0
Jasonhsu Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

The Verb form

0Hi there, 02br
02br
00I got confused with a sentence shown in the Economist. 02br
02br
00" It is not just the variation and unpredictability of performance that makes investment banks hard to read " 02br
02br
00My concern is about the verb "makes". shouldn't it be plural form (make) rather than "makes"? 02br
02br
00many thanks for that !!! 0-
  

Top answer

0 Normally it should be in the plural, since you have two subjects. 0-

— Pieanne

  • 0 Normally it should be in the plural, since you have two subjects.
  • 0-
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

5 Answers
0
0 Normally it should be in the plural, since you have two subjects. 0-
0
0
0 " It is not just [the variation and unpredictability of performance] that makes investment banks hard to read " 02br
02br
00I see this as a case in which the subject of the sentence is the complete phrase in brackets. Whether I'm right and whether there's a grammatical term for it, I don't know! But the sentence sounds right to my English ears so I feel there's some justif
0
0
0 I think it's an interesting puzzle because using 'make' would suggest that it is the 01u00combination02u00 of 'variation' and 'unpredictabilty' that causes the problem for the banks. Using 'makes' would suggest that it is the 01u00separate nature02u00 of 'variation' and 'unpredictabilty' that creates the problem for the banks. 02br
02br
0
0
0 Follow-up on the implication of 'It is not just': 02br
02br
00"It is not just the variation and unpredictability of perfomance, [but also blah-blah- blah, and blah-blah-blah], that 01b00make02b00..." 0-
0
0
0 I suppose you could say that the performance is presumably unpredictable because of its variability; which might support the idea of "variation and unpredictability of performance" as a phrasal non-plural subject. 02br
02br
00MrP 0-
0

Related Questions