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Anonymous Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

Proper use of "is" and "are"

Which would be the proper use of "is' and "are"?

1. What makes me mad is children's shows using imporper grammar.

2. What makes me mad are children's shows using improper grammer.

I would think that #2 is correct due to the plural of "shows", however, someone has told me that since "what" is singular then "is" is the correct answer. Thanks
  

Top answer

Someone told you wrong. "What" takes the number of its antecedent. The question is what is the antecedent?

— Enoon

  • Someone told you wrong.
  • "What" takes the number of its antecedent.
  • The question is what is the antecedent?
  • It is not the shows that make you mad, it is the fact that they expose your children to bad grammar, expressed in the sentence as "children's shows using improper grammar".
  • "Using" is singular, and therefore so is "what".
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11 Answers
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Someone told you wrong. "What" takes the number of its antecedent. The question is what is the antecedent? It is not the shows that make you mad, it is the fact that they expose your children to bad grammar, expressed in the sentence as "children's shows using improper grammar". "Using" is singular, and therefore so is "what".

This is a tricky case, because grammar demands the possessive
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enoon grammar demands the possessive form for "shows" before a gerund like that:
According to some people it does; according to others it does not. There have been arguments about this dating back to before the Jespersen/Fowler duscussion in the 1920's.
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So given the choices as they were written above, which one would be correct? I do appreciate your responses.
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I go for What makes me mad is childrens shows' using improper grammar.
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fivejedjonI go for What makes me mad is childrens shows' using improper grammar.
Sorry. That was a typo that I didn't spot in time to dorrect. I meant to write:

I go for What makes me mad is childrens shows using improper grammar.


No apostrophe.
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fivejedjon fivejedjonI go for What makes me mad is childrens shows' using improper grammar.Sorry. That was a typo that I didn't spot in time to dorrect. I meant to write:I go for What makes me mad is childrens shows using improper grammar. No apostrophe.
Ummm ... "children's", right?
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You mean "its" not your day.
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enoonYou mean "its" not your day.
No. I mean "It is not my day"
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I guess it is not my day to make jokes.
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