Singular or Plural verb with "The only thing..."
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Is it grammatically right to say "The only thing that turns up is seven books"? (Should the verb "is" agree with "the only thing" instead of "seven books"?)
Top answer
The only thing that turns up is seven books . It's fine, at least grammatically. The subject is the singular NP the only thing that turns up and hence the verb-form should also be singular is .
- The only thing that turns up is seven books .
- It's fine, at least grammatically.
- The subject is the singular NP the only thing that turns up and hence the verb-form should also be singular is .
- It doesn't matter that the complement of "be" is the plural noun phrase seven books -- the general rule is that the subject determines the verb-form.
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The only thing that turns up is seven books.
It's fine, at least grammatically. The subject is the singular NP the only thing that turns up and hence the verb-form should also be singular is. It doesn't matter that the complement of "be" is the plural noun phrase seven books -- the general rule is that the subject determines the verb-form.
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