yes to both of your questions but both strategies are not recommended, often classed as "n00b" by some people, thing is you won't do nearly as much damage with spells as a ranger unless your an ele and you won't do nearly as much damage with a sword as an ele as you would with a warrior, your best bet is to stick with what your profession is good at, so stick to bows and offensive attacks which apply your bow, don't waste attribute points trying to strengthen an element as well. You'll find out later however some people use secondary profession skills as part of a main build such as Monk/Mesmer using Inspired Hex to remove a hex.
SO long story short YES they will work but don't waste your time trying to do them, if you want a sword and to use it properly make a warrior if you want to cast elemental spells effectively make an Elementalist (by the way for your information Elementalists primary attribute increases energy so therefore you have a larger pool of energy to cast with) and generally the Ranger's energy won't be able to cope with a lot of spell useage, also the Ranger's primary attribute Expertise which reduces the energy cost of Non Spells by 4% each rank, of course does not apply to spells. But instead makes your general attacks more effective and it allows a nice variety of combos to use and not put such stress on your energy.
As for Ranger/Monk though actually a popular skill to use is Judges Insight, combined with a Ranger Elite Skill called Barrage which you won't get until one of the final missions of the game. You could use Judges Insight around mid way through the game as you face Undead Enemies and they take double damage as Judges Insight applies Holy Damage to your weapon
Hope this helps you out, also if you need some help don't hesitate to contact me in game as Sithicus Dias , i'd be happy to help you out if you need it.
