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Context: I saw a video of a man harassing a woman for disturbing him. The man walked up to the woman and angrily told her to shut up. When the woman tried to walk away from him, he started chasing her.

I wanted to say "Telling her to shut up and chasing her were a bit unnecessary." Does this sound natural to native speakers? Or should I say "telling her to shut up and chasing her was a bit unnecessary"? Or are both perfectly acceptable?

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I would think that:

Telling her to shut up and chasing her were a bit unnecessary.

Because "telling her" and "chasing her" are two separate actions, so a plural construction is in my view better.

But a fluent speaker, particularly in casual speech, might use a singular form (was) and I doubt if anyone would really object. Using "was" subjects that telling and chasing are thought of as a single action.

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