Regarding sentence structure - A compound sentence.  Is this an
example of a compound semtence, i.e., -- because of the AND can use
WAS rather than WERE.
In other words, actually could be two complete sentences. 

The sentence is:
The risks and expectations of the procedure was discussed with the
patient and his wife.
D hastings sweetpea@sisp.net

Hi sweetpeaz,

No, this is not a compound sentence.  A compound sentence contains two
or more independent clauses, but this sentence contains only one. 
There is nowhere you can divide this sentence, including at the
"and"s, to get two complete clauses.

A clause, as you noted, is like a sentence, and clauses in a compound
sentence can be connected by coordinating conjunctions like "and."  If
you divide this sentence at the first "and", one of the parts you get
is "The risks."  This phrase has no predicate or verb phrase, so it
doesn't look like a sentence and is not a clause.  Similarly, if you
divide the sentence at the second "and," on one side you get "his
wife," which also has no verb phrase and so cannot be a clause.

As Pinkfreud said, the main verb should be "were" to agree in number
with the subject of the sentence, which is the plural phrase "The
risks and expectations."

Here's an example of a compound sentence where "was" would be correct:

"The risks were many, and the procedure was discussed with the patient
and his wife."

In this sentence, "The risks were many" is a clause and "the procedure
was discussed with the patient and his wife" is also a clause.  You
can see that both have both subjects and verbs and look like
independent sentences.  In this case, the subject of the second clause
is "the procedure," and since that is singular, "was" is the correct
form of the verb.

I hope this explanation is helpful.  If it's too obscure, please ask
for a clarification and give me some idea of what is confusing.

--efn

Your verb should be "were."

Thank you very much for your time and good explanation. "smile"

One more, after re-reading my sentence.

"The risks of the procedure was discussed with the patient and wife." 

The expectations of the procedure was discussed with the patient and his wife."  

This is more what I was getting at, I guess.  Two complete stand alone
sentences separated by AND.  Still no, huh.

You could split it into two sentences like that, but there is probably
no benefit.  You have two things in the beginning of the sentence
(risks and expectations) being introduced to two things at the end of
the sentenced (patient and wife).  You could also split each of your
two new sentences into two sentences to get rid of the remaining
"and."  It would be correct, but then you would have four sentences in
place of the original sentence which was also correct.

If the sentence sounds odd, there is probably at least one detail that
could be left out.  If it is part of a narrative, I would guess that
the reader would already know who was in the room when risks and
expectations were being discussed.

Thank you very much all - now this WAS interesting. Thanks! "grin"