Can anyone kindly explain why this sentence is correct?
Complex musical numbers are a defining characteristic of most Italian films.
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4Yes: number mismatches between subject and predicative are common, cf. "The only thing we need now is new curtains". Btw, the subject is plural not compound.– BillJCommented Aug 5, 2019 at 8:46
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1The sentence is fine grammatically, but nonsense semantically unless "Italian" is a misspelling of "Indian".– RegDwigнtCommented Aug 5, 2019 at 9:56
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1A defining characteristic suggests that there are other defining characteristics. The defining characteristic suggests that complex musical numbers are the main one. And yeah, this has to be Bollywood, not Cinecittá.– KarlGCommented Aug 5, 2019 at 11:58
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2A defining characteristic of Italian films is not a subject; it is a noun phrase that is the predicate of the sentence, following the be form that is the required auxiliary for predicate nouns. He is an idiot, She is a genius, They are the ones, all use predicate noun phrases, following be, using whatever articles those noun phrases use. They are not subjects; they are predicates and they don't have to agree with anything.– John LawlerCommented Aug 5, 2019 at 15:27
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1I won't edit as this renders J Lawler's comment n/a, but OP probably intends 'Can a plural subject be followed by a complement beginning “a…”? BillJ assumes this in his answer. This makes the question a duplicate; otherwise, it's possibly ELL level. (plural vs singular noun addresses this.) And Agreement in singular noun - is - are plural noun.– Edwin AshworthCommented Aug 6, 2019 at 13:43
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1 Answer
In a comment, John Lawler wrote:
A defining characteristic of Italian films is not a subject; it is a noun phrase that is the predicate of the sentence, following the be form that is the required auxiliary for predicate nouns. He is an idiot, She is a genius, They are the ones, all use predicate noun phrases, following be, using whatever articles those noun phrases use. They are not subjects; they are predicates and they don't have to agree with anything.