Is/Are

Corinthianblue

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I feel like I should know this one, but I had a brain lock about this one.

"One sale per customer within a lifetime and no refunds, exchanges, or alterations are permitted"

Word is saying "are" should be "is." I disagree.
 

Chase

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One sale per customer within a lifetime and no refunds, exchanges, or alterations are permitted.

Are is correct. Word may be basing its decision on "or" as the conjunction. It would be correct if your sentence were "One sale per customer within a lifetime and no refund, exchange, or alteration is permitted."

Since the items in the series are plural, then "are" is correct.
 

Chase

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Wait a bit before trying to justify Word's robot grammarian. Others will join the discussion and tell you Word's general advice is often wrong in specifics.

On the other hand, if I'm wrong, I'll be torn to shreds before your very eyes.
 

CaroGirl

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Wait a bit before trying to justify Word's robot grammarian. Others will join the discussion and tell you Word's general advice is often wrong in specifics.

On the other hand, if I'm wrong, I'll be torn to shreds before your very eyes.

When I say Word is stupid, I don't mean you should always ignore it, or turn it off (though plenty of people do). It can be helpful (and sometimes actually correct). What I mean is Word doesn't know context, so make sure you're smarter than it is or it can steer you wrong.
 

Chase

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CaroGirl (this week your royal highness?), I was responding to a post Corinthianblue deleted.

I agree with you. Word meets many of the criteria for stupid: lacking intelligence or capacity for perceiving, ill-advised, irrational, often set in [its] ways, stubborn. As any tool, users should work with its limitations.
 

Jamesaritchie

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Which version of Word? So far, darned near every post on here saying Word's grammar check say something is wrong doesn't fly when I use Word. Including this one. My version, 2007, says "are" is correct.

My guess is your version is going by "One sale per customer."

Try placing a comma after "lifetime". It may not help with your version of Word, and mine says it's fine with or without the comma, but older versions of grammar check often screwed up when it didn't find a comma it thought should be there.
 

CaroGirl

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CaroGirl (this week your royal highness?), I was responding to a post Corinthianblue deleted.

Oops. I'd say I was sorry but I don't think royals apologize unless under extreme duress.

:D
 

Kenn

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I feel like I should know this one, but I had a brain lock about this one.

"One sale per customer within a lifetime and no refunds, exchanges, or alterations are permitted"

Word is saying "are" should be "is." I disagree.
What does this actually mean? Whose lifetime are we talking about? Whenever someone tries to tell me I will get a lifetime guarantee (usually builders), I always ask about the lifetime bit. Is it me, the builder or the house. If it is the repair, then a lifetime guarantee seems a contradiction to me. A bit like: "I'll guarantee it'll work until it breaks."
 

Chase

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A bit like: "I'll guarantee it'll work until it breaks."

Ha ha ha, and like "Till death us do part," with its unwritten clause, "unless I get tired of you first."
 

Corinthianblue

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I figured this was the case. Sometimes I agree with Word. Other times, my brain cells commit suicide over its decisions.