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Which one is correct:

  1. "Does this and this help?" ("this" and "this" as a whole/as one together)

or

  1. "Do this and this help?" ("this" and "this" as separate/individual ones here, so it becomes equal to "these"),

and which is more accurate?

Context:

Does this and this help?

or

Do this and this help?

where "this" and "this" are two different websites.

I have another question - does the "and" conjunction in the first sentence ("Does this and this help?") disallow the scope of considering "this" and "this" as one?

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    Do you mean "this and this" as a noun phrase that refers to a single thing? Then yes, you can use "does". For example, you can say "Does Ben and Jerry's (the ice cream) help you study?" vs "Do Ben and Jerry (people you know) help you study?"
    – filistinist
    Commented Jan 23, 2022 at 8:43
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    In the case of two different websites that people would have to click on separately, they are probably two different things, not one thing that can be referred to with a noun phrase, so you would most likely use "do". But in other contexts, "something and something" can be a meaningful noun phrase that refers to one thing or concept. The "and" conjunction doesn't preclude this. For example, movie or show titles: "Porgy and Bess", "Frankie and Grace", etc. It would be "Does 'Porgy and Bess' have good songs?" not "Do 'Porgy and Bess' have good songs?"
    – filistinist
    Commented Jan 23, 2022 at 9:28
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    It might be better to re-word it. "Does this or this help?" or "Do these help? link1 link2"
    – Old Brixtonian
    Commented Jan 23, 2022 at 9:41
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    The fact that the "composite noun phrase" occurs in a question construction is irrelevant. Some such compund constructions are routinely treated as singular (particularly in British English, where we're much more likely to take account of the exact semantic context). Thus Fish and chips IS my favourite meal is perfectly normal for Brits, and DOES fish and chips take long to prepare? is an acceptable question format.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jan 23, 2022 at 11:43
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    It's difficult to think of a natural context where the actual words this and this could be treated as a syntactically singular compound noun phrase, if that's what you're asking. Maybe you could contrive a credible context, though. Suppose you're in a clothes shop and you're specifically looking for a shirt and a "matching" tie. You might perhaps say Does this and this look like a good combination? while pointing at the two items (where singular a combination allows us to optionally treat the preceding noun phrase as singular too).
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jan 23, 2022 at 12:26

1 Answer 1

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In English, when you have a compound subject with "and" or "or", the rule is: If it's "and", the subject is plural. If it's "or", then if each part is singular the combined phrase is singular, and if each part is plural the combined phrase is plural. If one is singular and the other is plural, you go by the one that is closest to the verb in word order.

So, I think a declarative sentence might be easier to begin with ...

Al and Bob are ...

Al or Bob is ...

The dogs or the cats are ...

The dog or the cat is ...

The dog or the cats are ...

It's the same rule with a question. Less intuitively obvious to me, I have to think about it sometimes, but maybe that's just me ...

Do Al and Bob ...

Does Al or Bob ...

Do the dogs or the cats ...

Etc.

I see that someone in the comments noted that "and" can sometimes be a part of a name or identifier of something, like "Ben and Jerry's". In that case the full name would be "Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Parlor" (or something like that, I don't know their official name), so that's singular: "The Ice Cream Parlor is ..." "Ben and Jerry's" is an adjective phrase modifying parlor, and doesn't change "parlor" from singular to plural.

It might be a little more confusing if we were referencing something where there is no singular word in the full name. Like, "'The Avengers' is a TV show starring Patrick McNee." (Sorry if the pop culture reference is way outdated but it's the first one that came to mind.) "Avengers" is a plural word but it's the name of a TV show, which is a singular thing.

So short answer: "Do this and this ...", not "Does". There are two things, the first this and the second this. Assuming that "This and This" is not the name of some single thing, which in this context, I think you're saying they're two web sites.

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