_implant NP with_

[Wilson Gray]

Voiceover to a commercial:

"If you or a loved one _have been implanted with_ Avaulta pelvic mesh …"


Except for the fact I hadn't noticed this version of the construction
before today, I can't seriously claim to find anything interesting
about it, beyond its novelty.

OTOH, as first-year high-school students, in the fall of 1950, we were
specifically taught - that is, this "rule" wasn't simply mentioned in
passing; rather, we were also tested on our comprehension of it - that
"NP _and_ NP" always takes a plural verb, whereas, WRT "NP _or_ NP,"
the number of the verb always matches the number of the NP immediately
preceding that verb. Therefore:

"If you _or_ a loved one HAS …"

Hence <harumph!>, I must reject the sentence, though only on stylistic
grounds, sadly. ;-)

--
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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