Björn Vrooman Oct 3, 2015:

@Peter Yes, I will agree to that. I am preparing for "university mode" and sociological discourse, so forgive me if I am overanalyzing things here :)

It's not the first time marketing material (and I assume that's where this sentence is coming from) won't win Pulitzer Prizes.

Peter Riccomini Oct 3, 2015:

I'm pretty sure the authors of this contentious phrase did not put much effort into writing it, and I would love to see their expression if they were to read this thread, particularly Björn's contributions. I think we're over-analysing a straightforward case of sloppy writing.

Björn Vrooman Oct 3, 2015:

Second notion However, I do want to add one other thing in favor of "is": subject-object agreement, although this would most likely rule out Cilian's answer, too.

To make things clearer, omit "commitment to" altogether:

Landscape management and customer service are both a career and a passion.

Important word in bold: the indefinite article. Passion can be a count noun, so no need to keep it singular here (Landscape management and customer service are both passions of mine). The indefinite article, however, points towards the speaker viewing "landscape management" and "customer service" in combination.

That would actually mean that either the plural verb is wrong or the objects should be plural.

Otherwise, you'll end up entirely confused about why two separate subjects (landscape management and customer service) are suddenly turned into a combo (a career and a passion).

Bit of a hassle, IMO.

PS: I do agree with Robin though when it comes to "commitment" being a "career" - that sounds pretty strange to me as well.

Björn Vrooman Oct 3, 2015:

@Terry I would really appreciate your thoughts on the following because despite the rules of subject-verb agreement, I am not that convinced of the singular version here.

First thoughts:
1) "commitment" can be either a mass noun or a count noun (e.g., as stated on http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/commitm... There is a slight shift in meaning between both, so I would stick to the former.
2) Whenever possible, English avoids repetition like the plague.
3) I disagree with Robin regarding "facets" - the effort put into landscape management and customer service can be very different.

Now if I do include the omitted repetition, the sentence looks like this:
Our commitment to landscape management and our commitment to customer service are both a career and a passion.

To avoid repetition, we trade in the second "commitment" for the first synonym Oxford mentions (dedication):
Our commitment to landscape management and our dedication to customer service are both a career and a passion.

Voila, two subjects. Related:
http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/97459/singular-ve...
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-choose-verbs-fo...

George Rabel Oct 3, 2015:

Thank you, Explainer in Chief. After reading Terry's explanation, I finally see the light, and I understand what the meaning of "is" is. Yes, "are" is certainly within the scope of possibilities.

Terry Richards Oct 3, 2015:

It depends If you parse it as "commitment to (landscape management and
customer service)" then it is "is".

If you parse it as "(commitment to landscape management) and
(customer service)" it is "are".

If I had to bet, I would bet on the first one but the second one is not wrong.

Peter Riccomini Oct 2, 2015:

The subject is our commitment, singular, therefore is.

José Patrício Oct 2, 2015:

it is plural reference, then:are