Who are/in
Dear teachers,
Please take a look at the following sentence. There is a discussion as to whether the verb in the relative clause should be "is" or "are" :
1. The moment we entertain people like the writer who are/is very quarrelsome and....
In my opinion, it should be "are" as the head noun in the noun phrase "people like the writer" is "the people", which is the antecedent of the relative pronoun "who", which should be followed by a plural verb, i.e., "are". Is my analysis correct
Top answer
There is an argument to be had for both sides of this question. Is the antecedent 'people' or 'writer'? You say it's 'people', so 'are' is correct, but there are those who say it's 'writer', so 'is' is correct.
- There is an argument to be had for both sides of this question.
- Is the antecedent 'people' or 'writer'?
- You say it's 'people', so 'are' is correct, but there are those who say it's 'writer', so 'is' is correct.
- Neither one is ungrammatical.
- The choice of 'is' or 'are' tells the reader which of those two words is the antecedent.
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There is an argument to be had for both sides of this question.
Is the antecedent 'people' or 'writer'?
You say it's 'people', so 'are' is correct, but there are those who say it's 'writer', so 'is' is correct.
Neither one is ungrammatical. The choice of 'is' or 'are' tells the reader which of those two words is the antecedent.
So write 'are' if you want the reader to
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