Thursday, November 3, 2016

grammatical number - Was vs were in "Today's lunch was sandwiches"




I was told the sentence "Today's lunch was sandwiches", should be "Today's lunch were sandwiches", but I don't think this is correct.



However, when I switch the order I end up with this:





Sandwiches were today's lunch.




Therefore, because "were" seems appropriate here, I thought maybe "were" is correct in the above example as well.



However, no matter how many times I try to convince myself, "Today's lunch were sandwiches" just sounds wrong.



Is there ever a case where "Today's lunch were ~" is correct?


Answer




Your problem is numerical agreement. The verb and the subject must either both be plural or both be singular.



Sandwich were today's lunch <-- this is bad! It probably feels bad the same way the 'correction' felt bad! That's because it is also wrong because 'Sandwich' and 'were' don't agree.



Sandwiches were today's lunch <-- plural and plural are fine, this sentence is good.



Today's lunch was sandwiches <-- this is fine. Lunch is singular and so is was.



Today's lunches were sandwiches <-- this is ok too. Both of them are plural.


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