Is or are?

[Dilbertian]

When Mary or Jane is talking...

Or

When Mary or Jane are talking...

Which?

@butterpuffed - If you were using the past tense you wouldn't say 'Mary and Jane was talking' so why would you say 'Mary and Jane is talking'

Except the question was what would use with "Mary OR Jane is/are talking "

You would say"mary or jane was talking" so you would use "is" for the present tense.

When either Mary or Jane is talking....

[quote OchonAgusOchonOh]**@butterpuffed* - If you were using the past tense you wouldn't say 'Mary and Jane was talking' so why would you say 'Mary and Jane is talking'*

Except the question was what would use with "Mary OR Jane is/are talking "

You would say"mary or jane was talking" so you would use "is" for the present tense.[/quote]
Ooops, blame tiredness for my error ! Read 'and' in OP instead of 'or'

Just for fun, what about these then:

When Jane or the twins are talking... --> that expands to When Jane are talking or the twins are talking... ?

When John or Jane or Mary or Luke or all four is talking... ?

When Jane or Mary or both are talking...

Jane and Mary talk too much .

@DadDadDad - That would be "When Jane is, or the twins are, talking" and "When John or Jane or Mary or Luke is, or all four are, talking."

That's one solution @OchonAgusOchonOh , but I don't like the introduction of commas - it makes "or the twins are" read as more incidental. Although it might not quite fit with rules of syntax, I personally think

When John or Jane or Mary or Luke or all four are talking...

sounds fine.

@DadDadDad - Although it might not quite fit with rules of syntax, I personally think

When John or Jane or Mary or Luke or all four are talking...

sounds fine.

If I was speaking, that is how I would say it but if I was writing, I would seperate out with commas and use is and are as it is correct syntactically.