Native speakers,which do you think is a correct sentence?

Question

1.A knife and fork was used in the Edo period(ie.from 1603 to 1868).
2.A knife and fork were used in the Edo period.

This is a question posted on Yahoo!Japan Answers(知恵袋).
I hope every native speaker will help him.Thank you all.

Answer 1

I believe sentence two would be correct. Knife and fork would be plural (think substituting they) so would take the verb were.

Answer 2

Number 2 .

The verb has to be used in the plural because you are using two subjects: A knife AND a fork (I'd put the 'a' before fork) were used.....

If the sentence used 'or' instead of 'and', it would be different. Only ONE thing would be the subject:

A knife OR a fork was used..
.

Answer 3

Number 2

Answer 4

Number 2 is correct but I would re-phrase is to
A knife and fork were used during the Edo period.

Answer 5

number 2, while used together often, a knife and fork represent two individual things, and need the plural "were", was is the singular form
ps: even though there is one knife and one fork, when you put the two together, you have a plural subject, the same as if you said Sally and Joe were there,,, or the boys and girls were playing

Answer 6

Either a knife and a fork were used or knives and forks were used

Answer 7

#2 is correct

'a knife and fork' is a compound noun, which is plural.
The fact that it doesn't end in an 's' is the confusing part.

To make it easier, just think of the same sentence using names. i.e.- Bob and Lisa WERE on the same train as Ken.

Answer 8

number 2 because were includes two things (knife/fork) good luck!

Answer 9

Sentence no. 1 is correct. Although there are two subjects, they are each singular. Therefore it takes a singular verb. If it were knives and forks, then sentence no. 2 would be correct.

Answer 10

The first form is proper for a singular item, like "a knife".

For plural, the second form is correct.