| Traum | 09-26-2016 09:07 AM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by MG1
(Post 8790870)
Now there's another one............
Sometimes I wonder if people's English are really that bad.
Sometimes I wonder if people's English is really that bad.
I always get confused on that one. Is it plural because of "people's"? Or, is it singular because of the "English"? Or, People as a singular entity.......
| 100% certain that the correct version is: Quote:
Sometimes I wonder if people's English is really that bad.
| If you break the sentence down into its core parts, it is really simple to see.
1) For our linguistic analysis, we can basically ignore the first bit up to the "if" portion, so the sentence becomes: Quote:
People's English is really that bad.
| 2) But in this case, "People's" really serves as an adjective, so it doesn't have a role in determining what conjugation the verb uses. This means the portion to consider becomes: Quote:
English is really that bad.
| 3) The noun "English" means we use the "is" form of the verb "to be". So Quote:
Sometimes I wonder if people's English is really that bad.
| is the correct version. | 