I was about to write that several things were missing, when I realized that I wasn't sure if I should say
What is missing are connections
or
What are missing are connections
I think it should be the second one, but I'm not sure.
Add a comment
|
2 Answers
The subject is What is missing.
What is missing is a clause.
Clausal noun phrases are automatically singular.
Therefore what's correct is
- What is missing is connections
The fact that the predicate noun is plural is quite irrelevant to verb agreement with the subject NP.
answered Mar 24, 2014 at 23:56
-
Does this put "What's important are the related usages" in the same class as "There's two ways of looking at this"? It seems to me that in both those constructions, the first word[s] has acquired a kind of "autonomy" allowing native speakers to ignore (or at least, downplay) any apparent plurality conflict with whatever follows. Commented Mar 25, 2014 at 0:12
-
1Contraction does that. It reifies words and they often lose properties they had when they weren't contracted, and gain others. Commented Mar 25, 2014 at 0:21
-
Could you please provide a reference for this grammatical rule? Or a page with more examples similar to this sentence: "What is missing is connections"?– ShahCommented Nov 28, 2014 at 5:59
The second one seems correct. To make it simpler you could shorten it down to, "What connections are missing?"
The duplication of "are" in your sample sentence might be the reason you're doubting yourself.
