颠覆了我的三观啊！What主语从句谓语动词是单数还是复数的问题！

sherry1208

If this example is correct, can we approach this kind of question by following the steps below?
1. Plural verb in a subordinate clause (what concern) - plural verb (what... are)
2. no implication in the subordinate clause - singular verb (what... is)

Those steps look good to me. Our general advice is 'if in doubt, think singular'. Check out the chapter in the SC guide that deals with this (Subjects and Verb Tense: Extra).

sherry1208

结合曼哈顿的帖子整理了一下：

if anything BEFORE the verb CAN BE the subject, then that thing will be the subject.

this advice mostly applies to sentences like this one: "A is/are B".
specifically:
in the sentence "noun1 is/are noun2", noun1 is the subject.
in the sentence "noun2 is/are noun1", noun2 is the subject.

for instance:
the hardest part of the test was the last three questions --> "hardest part" is the subject.
the last three questions were the hardest part of the test --> "last three questions" is the subject.

you only have a backward construction (verb before subject) if NOTHING in FRONT of the verb is eligible to be the subject.

on the table are two cell phones
--> "on the table " is a prep. phrase and therefore can't be the subject, so this is a backward construction. "two cell phones" is the subject.

harder than anything else on the test were the last three questions
--> here "harder than anything on the test" contains no eligible subjects, so this is backward construction; "the last three questions" is the subject.

---------From Ron

简单说就是谓语动词前面有名词可以作为主语的话，那谓语动词的单复数就和前面的一致；如果没有的话，就看后面的词语的单复数

学生提问--- what is much more difficult to determine is the reason for their decoration.

I would think the subject is the reason.

Ron：nope. 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.

也就是说这儿的what是主语从句，所以what这一坨就是句子的主语

学生又问：If subject is the clause "what is much more difficult to determine" then is the below sentence correct:

what is much more difficult to determine is the reasons for their decoration

Ron：yes.

最后一个提问：

What concern scientists the most about global warming are the risks that the polar ice caps will melt, that the seas will grow too warm to sustain marine life, and that violent weather patterns may result.

For this one, the subject is "what concern scientists the most about global warming". Why should we use "are" instead of "is" this time? Is it because "what concern" implies a single verb？

The singular / plural nature of some pronouns (such as what, some, either) depends somewhat on context. Here, because 'what' is clearly standing for multiple things, treating it as plural makes sense (try it as singular here and you'll see that the sentence could be confusing).

也就是说根据句意，这个句子里的what是指的multiple things，再加上concern用的是复数，所以用are...

最后一个学生总结：
If this example is correct, can we approach this kind of question by following the steps below?
1. Plural verb in a subordinate clause (what concern) - plural verb (what... are) 从句里有复数的谓语动词-->整个句子用复数
2. no implication in the subordinate clause - singular verb (what... is) 从句没有任何单复数暗示-->用单数

instructor：Those steps look good to me. Our general advice is 'if in doubt, think singular'. Check out the chapter in the SC guide that deals with this (Subjects and Verb Tense: Extra).-->曼哈顿的建议就是，用单数，除非明确暗示
不过Ron和曼哈顿的老师都说GMAT一般不会把这个作为单独的考点...

YumiYaya

楼主问的问题是我想了好久还没想明白的…纠结死我了

3410

也遇到这个问题了感谢这个帖子！