8. Every fly, bee, beetle, and butterfly _is_ provided with six feet.
9. That desperate robber and murderer _was_ finally secured.
10. That desperate robber and that murderer _were_ finally secured.
11. The builder and owner of the yacht _has_ sailed from Liverpool.
12. The builder and the owner of the yacht _have_ sailed from Liverpool.
13. A lame and blind man _was_ provided with food and lodging.
14. A lame and a blind man _were_ provided with food and lodging.

Particular attention may be called to examples 9-14, that the pupils may
note the effect of repeating _that_, _the_, and _a_.

Pupils should early learn that rules in grammar should not be followed
rigidly and blindly, as they generally have variations and exceptions.
Caution, however, should be used in presenting exceptions, lest the pupils
become confused. They may be presented in reviews after the rules and
general principles are well understood. They need not be formally stated,
but may be introduced in the way of observation lessons that appeal to the
judgment rather than to the memory. In this way such constructions as the
following may be introduced:--

1. Neither he nor _I am _going. (Better--He is not going, nor am I.)
2. Neither John nor his _sisters were_ there.
3. _Action_, and not words, _is_ needed.
4. _Bread and milk is_ good food.
5. The _committee are_ unable to agree on _their_ report.
6. The _committee has_ made _its_ report.

Other examples may be given till the pupils are led to discover that in
examples like (1) and (2) the verb agrees with its nearest subject, and
that the plural subject is usually placed next to the verb; that in (3) the