(4) When a singular is joined with a plural by a disjunctive word, the verb agrees with the one nearest it; as,--
One or two of these perhaps _survive_.--THOREAU.
One or two persons in the crowd _were_ insolent.--FROUDE.
One or two of the ladies _were_ going to leave.--ADDISON
One or two of these old Cromwellian soldiers _were_ still alive in the village.--THACKERAY
One or two of whom _were_ more entertaining.--DE QUINCEY.
A ray or two _wanders_ into the darkness.--RUSKIN.
442. If there is only one person in the subject, the ending of the verb indicates the person of its subject; that is, in those few cases where there are forms for different persons: as,--
Never once _didst_ thou revel in the vision.--DE QUINCEY.
Romanism wisely _provides_ for the childish in men.--LOWELL.
It _hath_ been said my Lord would never take the oath.--THACKERAY.
[Sidenote: _Second or third and first person in the subject_.]
443. If the subject is made up of the first person joined with the second or third by _and_, the verb takes the construction of the first person, the subject being really equivalent to _we_; as,--
I flatter myself you and I _shall_ meet again.--SMOLLETT.
You and I _are_ farmers; we never talk politics.--D WEBSTER.
Ah, brother! only I and thou _Are_ left of all that circle now. --WHITTIER.
You and I _are_ tolerably modest people.--THACKERAY.
Cocke and I _have_ felt it in our bones--_Gammer Gurton's Needle_
[Sidenote: _With adversative or disjunctive connectives_.]
444. When the subjects, of different persons, are connected by adversative or disjunctive conjunctions, the verb usually agrees with the pronoun nearest to it; for example,--
Neither you nor I _should_ be a bit the better or wiser.--RUSKIN.
If she or you _are_ resolved to be miserable.--GOLDSMITH.
Nothing which Mr. Pattison or I _have_ said.--M. ARNOLD.
Not Altamont, but thou, _hadst_ been my lord.--ROWE.
Not I, but thou, his blood _dost_ shed.--BYRON.
This construction is at the best a little awkward. It is avoided either by using a verb which has no forms for person (as, "He or I _can_ go," "She or you _may_ be sure," etc.), or by rearranging the sentence so as to throw each subject before its proper person form (as, "You _would_ not be wiser, nor _should_ I;" or, "I _have_ never said so, nor _has_ she").