0
Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

Wasn't or Weren't?

Say I have such a sentence:

"What excited me most wasn't the balloons or the cake: it was the cotton candy".

Would "wasn't" be replaced with "weren't" in this case because balloons is plural? Or is it a choice between two things, and therefore "wasn't"?

I feel like "What excited me most weren't the balloons or the cake: it was the cotton candy" sounds iffy.

Thanks so much for your help!
  

Top answer

I sense that the subject of the sentence is "what excited me most". These "what" clauses are always singular. I'd go with the first version.

— CalifJim

  • I sense that the subject of the sentence is "what excited me most".
  • These "what" clauses are always singular.
  • I'd go with the first version.
  • Later, "what excited me most" is used again as the pronoun "it", again singular.
  • What excited me most wasn't the balloons or the cake: it was the cotton candy.
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.

2 Answers
0
I sense that the subject of the sentence is "what excited me most". These "what" clauses are always singular. I'd go with the first version. Later, "what excited me most" is used again as the pronoun "it", again singular.

What excited me most wasn't the balloons or the cake: it was the cotton candy.

CJ
0
0
Hi,

"These "what" clauses are always singular."

What about this: What are these?

It's a "what" sentence but it's in plural, isn't it?
0

Related Questions