Richard, When gerunds are used as the subject of a sentence they take the singular form of the verb, but when they are linked by "and" they take the plural form because they form a compound subject. Swimming is my favorite sport. Running is my favorite sport. Swimming and Running are my favorite sports Reading your emails gives me pleasure. Talking with you gives me pleasure. Reading your emails and talking with you give me pleasure. A compound subject consisting of two nouns joined by the word "and" usually takes a plural verb. However, a compound subject with "and" takes a singular verb when the subject as a whole refers to only one thing, or is considered as referring to only one thing. One and one equals two. Strawberries and cream is my favorite dessert. Reading your emails and talking with you gives me pleasure. So, if you consider [reading emails and talking with you] as one thing, or one category containing two connected things, in the sense that email and talking on the internet are two connected forms of communication, then you would be perfectly justified is using the singular verb. I think people often use this kind of construction when they are talking...and email is a form of writing as close to talking as you can get. :)

I think you need to go back to school. The correct way is: (phrase)...and...(phrase)...BOTH give me pleasure.

Just my impression (and on first glance I would have also corrected it to "gives"): Although they are both clauses, they still function in the sentence as two "things". So the logical answer is as the person wrote it: "give". I think the confusion is that, having clauses, it isn't so clear that there are actually two things. Perhaps for clarity's sake, the sentence could be rewritten as: "Reading your emails, and talking with you, give me pleasure." (Looks a bit messy with the commas, I agree.) or "Reading your emails and talking with you both give me pleasure." (Again, not so pretty now I've written it; this could be misread as addressing two people. But probably better than Comma City.)