Why do we say, for example:
Zustimmung und Ablehnung ist sehr wichtig.
Shouldn't we use sind because this is plural?
This has been confusing me because a teacher said it on a Youtube video.
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This is a PIE feature usually refered to as 'synesis'.– J DAug 17, 2020 at 4:06
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1For learners: In case of doubt use plural– äüöAug 17, 2020 at 6:19
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One of the most famous German songs uses exactly that grammatical structure (although arguably the plural would be somewhat more correct...) de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marmor,_Stein_und_Eisen_bricht– user2705196Aug 17, 2020 at 12:22
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1 Answer
Both sentences are possible.
Zustimmung und Ablehnung ist sehr wichtig
Zustimmung und Ablehnung sind sehr wichtig
In the first sentence, "Zustimmung and Ablehnung" are regarded as a unit. This is known as 'synesis' in linguistics.
In the second sentence, they are viewed separately.
answered Aug 16, 2020 at 15:12
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First example is joining both, hence being singular. Second example is a list, hence plural. Aug 17, 2020 at 1:30
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1This subtly changes the semantics of the sentence as well - if you use singular you treat both as a unit with a unified importance, whereas the plural implies that both are each important on their own. This is not a big difference, but might lead to native speakers intuitively preferring one over the other depending on context.– FalcoAug 17, 2020 at 9:48