To have

Question

Which one would be correct:It is you who has convinced me; or It is you who have convinced me

Alex-93 · Accepted Answer

Hi,
The first one:

"It's you who has convinced me"

If it's third person singular it's "has"

Greetings

Mr Wordy · Answer

If I was paying attention, I think I'd choose "have".

Google Book Search results:

644 on "it is you who has"

1,282 on "it is you who have"

621 on "it's you who has"

698 on "it's you who have"

Anonymous · Answer

Yes, but wouldn't the 'you' in the sentence denote that it's second person?

Alex-93 · Answer

Have sounds kinda strange in this context <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/3.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/3.gif' alt='Emotion: surprise'/>

Kooyeen · Answer

It's you who's been bothering me!
It's you guys who've been bothering me!

I think the pattern is:

Singular you -> Singular verb
Plural you -> Plural verb

But not everyone follows that pattern. It's not necessary either: you can use "You are the one(s) who..." for example.

Mr Wordy · Answer

KooyeenIt's you who's been bothering me!

It's you guys who've been bothering me!

I think the pattern is:

Singular you -> Singular verb

Plural you -> Plural verb

That's a very good point, Kooyeen, which I overlooked when posting the Google stats. I think there are two things going on here. There's no question that in everyday language people say "It's you who's..." when referring to a single person. Adapting that to "It's you who've..." when referring to a group of people seems correct.

Then, there's the question of whether, to be technically (or even pedantically) accurate, one should say "It's you who have..." when referring to a single person (i.e. "have" should agree with "you").

To have

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions