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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

Regarding third person "s"

Sentence: It was known to everybody that allies are unreliable, what takes her so long to discover that ? Or. It was known to everybody that allies are unreliable, what take her so long to discover that ?

Question : Does the word 'take' need to be in the form of plural 'takes ' in the sentence? If yes, then why.

Thanks
  

Top answer

Anonymous Question : Does the word 'take' need to be in the form of plural 'takes ' in the sentence? If yes, then why. What takes her so long?

— AlpheccaStars

  • Anonymous Question : Does the word 'take' need to be in the form of plural 'takes ' in the sentence?
  • If yes, then why.
  • What takes her so long?
  • The subject (what) is 3rd person singular, so the verb has to agree and be 3rd person singular.
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5 Answers
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Anonymous
Question : Does the word 'take' need to be in the form of plural 'takes ' in the sentence? If yes, then why.
What takes her so long?

The subject (what) is 3rd person singular, so the verb has to agree and be 3rd person singular.
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To take should be in the past tense. I think this is because "It was known" is also in the past tense, but really I am not sure. Being a native English speaker, I know that it sounds correct, but not the reasoning for it.
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You are right. There are several problems with this sentence. But the poster was only asking about the subject-verb agreement.
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Thanks for correcting me. Guess it should be: "what has taken her so long"....right?
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AnonymousThanks for correcting me. Guess it should be: "what has taken her so long"....right?
Yes, that's one possibility. Simple past is another:

It was known to everybody that allies are unreliable. (Two main clauses are not joined by a comma. That is a mistake called a comma splice.) What took her so long to discover t
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