Dec 13, 2019 19:55
4 yrs ago
5 viewers *
English term

It's the little things that show (or shows)?

Non-PRO English Marketing General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters basic English grammar-verb/subject agreement
Dear colleagues,

In your opinion, is one of the following two sentences grammatically incorrect?

A) It’s the little things from XXX that show the love.

B) It’s the little things like this offer form XXX that shows the love.

In Example A, we have the plural form of the verb “show,” because of the plural “little things.”
In Example B, the rationale that was used to use the singular form of the verb is that the addition of “like this offer” makes the subject single.

I disagree, and believe that the subject is the singular “it” in both cases, so in Example A, the verb should have been written as “shows.” However, I feel rather uneasy about it, and my level of confidence is low.

What say you?
Responses
5 +12 show
Change log

Dec 14, 2019 00:57: Francisco Chagas changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"

Dec 14, 2019 15:12: writeaway changed "Field (write-in)" from "English" to "basic English grammar-verb/subject agreement"

Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

Non-PRO (3): Yvonne Gallagher, Tony M, Francisco Chagas

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Responses

+12
10 mins
Selected

show

Show for both. Little things is the subject in both sentences and "like this" has no effect on the main subject-verb structure.
Peer comment(s):

agree philgoddard : "It" is an abstraction, as in "it is raining", not a singular object.
13 mins
Thank you.
agree Tina Vonhof (X)
27 mins
Thank you.
agree Francisco Chagas : Agreed on both counts. It is wise to always keep track of one's intended subject.
32 mins
Thank you.
agree Stephen McCann
1 hr
Thank you.
agree Yvonne Gallagher : "like this offer from xxx", is a subclause and not the subject of verb which is "little things" in both sentences, as you say. Nothing to do with "it" either.
1 hr
Thank you.
agree Tony M
1 hr
Thank you.
agree Charlotte Fleming
1 hr
Thank you.
agree David Hollywood
2 hrs
Thank you.
agree Lara Tagliapietra
3 hrs
Thank you
agree Dayana Hashim
17 hrs
Thank you.
agree AllegroTrans
22 hrs
Thank you.
agree Elias Marios Kounas
2 days 16 hrs
Thank you.
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Not a single disagreement or a different option. Thank you very much, Ali."
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