Thread: Tell me which sentence is grammatically correct?

Originally Posted by cuddleyperson

Ok well i am just watching the news and the guy talking is annoying me, maybe he is saying it right but it sounds wrong to me:

What he is saying roughly : " 1000's of galleons of oil are flowing under the ground here"

What i keep thinking it should be: " 1000's of galleons of oil is flowing under the ground here"

It's really bugging me.. can someone tell me which is correct?

The anchor is correct. Gallons are flowing.

Man, the english can be so damned confusing at times.

English is difficult, but this is not a difficult case. It falls under subject/verb agreement. When you can determine the subject, you know the verb tense.

The confusion was likely that cuddley thought "oil" was the subject, but in fact, it was "gallons." When you say "gallons of oil" gallons is still your subject, and it's plural.

You would need the singular in this case: "A large quantity of oil is flowing under the ground here." Here, "quantity" is singular.

I are confused! These things is so confusing!

The dude on TV is definately correct.

yea tv is right t his time.(trick, not really..)- i think because gallons is the subject you can replace it with "they" and then try using "are" or "is". cant remember if this technique is correct but i vaguely remember something along those lines. i could be completely wrong th ough haha skysaw had good info as well, is is subject/ verb agreement.

This is the second coincidence on DreamViews today... I had a weird feeling that someone was going to ask a quesetion about pronouns... WTF...

Originally Posted by NightLife

This is the second coincidence on DreamViews today... I had a weird feeling that someone was going to ask a quesetion about pronouns... WTF...

That's weird. So, um, did anyone ask a question about pronouns?

Originally Posted by rastasteez

yea tv is right t his time.(trick, not really..)- i think because gallons is the subject you can replace it with "they" and then try using "are" or "is". cant remember if this technique is correct but i vaguely remember something along those lines. i could be completely wrong th ough haha skysaw had good info as well, is is subject/ verb agreement.

I used to teach English, so every time I see one of these threads, I just can't stop myself from commenting. The subject of the sentence is "thousands". The phrase "of gallons" is a prepositional phrase which serves as an adjective that modifies the subject. Because the subject is plural, the correct verb is "are".

Rarely is the question is... is our children learning?

Originally Posted by wasup

Rarely is the question is... is our children learning?

Is it hot outside?
Is Monday going to be exhausting?
Is my computer ready?
Is Mexico far away?

It's the grammarian in me, just waiting to get out.

Ironically, I butchered a George Bush quote.

I didn't realize I made the mistake... the actual quote by our fearless leader is: "Rarely is the question asked: is our children learning?"

Originally Posted by wasup

the actual quote by our fearless leader is: "Rarely is the question asked: is our children learning?"

My favorite Bushism. We have a magnet with this saying and his clueless face on our fridge.

Originally Posted by NightLife

Is it hot outside?
Is Monday going to be exhausting?
Is my computer ready?
Is Mexico far away?

It is.
Monday is.
Computer is.
Mexico is.
Children is are.

Yeah, it's "Gallons are flowing".

This is because "gallons" is the 3rd person plural.

I am
You are
He is
We are
You are
They are

Gallons falls under "They".

Lol people, it is are. One way of determining it is through the numeral: thousands. At least in planet Earth, "thousands" is seen as plural.

Originally Posted by Kromoh

Lol people, it is are. One way of determining it is through the numeral: thousands. At least in planet Earth, "thousands" is seen as plural.

Congratulations for being the sixth person in the thread to say so.

Sometimes having multiple people agree on something is reassuring for the one who asked ^^

Plural = are
collective= is

By the way, in case you didn't figure it out, it's are.

I repeat, it's are.


Did you get that?


PS.
It's are.

They is correct.

ok ok it's are it's are, don't kill me!!!

It's art!