Subject-Verb Agreement?
Which of these sentence is correct?
What I want is justice and freedom.
What I want are justice and freedom.
Jeffrey Pressman
New member
2 answers 
What I want are justice and freedom.
| link |
edited Nov 12 '12 at 17:49
sanjay
Expert
|
I just edited it.
add commentIf "justice and freedom" is a compound direct object, what is the subject of this sentence as written? I? Or "What I want?"
| link |
answered Nov 12 '12 at 20:42
Jeffrey Pressman
New member
|
"I" is the subject and "want" is the verb.
Thanks, Tolley. In your suggested rewrite - "I want justice and freedom" - "I" is clearly the subject and "want" the verb. But in the original construction, which is my concern here, isn't "are" the verb? And if it is, what then is the subject? Can the phrase "what I want" be a subject?
Diagramming idiomatic language is always difficult, because one is diagramming a correctly incorrec t sentence. In that case, "what I want" becomes the subject of the sentence with the singular nomnitive, "is" would be the verb because the verb refers back to the subject "what" (NOT I), and the compound direct remains intact. With the correction, "I" is the subject, "want" is the verb, and the compound direct remains intact.
Thanks again, Tolley. Just to clarify, I have no questions regarding the suggested rewrite, nor is that the solution I would always favor. I hear idiomatic phrases like "what I want" all the time, typically used to lend greater emphasis. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but are you now saying that "What I want IS justice and freedom." would be correct? The phrase "what I want" becomes the subject, and it is a singular subject, is that correct?
add comment
