Additive phrases act as modifiers and do not compound/pluralize the subject.
Additive Phrases include the following markers –
- AS WELL AS
- TOGETHER WITH
- INCLUDING
- APART FROM
- RATHER THAN
- INSTEAD OF
- NOT (in the context of, say, “John, not Sam, WAS going to the office”)
- IN ADDITION TO
In case of additives, the noun to the Left hand side of the additive phrase determines the cardinality of the verb. This is because, in such constructions, the noun to the Right hand side is simply provided as a way of providing “additional information” about the *main topic* of the clause.
Note that this is different from the conjunction “AND” – when the conjunction “AND” connects 2 (or more) DIFFERENT elements, ALL the elements contribute to being the “main topic(s)” of the clause, and hence the verb will be pluralized.
So, assuming that the captain and the coach are 2 different people, the following example illustrates the distinction in the verb forms –
The captain AND the coach select the team
BUT
The captain AS WELL AS the coach selects the team