Is this/are these

Question

Hello! Could you help me with this?Situational:We are walking on a street and i saw a word on a wall and the word is "WARNING". And i ask my friend....Which question is grammatically correct?WARNING:How many words is this?How many word is this?How many words are these?Thanks!

Cool Breeze · Accepted Answer

I'm not sure I understand what you mean. Perhaps: How many letters are there in that word?

CB

Mudclay · Answer

We normally say like this "how many words are there? if there are many words but what if there's only one? Is this the right formula? (how many + noun plural)

Would i say how many words is this or how many words are these?

Cool Breeze · Answer

mudclayWould i say how many words is this or how many words are these?

Oh, I see! I should think any fool can see how many words there are without having to ask about it. Just say: How many words are there? The reply: There's only one word.

CB

Frostwhite · Answer

Hi!

Your question is not relevant to the situation you gave.

No wonder why CB got baffled.

How many words are these? - We normally use the plural form when asking "how many".

Mudclay · Answer

frostwhiteHi!Your question is not relevant to the situation you gave.No wonder why CB got baffled.How many words are these? - We normally use the plural form when asking "how many".

Yes sorry if the situation wasn't relevant.

Thanks!

Lagataw · Answer

Probably what mudclay was saying was, an ESL student might think a particular word may seem like a compound word.

For instance, an ESL student might think the word "neighborhood" is a combination of the words neighbor and hood. (or neigh, boar and hood ) Given that the student only hears the word (not sees it written), what should the student ask?

"Teacher, how many words is it?"
or

"Teacher, how many words are they?"

To make things a bit quirkier, what if the student sees the word (neighborhood) written. He shows the paper to the teacher and asks:

"How many words is this?"
or
"How many words are these?"

If this is the case, I think the student should ask "How many words is it?" (if the student just hears it)

and

"How many words is this?" (if the student is pointing to the word)

How many + plural noun (except in the case of the word percent)
We use the linking verb IS because the subject is singular (the word neighborhood).
And THIS/IT because the pronoun has a singular antecedent (the word neighborhood)
But I think this is chiefly spoken or casual.

It's like saying "I'm (like) two people (in one body)"

or

"He's five people (in one body)"
in the interrogative form "How many people is he?"

Is this/are these

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