what 引导的从句，主句谓语动词问题

patricialiu

The period when the great painted caves atLascaux and Altamira were occupied by Upper Paleolithic peoples has beenestablished by carbon dating, but what is much more difficult to determine arethe use to which primitive peoples put the caves, the reason for theirdecoration, and the meaning of the magnificently depicted animals.

A.    has been established bycarbon dating, but what is much more difficult to determine are

B.    have been established bycarbon dating, but what is much more difficult to determine are

C.    have been established bycarbon dating, but that which is much more difficult to determine is

D.    has been established bycarbon dating, but what is much more difficult to determine is    (D)

E.    are established bycarbon dating, but that which is much more difficult to determine is

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答案D。但是to determine +be+ the use...the reason....and the meaning... （宾语是三个名词），为什么be要用单数？what引导的从句做主语谓语动词要怎样判断？请大牛解答。

elleven806

what is much more difficult to determine is....
我赶脚这句话应该是前面的what引导句子作的主语，句子作主语 所以后面跟的谓语是is

patricialiu

elleven806 发表于 2014-10-16 15:30
what is much more difficult to determine  is....
我赶脚这句话应该是前面的what引导句子作的主语，句子 ...

你的意思是跟后面接什么词没有关系吗？

可是prep笔记上说：What is difficult to understand is A.；What are difficult to understand are A and B.所以我才觉得A对。能再说说不？

patricialiu

谁明白这个语法点，给说说呗~跪谢~~

patricialiu

继续问！

elleven806

patricialiu 发表于 2014-10-16 16:47
你的意思是跟后面接什么词没有关系吗？

可是prep笔记上说：What is difficult to understand is A.；Wha ...

首先贴上一个讨论帖  http://forum.chasedream.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=5847&fromuid=915188

楼主的问题这里也讨论了哈

” 可是prep笔记上说：What is difficult to understand is A.；What are difficult to understand are A and B.所以我才觉得A对。能再说说不？“
prep貌似也有很多问题，What are difficult to understand are A and B  中的这个 谓语到底用are/is还是有待考证的
我记得谓语判断 一般都是和前面的subject 一致 除非是倒装的情况
ROn：
in a sentence that has the construction "X is Y" -- if both X and Y are nouns/noun phrases/noun clauses -- the subject is X.
always.
therefore, the following two sentences are both correct:
the last three questions were the hardest part of the test.
the hardest part of the test was the last three questions.
in each of these constructions, the subject is before the verb.

the only time when you have a reverse construction (subject after verb) is when nothing in front of the verb is eligible to be the subject.
example:
on the table are two cell phones.
here, "on the table" cannot be a subject (prepositional phrases are not allowed to be subjects), so this sentence is forced to have a reverse construction.
建议楼主下来再考证哈