What verb tense to use with "either"

welcome to A2K, ptome. The first thing to do when you are looking at a group of related words is to determine if the group is a phrase or a clause. Get rid of all the expanders and then it is easier to determine which verb to use.

See if you can do that first, then the choice will be easier.

Remember, a clause is a group of related words with a subject and verb, and can be dependent (can't stand alone and have meaning) or independent(is a complete sentence).

clue: either one or the other is

neither one nor the other is

Sorry to try to answer, Letty, but I have a greater concern for parallelism in this sentence than verb conjugation(is or are). Okay, maybe I even have more concern for the amount of time Ptome has on this earth, but regardless, the question, as stated, is essentially whether the phrase "either of my above-named step-sons" is singular or plural. That seems rather straightforward as one or the other is implied with either, therefore, it would require the verb to be singular.

To me, the two possible events that could take place (with either of the step-sons) would read better with parallel construction. The first offering would eliminate the conjugation problem.

In the event that either of my step-sons should predecease me or [should] not be living on the 60th day following my death...

In the event that either of my step-sons predeceases me or is not living on the 60th day following my death...

Valpower, I am always interested in what you have to say, as obviously you know whereof you speak. The entire example that our newbie gave is somewhat of a walrus, and could be stated so much more simply.

Frankly, grammar is quite boring to me, but the teacher that used to be, emerges sometimes to help the novice. We know, of course, that a will is intended to be esoteric, right? <smile>