In English, it can be a bit confusing when it comes to subject-verb agreement, especially when the subject is plural but the verb seems to be singular. In this case, ‘What makes them so sad?’ is the correct form, and here we’ll explain why.
Understanding Subject-Verb Agreement
Subject-verb agreement in English generally means that the verb should match the subject in terms of number (singular or plural). In the case of ‘What makes them so sad?’, ‘makes’ seems like it should be singular because of the ‘s’ at the end, but let’s dive deeper into why that’s the case.
The Subject ‘What’
In the sentence ‘What makes them so sad?’, the subject is ‘What’, which is actually a singular entity, despite referring to multiple people (‘them’). In English, when using the word ‘What’ to ask a question, it functions as a singular subject and takes a singular verb form, even if the word ‘them’ (referring to multiple people) follows.
Why Not ‘Make’?
If we used ‘make’ instead of ‘makes’, the sentence would sound grammatically incorrect in standard English. ‘Make’ is the plural form, but the subject ‘What’ requires a singular verb. This is why ‘What makes’ is correct, regardless of the plural ‘them’ that follows it.
Examples to Clarify
Let’s look at a couple of examples to further clarify:
- ‘What makes him so happy?’ – Here, ‘what’ refers to something singular (the thing that makes him happy), so ‘makes’ is used.
- ‘What make you sad?’ – This would be incorrect because ‘What’ needs a singular verb, not the plural ‘make’.
Conclusion
While it may seem odd at first that a plural subject (‘them’) is paired with a singular verb (‘makes’), this is simply the rule of subject-verb agreement when ‘What’ is the subject. Understanding this will help clarify the confusion when using questions like ‘What makes them so sad?’.
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