Nothing

Question

I am not sure about these sentences.1. There is nothing happen.2. There is nothing happens.3. There are nothing happen.4. There are nothing happens5. There is nothing happening.6. There are nothing happening.Just explain or tell me which is right.

GPY · Accepted Answer

Only 5 is correct.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Facts:
First, nothing is the subject.
Second, nothing is singular. (There is nothing in his pocket. Nothing is in his pocket.)

1. There is nothing happen.
2. There is nothing happens.
3. There are nothing happen. (Wrong by fact #2.)
4. There are nothing happens (Wrong by fact #2.)
5. There is nothing happening.
6. There are nothing happening. (Wrong by fact #2.)

Third, each sentence has only one (inflected) verb.
Fourth, the verb in your sentence is "is".
Fifth, the verb "be" cannot be followed by the bare infinitive.

1. There is nothing happen. (Wrong by fact #5.)
2. There is nothing happens. (Wrong by fact #3.)
5. There is nothing happening.

There is only one sentence left, and that is #5.

You could re-write #2, by adding a relative clause: There is nothing that happens without a cause or reason.

Soviphou · Answer

Thanks, I got it.
How about the two sentences below? They're different from each other or not?

1. There is nothing that happens when I click on it.
2. There is nothing happening when I click on it.

And if #2 is in the past, it will changes like this "There is nothing happening when I clicked on it" ?

GPY · Answer

soviphouHow about the two sentences below? They're different from each other or not?1. There is nothing that happens when I click on it.2. There is nothing happening when I click on it.And if #2 is in the past, it will changes like this "There is nothing happening when I clicked on it" ?

(1) is not a natural way of saying this. (2) is less unlikely, but more often people would say "Nothing happens when I click on it" or, if speaking at the actual time of trying, possibly "Nothing's happening when I click on it".

"There is nothing happening when I clicked on it" has mismatched tenses. If you want to emphasise that you clicked in the past but nothing is happening now, you can say "I clicked on it but nothing's happening".

Soviphou · Answer

Thanks so much

Nothing

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