How to vertically align two columns of text in a table (tabular)

Question

This should should be a simple question, but after reviewing other responses I still can't seem to get it working. I've simplified my example to the following:

\begin{tabular}{p{.5in} l }
  \begin{tabular}{p{.5in}  }
    very long first column that spans multiple row.s
  \end{tabular}
 & 
  \begin{tabular}{p{.5in}  }
    2nd column
  \end{tabular}
\end{tabular}

I simply want to get the text in both columns to be vertically aligned to the top. Unfortuantely Try as I might, currently the 2nd column is always vertically centered in the table.

Answer 1

Use t (for top) in the optional argument of tabular:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{array}

\begin{document}

\begin{tabular}{p{.5in} l }
  \begin{tabular}[t]{p{.5in}  }
    very long first column that spans multiple row.s
  \end{tabular}
 & 
  \begin{tabular}[t]{p{.5in}  }
    2nd column
  \end{tabular}
\end{tabular}

\end{document}

Answer 2

why do you embed a tabular in a tabular?

\documentclass{book}
\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{p{.5in}p{.5in}}
\raggedright very long first column that spans multiple rows& 
\raggedright 2nd column
\end{tabular}
\end{document}