Which of these is correct?
The mayor as well as his brothers is going to prison.
The mayor as well as his brothers are going to prison.
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user118723
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"The mayor and his brothers are going to prison." – Hot Licks Apr 28 '15 at 03:53
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1Singular or plural verb form where subject includes a “parenthetical” element: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/56210/singular-or-plural-verb-form-where-subject-includes-a-parenthetical-element – curious-proofreader Apr 28 '15 at 05:09
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@HotLicks That's not the question! – Kris Apr 28 '15 at 05:10
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2@Kris - But it's the answer. – Hot Licks Apr 28 '15 at 11:40
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You can either do "The mayor, as well as his brothers, is going to prison" or "The mayor as well as his brothers are going to prison." – Hot Licks Apr 28 '15 at 11:42
2 Answers
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As well as has a similar meaning to "not only but also" equivalent to : not only the mayor is going to prison but also his father.
In other words it means in addition to.
You can also say:
The mayor, as well as his brother, is going to prison.
When it is used as "an addition" operator, as well as does not change the number of the subject.
Eddinho
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"Is", it's the mayor that is going to prison
Eddinho
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Should it not be "are"? If you take "as well as" to mean "and", then you form a compound subject. The verb (to go) then has to use the plural agreement. (The mayor and his brothers = they, hence "they are going".) – Dog Lover Apr 28 '15 at 02:50
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Welcome to the ELU :-). Maybe an explanation would help the OP resolve such questions him/herself in the future and it would be more helpful for other users. Can you please edit and explain a little? – Lucky Apr 28 '15 at 03:02
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@WindowsDude7 it does not mean and it means in "addition to",that's why it does not take the number of the subject – Eddinho Apr 28 '15 at 22:57
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@Eddinho Thank you for the clarification. I wasn't 100% sure of the meaning of "as well as" so I took my best guess. – Dog Lover Apr 28 '15 at 23:05