Grammar question

[Gemsbok1000]

Hi

Can anyone tell me which version is grammatically correct?

1. If you or Sainsbury's do not accept what I say............
2. If you or Sainsbury's does not accept what I say............
3. If you, or Sainsbury's, do not accept what I say............

and why, if possible.

Many thanks!

[TheEnd]

1st or 3rd, depending on how you stand on the use of commas as pauses.

I doubt the person receiving the letter would be too picky on grammar though.

[V8mate]

If neither you nor Sainsbury accepts what I say, ...

[Eric Mc]

By grouping the nouns "you" and "Sainsbury's" together in the sentence as the subject, even though they are both singular, would this not convert the combined subject i.e "you or Sainsbury's" into a plural and then imply that the governed verb take on the "plural" form?

[cardigankid]

If you use the second one they may be more likely to be intimidated because they will think you are an illiterate tough who is coming to do them over. Even better to say, 'youse or f_g Sainsbury's'.

[Gemsbok1000]

So we have a consensus then. It's 1...maybe 2.........or possibly 3.

[V8mate]

Gemsbok1000 said:

So we have a consensus then. It's 1...maybe 2.........or possibly 3.

No. It's what I said. (3rd post)

'3' is the nearest otherwise, but makes for a correct, but over-punctuated solution. Hence my digging you out of your own hole. Which you then ignored

Edited by V8mate on Wednesday 12th November 18:36

[mft]

V8mate said:

If neither you nor Sainsbury accepts what I say, ...

This reads more smoothly.

[Gemsbok1000]

V8mate said:

Gemsbok1000 said:

So we have a consensus then. It's 1...maybe 2.........or possibly 3.

No. It's what I said.

'3' is the nearest otherwise, but makes for a correct, but over-punctuated solution. Hence my digging you out of your own hole. Which you then ignored

Sorry, I did miss your post.

If neither you nor Sainsbury accepts what I say,.... does indeed sound better, however as Sainsbury's has an 's' on the end I'm guessing 'accept' would be correct.

If neither you nor Sainsbury's accept what I say,......


ETA thanks for all your help!

Edited by Gemsbok1000 on Wednesday 12th November 18:37

[V8mate]

Gemsbok1000 said:

V8mate said:

Gemsbok1000 said:

So we have a consensus then. It's 1...maybe 2.........or possibly 3.

No. It's what I said.

'3' is the nearest otherwise, but makes for a correct, but over-punctuated solution. Hence my digging you out of your own hole. Which you then ignored

Sorry, I did miss your post.

If neither you nor Sainsbury accepts what I say,.... does indeed sound better, however as Sainsbury's has an 's' on the end I'm guessing 'accept' would be correct.

If neither you nor Sainsbury's accept what I say,......

No.

The company name was always Sainsbury, in spite of what people called it. A few years ago they changed it to Sainsbury's to more closely match the customer expectations. So if you want to use that, the grammatical construction remains the same...

If neither you nor Sainsbury's accepts what I say,......

[Gemsbok1000]

V8mate said:

Gemsbok1000 said:

V8mate said:

Gemsbok1000 said:

So we have a consensus then. It's 1...maybe 2.........or possibly 3.

No. It's what I said.

'3' is the nearest otherwise, but makes for a correct, but over-punctuated solution. Hence my digging you out of your own hole. Which you then ignored

Sorry, I did miss your post.

If neither you nor Sainsbury accepts what I say,.... does indeed sound better, however as Sainsbury's has an 's' on the end I'm guessing 'accept' would be correct.

If neither you nor Sainsbury's accept what I say,......

No.

The company name was always Sainsbury, in spite of what people called it. A few years ago they changed it to Sainsbury's to more closely match the customer expectations. So if you want to use that, the grammatical construction remains the same...

If neither you nor Sainsbury's accepts what I say,......

Will alter accordingly. Thank you for your help.

[Eric Mc]

The "s" at the end of "Sainsbury's" denotes the possesive case of the singular noun "Sainsbury".

Therefore, any verb following "Sainsbury" or "Sainsbury's" should be in the singular form.

Sainsbury accepts
Sainsbury's accepts

The plural of "Sainsbury" is actually "Sainsburies".

Edited by Eric Mc on Wednesday 12th November 18:42

[V8mate]

Eric Mc said:

The "s" at the end of "Sainsbury's" denotes the possesive case of the singular noun "Sainsbury".

Therefore, any verb following "Sainsbury" or "Sainsbury's" should be in the singular form.

Sainsbury accepts
Sainsbury's accept

The plural of "Sainsbury" is actually "Sainsburies".

I'm sorry, but you are incorrect on this occasion as the (apparent) possessive noun is simply an aberration brought about by custom, i.e. what people called the store... "I'm going to Sainsbury's supermarket" became "I'm going to Sainsbury's". They are using this colloquialism as a proper noun, i.e. name.

[Mello]

I know they call themselves "Sainsbury's" but that is because they are referring to Sainsbury's Stores, surely. In the sentence you are constructing you are talking about the company, so stricly (and I agree in principle with V8mate) I think it should read "If neither you nor Sainsburys accepts what I say,"?

:0fftogetalife:

Edited by Mello on Wednesday 12th November 18:52

[Sciroccology]

V8mate said:

Eric Mc said:

The "s" at the end of "Sainsbury's" denotes the possesive case of the singular noun "Sainsbury".

Therefore, any verb following "Sainsbury" or "Sainsbury's" should be in the singular form.

Sainsbury accepts
Sainsbury's accept

The plural of "Sainsbury" is actually "Sainsburies".

I'm sorry, but you are incorrect on this occasion as the (apparent) possessive noun is simply an aberration brought about by custom, i.e. what people called the store... "I'm going to Sainsbury's supermarket" became "I'm going to Sainsbury's". They are using this colloquialism as a proper noun, i.e. name.

And the fact that Sainsbury's call themselves "Sainsbury's" (as is evident by the big neon sign on their store next to the M25 near Potter's Bar.)

[V8mate]

Mello said:

I know they call themselves "Sainsbury's" but that is because they are referring to Sainsbury's Stores, surely. In the sentence you are constructing you are talking about the company, so stricly (and I agree in principle with V8mate) I think it should read "If neither you nor Sainsburys accepts what I say,"?

:0fftogetalife:

Unfortunately you do have to retain the apostrophe as they have created a company name out of a colloquial expression.

[TheEnd]

Look at it this way, it's been on PH for over half an hour and it's still under debate, then it's passed "the test"

[Mello]

V8mate said:

Mello said:

I know they call themselves "Sainsbury's" but that is because they are referring to Sainsbury's Stores, surely. In the sentence you are constructing you are talking about the company, so stricly (and I agree in principle with V8mate) I think it should read "If neither you nor Sainsburys accepts what I say,"?

:0fftogetalife:

Unfortunately you do have to retain the apostrophe as they have created a company name out of a colloquial expression.

I bow to your superior knowledge of our language.

[Mello]

...Just as well it was'nt (sic) Tescos/Tesco's!

Edited by Mello on Wednesday 12th November 19:01

[V8mate]

Mello said:

...Just as well it wasnt Tescos/Tesco's!

Fortunately they haven't messed about with their name; they are still Tesco, irrelevant of what anyone calls them.

This thread would have been a whole lot shorter if J Sainsbury had remained just that!