Subject verb agreement

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Mohammad
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Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Oct 18, 2018 7:51 pm
Status: Learner of English
Location: Iraq

Subject verb agreement

Post by Mohammad »

Hello
Please help with these:

What you plan require skilled workers and good managers. (said correct)

What we need are more pots and pans. said ( wrong ) And here confusion which rule to follow.
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They said the information after what you need \ what we need determines which verb to choose and according to what they said, there is difference unless in sentence 2, they consider ( pots and pans) = one unit so one subject

Please can you guide me with these different answers?
JenSie
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Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Dec 29, 2018 9:27 pm
Status: Teacher of English

Re: Subject verb agreement

Post by JenSie »

Hello Mohammad,
In sentence 1 the subject is "What you plan" (what = relative pronoun and object of verb "plan") refers to one idea that someone has in mind. This (singular) idea will "require" something so the verb after that has to be singular to match: "What you plan requires skilled workers and good managers.

In sentence 2 "pots and pans" is the subject of the sentence and so the verb "are" is correct. Your understanding of the rule for determining the grammatical number of the verb in sentence 2 is correct.
Mohammad
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Joined: Thu Oct 18, 2018 7:51 pm
Status: Learner of English
Location: Iraq

Re: Subject verb agreement

Post by Mohammad »

repeated
I deleted
Last edited by Mohammad on Sun Dec 30, 2018 11:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
Mohammad
Member
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Oct 18, 2018 7:51 pm
Status: Learner of English
Location: Iraq

Re: Subject verb agreement

Post by Mohammad »

Hello JenSie
Thank you so much for kindness
Let me discuss it with you or openly with all.
I know ( You said the subject ). Let's change it:
Pots and pans are what you need. pots and pans = subject ( plural ), so a plural verb
What you need = the thing or things you need, therefore what or all the phase = subject
Furthermore, I think it similar to the matter of ( here, there) when start a sentence and the verb should agree with the following information. There is a child in the room. There are children in the room. OK there \ here even to say adverbs but likely are subjects. The matter of ( what ) is also the same.
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For the sentence ( What you need is more pots and pans ) I agree to use ( is ) because for someone view are considered one item or one unit.

For more discussion which makes me unsatisfied because no brilliant could quietly solve it and always disagreeing votes or views .. Read here:
" What I need is names and addresses and What I need are names and addresses are both Standard, although the notional attraction from the plural predicate nominatives will tend to make the plural are the choice. Nearly every other use of the what clause requires a singular verb, as in What we need to know today is how much time is left [how many hours are left]." (Kenneth G. Wilson, The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. Columbia University Press, 1993)
https://www.thoughtco.com/what-clause-1692605

And here :
They said :
What you need is people \ What you need are people ( both correct )
https://forum.wordreference.com/threads ... t.2958761/
Mohammad
Member
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Oct 18, 2018 7:51 pm
Status: Learner of English
Location: Iraq

Re: Subject verb agreement

Post by Mohammad »

Hello
According to the different views who can challenge and give us a brilliant idea to pass forever and ever this problem of a grammar.
I followed someone posts here and noticed are good, not to like mention a name, please help with more guidance.
Waiting for a good solution.
Best wishes
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