Opposition de deux noms avec soit....soit

Question

Quelle phrase est correcte?Ce sera soit ton père soit moi qui viendrai te chercherouCe sera soit ton père soit moi qui viendra te chercherEst-ce que le verbe se conjugue avec le nom le plus proche?

Accepted Answer

This is a very interesting question Julie, I would have said only the second one is correct but most people would use the third- person plural -
Ce sera ton père ou moi qui viendront te chercher
But you can use the third-person singular as well 
Ce sera ton père ou moi qui viendra te chercher
meaning
either = l'un ou l'autre.
If you only had one subject you would say -
C'est moi qui viendrai te chercher 
Hope this helps!

Answer

Could you explain the last point a little more, Cécile? Isn't moi a personal pronoun? Perhaps you mean it's not a subject pronoun, but I don't see how that's relevant. It's still the first person, and I think that's what counts. Compare with c’est moi qui ai ... as explained here:

https://www.academie-francaise.fr/alexandra-n-b-arbouet

According to Grevisse, after "soit ... soit ... " (but without c'est ... qui) agreement with the plural is most common, but the singular is also found. He is unclear on which of the two it should agree with. (He writes: "le dernier ?")

I wonder also, in the plural case, should it not be viendrons ?

Answer

Hi Alan, 
Thanks for your comments, I have changed my answer to avoid any confusion.
The agreement of the verb with multiple subjects is complicated and disputed within the grammar community. 
I have checked with good grammarians in France and that's what we'll say although in everyday French you would probably say -

Ton père ou moi , on viendra te chercher

In a negative 'neither --- nor' sentence you should agree the verb with the last subject but you will also hear the plural  -
Ni ton père, ni moi ne viendront te chercher 
Hope this helps!

Answer

Are you sure you're hearing viendront and not viendrons?https://dictionnaire.lerobert.com/guide/accord-du-verbe-avec-des-sujets-coordonnes-par-ni-ou-par-ouLorsque les sujets ne sont pas de la même personne, le verbe se met au pluriel et s'accorde avec la personne du rang le plus petit.