Q. I am editing an important policy statement (with legal implications) and wonder whether this sentence needs a singular verb (“is” instead of “are”): A complainant who wishes to withdraw the complaint and/or a respondent who does not wish to participate in the hearing process are advised to contact the manager.
A. It’s good to rethink any sentence that uses “and/or,” since the term often leads to trouble. Your sentence would be fine with “or” alone (taking the singular “is”). Better yet, rephrase: Complainants who wish to withdraw the complaint and respondents who do not wish to participate in the hearing process are advised to contact the manager.