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Napoleonponapa Posted 17 years ago
Vocabulary

What clause as the subject of the sentence

According to some english gramma book, It is said that "what clause " can be the subject of the sentence and it is considered as a single entity , so it take singular verb.

eg. What he referred to makes me want to follow up.

(What he referred to) subject + makes ( singular) me want to follow up.

My question is that if I add a noun , for example " books " in the sentence, the sentence will rewrite as follows

What books he referred to make/makes me want to follow up.

Questions : Do I use "make or makes"? if " what books he referred to " is still the subject, we should use " makes", right? becuase " what books" is not the subject of the sentence.

thanks you so much for your help
  

Top answer

" This sentence seems awkward to me though, and even sounds faintly illiterate, though I can't quite put my finger on why. " Some sentences of this form work OK for me, such as "What I saw was big and blue". ", as in, for example, "What refreshments were provided were inadequate".

— Mr Wordy

  • " This sentence seems awkward to me though, and even sounds faintly illiterate, though I can't quite put my finger on why.
  • " Some sentences of this form work OK for me, such as "What I saw was big and blue".
  • ", as in, for example, "What refreshments were provided were inadequate".
  • So, your structure seems better to me as "(He didn't refer to many books, but) what books he did refer to make me want to follow up" -- though this may be changing the meaning.
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4 Answers
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I guess it should be "What books he referred to make me want to follow up." This sentence seems awkward to me though, and even sounds faintly illiterate, though I can't quite put my finger on why. I don't know why you wouldn't just say "The books ..."

Some sentences of this form work OK for me, such as "What I saw was big and blue". I think with sentences like yours, starting "Wha
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thanks !!

but I still have some questions. According to your example sentence, noun clause

( what refreshments were provided) is the subject of the sentence , it should be in singular form , so 'was" should be used according to grammar book. Why did you use " were" instead?

(What refreshments were provided) subject + were inadequate.

thanks
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My layman's explanation: The core subject is "refreshments", as in the sentence "The refreshments were inadequate". "What ... were provided" qualifies "refreshments", but can't change it from plural to singular.

I'm surprised that your grammar book says differently. Are you sure you're interpreting it correctly? Does it actually give examples using a plural noun but a singular verb form
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napoleonponapaif I add a noun
Adding a noun makes a sentence that is a bit non-standard in my opinion.

what books he referred to actually means, and is better written, the books (that) he referred to.

books is thus the real subject, not the entire clause, and agreement with the verb should be made on this basis. what
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