or,” the verb agrees in number with the closest subject. Out of curiosity, on what grounds do you claim this is the actual rule? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-was-or-were/674412/25 "2013-11-22T11:10:16Z")
> [@barbitu8](#): > > “…sed to fight” is OK for colloquialism but not for a narrative in a book, and I don’t think much of “a lot” either. I think that part was just the OP giving the back story, not an extract from the book. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-was-or-were/674412/26 "2013-11-22T14:25:51Z")
Has everyone forgotten about the concept of the [royal we](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_we)? It used to the norm for the king or queen to be referred to in the plural. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-was-or-were/674412/27 "2013-11-22T14:32:34Z")
Only when speaking in the first person. Nobody referred to the monarch as “they”. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-was-or-were/674412/28 "2013-11-22T14:56:28Z")
It was also used in the second person, as in saying “you” to the king, when “thee” or “thou” would have been used for anyone else. The whole thing about Quakers and “thee” and “thou” started when when “you” was the plural form of “thee”. From [here](http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~cpercy/courses/6362Yaswen2.htm): > [@](#): > > The Quakers adopted what was known as “plain speech”, one of the most noticeable aspects of which being the use of thee/thou in all situations, when addressing all people, regardless of the addressee’s rank or relation to the addresser. This use of thee/thou was employed, in part, as a means of expressing the Quaker belief in the equality of all people ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-was-or-were/674412/29 "2013-11-22T19:20:46Z")
> [@barbitu8](#): > > “…sed to fight” is OK for colloquialism but not for a narrative in a book, and I don’t think much of “a lot” either. > [@Colophon](#): > > I think that part was just the OP giving the back story, not an extract from the book. **Colophon** is correct: I was feeling entirely free to be loose and colloquial and informal and sloppy when jawbonin’ with y’uns, something not to be done in proper literary narration. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-was-or-were/674412/30 "2013-11-23T01:29:58Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Actually if I had to write it, I’d go for: “Now there was no more king, no more queen and no more reconciliation.” Except that now you have king, queen \*\*and \*\*reconciliation, so it would have to be “There were no…” ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-was-or-were/674412/31 "2013-11-23T05:59:30Z")
Nope. “Was.” _Again._ That is, I think the OP should have used “was” (and it was fine like tha) and I’m with Colophon over SCAdian on Colophon’s rewrite. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-was-or-were/674412.md?page=1)