“Neither the coach nor the players was happy.”
Grammar Entry 590 / 1011 60-second read
Neither / Nor
Verb agrees with the nearer subject.
The comparisoni
“Neither the coach nor the players were happy.”
The ruleii
¶
NEITHER/NOR + nearer noun governs the verb.
With NEITHER ... NOR or EITHER ... OR, the verb agrees with the noun closest to it.
Memory aidiii
Remember it like this
Closest noun wins.