Hello! Thank you to everybody who participates in this forum. It helps me so much!
I have a question, I'm learning how to make "do" and "does" questions and I'm trying to know what to choose. Examples:
Does Jenny or Clide have the cable?
Does Jenny or Clide has the cable?
Do Jenny or Clide has the cable?
Do Jenny or Clide have the cable?
I am confused. When I use 'or', do I treat the subject as singular or plural?
hungryforlanguageWhen I use 'or', do I treat the subject as singular or plural?
When you use 'or' there are two subjects. The verb should agree with the subject which is closest to the verb. In questions, do is the verb that agrees with the subject.
Does Jenny or Clyde have the cable? (singular)
Jenny or Clyde has the cable. (singular)
Do the girls or the boys have the book? (plural)
The girls or the boys have the book. (plural)
Does Jenny or the boys have first choice? (singular)
Jenny or the boys have first choice. (plural)
Do the boys or Jenny have an excuse? (plural)
The boys or Jenny has an excuse. (singular)
(Not all of these variants are equally useful in conversation, of course.)
Note another issue seen in your examples:
Does Jenny or Clide have the cable? OK.Does Jenny or Clide has the cable? NO.Do Jenny or Clide has the cable? NO.
Do Jenny or Clide have the cable? NO.
Rule: After auxiliary do (do, does, did), you must use the plain form of the verb.
CJ
It depends on what you're asking.
You know that one of them has it, and you want to know which one.
Not possible.
Not possible.
Possible if you want to know if either of them has it, and you don't care which one.