I am currently working on a letter and I wrote a sentence similar to this:
I created my own goals, which, together with my studies in mathematics, has given me an excellent foundation for this program.
I believe this is a correct sentence, but my friend claims it has a plural subject. I believe that "my own goals" constitutes a singular set, so "has" is correct. My friend argues two things: "my own goals" is plural and "together with…" makes a compound subject. I disagree on the first because I am considering the whole, not the parts, and I disagree with the latter because it is not part of the subject. It is a dependent clause just to point out the fact that this isn't the only reason I have an excellent foundation for the program. While I believe one could treat "my own goals" as a plural group rather than a singular set, I think the compound subject argument is completely false. I thought about replacing "together" with "along" because it may be less likely to cause people to think this is a compound subject.
Which is correct? Which do you think is better and why?
Best Answer
The phrase "together with my studies in mathematics" is parenthetical (we could put it in brackets, for example). It is not grammatically integrated into the sentence. It is not, therefore, part of the subject of the verb "has".
The verb "has" is the main verb in the relative clause "which has given me an excellent foundation for this program". We interpret the Subject of this clause, the word "which", through its antecedent. Its antcedent, however, is not the plural phrase "my own goals". Rather, it is the clause "I created my own goals". Clauses take singular verb agreement in English. Consider:
It is not the fingers which annoy the speaker, it is the whole situation that "He licks his fingers".
The Original Poster is correct, and his critic wrong. The verb has is singular because the clause "I created my own goals" is the antecedent for the Subject, not the plural noun phrase "my own goals".
It is the experience of creating his own goals which has provided the Original Poster with a good foundation for his program - not the goals themselves.