Singular or plural? Please... Thanks.

Question

Dear All,

I realized I’m having doubts about constructions of this type:

’’It was candies he liked best.’’

’’It was them who…’’

Are these actually wrong? Should I have written ’’They were candies he…’’ ? I’m perplexed… Could you, please, tell me which one is right? Thank you…

Ozzourti · Accepted Answer

’’It was candies he liked best.’’

’’It was them who…’’

The first one is correct. The second is acceptable in colloquial speech. It should, however, read: "It was they who...".

Terryxpress · Answer

It is quite correct :"It was candles he like best."

Change the sentence around:
What he liked best was candies.
Can you see that 'it' is replacing 'what he liked best' - nothing to do with whether the object is singular or plural.

We use 'it' at the start of the sentence to emphasize what comes later - in your sentence,, 'what he liked best'.
"The victim is the child."
Very mild statement of fact. But...
"It is the child who is the victim!"
is more emphatic!

Anonymous · Answer

Thanks, Ozzourti, and thank you very much, Terryxpress! ^_^

Singular or plural? Please... Thanks.

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