grammaticality - Should I use the singular or plural verb in mathematical formulae ("Two and two make/makes four")?


I remember somebody correcting me once when I said, "Two and two makes four", since the conjunction and would imply the use of a plural verb. They would prefer I said:



Two and two make four.



I've been thinking about it and wondering if one or the other is correct, or if both are. It would seem that using the plural verb is grammatical. However, I've heard the singular verb being used more often and feel that it is correct. Is there some exception about using the singular verb in logical statements and mathematical formulae?



Answer



Singular and plural are both correct.


The singular form is also used because "two and two" is an arithmetic formula. The verb agreement in that case is with the formula as a single entity.




  • Two and two makes four.




  • Two plus two is four.




  • Four times four divided by two is
    eight.




In your example in particular, Google indicates that the plural form occurs more often:


"two plus two make four" = 353K results
"two plus two makes four" = 77K results

And while Google hit counts are notoriously, the result is supported by Google Ngrams.


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