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 1. The headmaster and the patron of the club are accompanying the students on the excursion.

2. The headmaster and patron of the club is accompanying the students on the excursion.

Now, both sentences are correct, even though different verbs (a plural verb in the first and a singular verb in the second) are used.Meanwhile, two items are mentioned in both sentences (headmaster and patron).

The question is: how come both sentences are correct with a singular and a plural verb? The answer lies in the use of the definite article the in the first sentence and its absence in the second.

In English, we know that when we talk about countable nouns that are singular, we must precede them with the definite article the or the indefinite article a/an, as in: the book, a book, an apple, the apple, the boy, a boy, an orange, the teacher, a teacher, etc.

When we form sentences with such nouns and precede them with such articles, we see each noun as being an entity, and when such separate entities are joined by the conjunction and, they become plural, for which reason they must agree with a plural verb, as in the first sentence above: the headmaster and the patron are seen as two separate entities joined by the conjunction and, hence the use of the plural verb are.

You notice that in the second sentence, only headmaster is preceded by the article the, while patron is not preceded by any article.

That means that both headmaster and patron refer to the same person, hence the use of the singular verb is. In this case, if we use the plural verb are, it is incorrect because only one person is being talked about here. Other examples are:

The Minister of Information and Member of Parliament for Ofoase/Ayirebi is my friend.

The President and Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces has presented vehicles to soldiers.

The Founder and Leader of the church wants to step down for his son to take over.