This is something I asked @Misty a while ago on Skype, but to quote her: Anyway, when a sentence contains both singular and plural, how do you determine if you use "is" or "are"? Misty basically explained, using an example I provided her: So that sentence seems easy for the most part, but where would you use "is"? Here's another example: "Really, what takes up the most room on your computer [is / are] videos."
You would use are where the object is plural... For example... Water is a substance, or singular object. Cups of water are objects. You use 'is' if the object itself is singular. Reverse your first example to see what I mean: "When I edit my walkthroughs and let's plays, [what] I edit [is] all of them."[DOUBLEPOST=1405615652][/DOUBLEPOST]I am 90% sure that is correct, despite the odd use of plurals.
No, because 'all of them' isn't the object... I chose a bad example. 'When I edit my walkthroughs and let's plays, [what] I edit [is] the collection.'[DOUBLEPOST=1405617895][/DOUBLEPOST]Other examples: "All I fish for is bass." "All I fish for is trout.' "All I fish for are bass and trout."
This stuff wasn't taught at the language arts classes I had in high school. It was more about reading books and writing essays, though there were times where we did spelling, homonyms / confusing words, matching complex phrases with what they mean (e.g., one phrase we had was "catch 22"), etc.
Below got it. When you're talking about two things that are meant to be one (but are referred to by a title that simply combines the two), like "mac and cheese," you'd say "All I eat is mac and cheese," but "burgers and fries" aren't generally referred to as one thing because they're eaten separately. Thus, you'd say for that, "All I eat are burgers and fries." "Walkthroughs and let's plays" is the same case. At least, as long as I accurately remember from my college grammar class.
Don't you mean Makaze? Anyway, the macaroni and cheese example is pretty obvious, in my opinion, because it is, as you said, one meal. Burgers and fries could be considered one meal, but you can have a burger and fries separately or by themselves, whereas macaroni is pretty much always eaten with cheese. So in the example I provided in my OP, would it be "is" or "are"? This is where it's tougher, in my opinion, because there's only one thing, whereas in your examples, there were two things in each example: "macaroni and cheese" and "burgers and fries." Do we go by "room" (singular) or "videos" (plural)?
Wait... WHAT THE HELL GUYS YOU HAVE THE SAME AVATAR? Back to your question though: I thought I explained it pretty well. Walkthroughs and let's plays are considered two different things (even if they have similarities,) and they aren't generally put together in dialogue. Think of it this way: you can say "All I am editing is my walkthrough" or "All I am editing is my let's play." Since you're using plural forms of both, you'd have to say "All I am editing are my walkthroughs," since it can be reversed as "My walkthroughs are all I am editing." And now you're combining two instances of that, so ultimately, you'd want to say "Since usually all I edit are my walkthroughs and let's plays," reversible as "Since my walkthroughs and let's plays are usually all I edit." Basically, what Makaze said, though maybe I put it in terms you understand more clearly?
If even that was too cryptic, replace 'are' with 'is' in these reversals and see if it sounds correct. Normal with is: "All I am editing is my walkthroughs." Reversed with is: "My walkthroughs is all I am editing." Normal with is: "Since usually all I edit is my walkthroughs and let's plays." Reversed with is: "Since my walkthroughs and let's plays is usually all I edit."
Now I'm even more confused. :( So either way is correct? @Hayabusa: How about that second example? "Really, what takes..."
No, Makaze was just showing how awkward those sentences sound if you were to use the word "is" rather than "are." For your second example, I'd say "Really, what takes up the most room on your computer are videos." Reverse it, and it reads "Really, videos are what take up the most room on your computer." The verb "takes" changed to "take" for the reversed only because of the noun that is acting...can't remember the actual term for that.
