0

This is the sentence: Out of these two what is the correct grammatical order to express the sentence.

1.) Watching cartoons, movies, dramas develop the human brain

2.) Watching cartoons, movies, dramas develops the human brain

What is it? Develop or Develops?

Improve this question
4
  • Use citations in question, if you please. Look for the v. usage
    – lbf
    Commented Mar 31, 2018 at 16:09
  • 1
    The subject of the sentence is "Watching." Watching takes a singular verb. Develops is the singular verb. You should use the article "the" before human brain.
    – Zan700
    Commented Mar 31, 2018 at 16:14
  • 1
    @Zan700 The subject is 'Watching cartoons, movies, [and] dramas', but you're correct about 'watching ...' needing a singular verb-form.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Mar 31, 2018 at 16:43
  • 1
    The subject is non-finite clause, and clause subjects take singular agreement. So the singular "develops" is correct.
    – BillJ
    Commented Mar 31, 2018 at 16:56

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
1

"Watching cartoons, movies, and dramas develops the human brain." Would be the correctly structured sentence. "Watching" is the subject of the sentence, so the verb is singular: "develops".

A series such as "cartoons, movies, dramas" normally has "and" before the last item in the list. The comma after "movies" is optional, depending on location (UK, USA, etc.), style book (if any) used, and personal preference. (Whether to place a comma there is actually the subject of huge debates!)

But you could also say: "Cartoons, movies, and dramas develop the human brain." Here the phrase "Cartoons, movies, and dramas" is the subject, so the verb is plural; "develop".

Improve this answer
1
  • Actually, the subject is the whole clause "watching cartoons, movies, and dramas".
    – BillJ
    Commented Mar 31, 2018 at 18:29
0

The subject in your sentence is - watching, so the verb takes the singular form because in general, a verb agrees with a subject in a sentence, not with a noun or pronoun. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/599/01/

Improve this answer
3
  • Actually, the subject is the whole clause "watching cartoons, movies, and dramas".
    – BillJ
    Commented Mar 31, 2018 at 18:29
  • The simple subject is watching, and no matter what you put after watching, watching will remain the singular simple subject and require a singular verb.
    – Zan700
    Commented Apr 1, 2018 at 1:01
  • It is important to say that the subject is a clause, since that is the reason why singular agreement is required here, not just because the head is a verb. Note that finite clauses also require singular agreement, cf. "That he was / they were acquitted disturbs her", where singular agreement is required irrespective of the 'head' which may be singular “was acquitted” or plural “were acquitted”.
    – BillJ
    Commented Apr 1, 2018 at 7:42

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .