Should I use “are” or “is” ?

[tuboludo]

Here is the entire section:

Why do women always blame men for hunting down one woman after another? It is not our fault. We can’t help it. It’s a simple and strong instinct given to us by Mother Nature. And not even the most radical religions are able to control this strong instinct in men. Or women for that matter, but it is usually the male sexuality women and the society are focused on.

Here is my question. Should I use “are” or “is” in the following sentence?

1. option

Or women for that matter, but it is usually the male sexuality women and the society are focused on.

2. option

Or women for that matter, but it are usually the male sexuality women and the society is focused on.

I fell strongest for the 1. option, but Word spell check wants me to use the 2. option???

[Aylinn]

You are right that 'are' is the correct version. 'women and the society' is the subject of the sentence. I suppose that Word spell corrected it, because you have given the object of the sentence before the subject, so Word spell treats 'the male sexuality' as if it were the subject.

[Mohammad Ahmad]

Here is the entire section:



Or women for that matter, but it are usually the male sexuality women and the society is focused on.

I fell strongest for the 1. option, but Word spell check wants me to use the 2. option???

Never plural verb comes after it. ( It are !) is wrong
personal pronouns : she- he ( singular) they ( plural) subject ---them ( plural) object
it an impersonal pronoun ( singular) they ( plural)

[tuboludo]

Never plural verb comes after it. ( It are !) is wrong
personal pronouns : she- he ( singular) they ( plural) subject ---them ( plural) object
it an impersonal pronoun ( singular) they ( plural)

So which sentence is the correct one? No.1 or No. 2 (little confused here - Aylinn says senteces no. 2 is the correct one???!!!

[tuboludo]

Sorry. Aylinn says that the original 1. option is correct.

But why does Word pick up on this????

[Delta40]

Nobody says 'but it are'. The question is whether to use 'are' or 'is' before focused. In this respect you can probably use either. I would use 'are' since the sentence is preceded with 'but it is'. I would also drop 'the' from society to increase the sentence flow.

[Pompey Bum]

So which sentence is the correct one? No.1 or No. 2 (little confused here - Aylinn says senteces no. 2 is the correct one???!!!

Option one are definitely the way to go. :)

[Delta40]

Option one are definitely the way to go. :)

Ha ha

[108 fountains]

Hi tuboludo,
Option two is correct. You actually have two places in the sentence where the verb is/are appears, and I think some commenters were confused by that.
In the first part of the sentence, "it is" is correct.
In the second part of the sentence, "women and society are" is correct.
I would suggest re-writing the sentence anyway as, "Or women for that matter, but women and society usually focus on male sexuality."

[tuboludo]

Thanks guys (and girls) for improving my English *Thumbs up*

[tuboludo]

"Or women for that matter, but women and society usually focus on male sexuality."

Hi 108 fountains. Thanks for helping me ... Again ;)

I am gonna go with your suggestion of re-writing the sentence. However, would it be one word too many if I put in a "the": "...on the male sexuality." ???

[Mohammad Ahmad]

So which sentence is the correct one? No.1 or No. 2 (little confused here - Aylinn says senteces no. 2 is the correct one???!!!

1. option

Or women for that matter, but it is usually the male sexuality women and the society are focused on. ( this one is correct) woman and the society = plural

2. option

Or women for that matter, but it are usually the male sexuality women and the society is focused on.

(Male sexuality ) is in the position of a ( object) because both woman and society are focused on (male sexuality) so (women and society) is a subject thus (using are) is correct
To get rid from confusion here it needs to put a comma: but it is usually, the male sexuality, women and the society are focused on..( this matter)
(Is) also is correct if we consider women and society having one effect concentrating upon the matter
As I consider on the context again I point out that the writer wants to focus on a human instinct to find a cause why male hunting down a woman after a woman, so he used the pronoun ( it).. "It’s a simple and strong instinct given to us by Mother" Nature

[Hawkman]

The subject of the sentence is sexuality, a singular noun, therefore, for verb agreement, "is" should be used. The way the piece is structured, the comma after "matter" should be a full stop. You could also delimit this clause with a comma at the end of the previous sentence.

However, the best way to write the paragraph is as follows, omitting some of the definite articles, which are unnecessary.

"Why do women always blame men for hunting down one woman after another? It is not our fault. We can’t help it. It’s a simple and strong instinct given to us by Mother Nature. Not even the most radical religions are able to control this strong instinct in men. Or women, for that matter. But, it is usually upon male sexuality that women and society focus." You could also say: "But, it is usually male sexuality upon which women and society focus."

Exemplary, and grammatically correct. However, to the modern ear, it sounds stilted. There is the old argument about ending sentences with a preposition, in this case, "on." These days, you can probably get away with it. :D Thus: But, it is usually male sexuality that women and society focus on."



The answer to your other question, about word's grammar checker, is that it's because it's a difference engine keying off particular words or phrases in a sentence. It is not actually reading what you have written with any sense of comprehension. It merely identifies certain combinations of key words and their order. It identifies "women" as a plural noun and misidentifies women as the subject of the sentence. This is because you have separated the sentence into clauses with a comma, instead of starting a new one after a full stop, as I suggested you should.

Live and be well - H

[Mohammad Ahmad]

Yes it can be if you rewriting the paragraph for a new one, but the asker didn't need that, he determined it to be as his options 1,2
Hawkman said that the subject of the sentences is sexuality! what is about its presiding noun the "Male"?
The ( male sexuality) is a phrase
Please anyone to examine the sentence carefully and ask himself which one is focusing on another?
Is it the male sexuality focusing on women and society or women and society focused on male sexuality?
Now I think from the context the women and society are focused on male sexuality, i.e. they concentrate upon it.
The sentence here is opaque and it has much confutation.
Leaving proposition alone at the end of the sentence like this one will make confutation and one will ask himself for what women and society are focused on?
The sentence itself is incorrect or incomplete

(but it is usually the male sexuality women and the society are focused on!)

If we say: But it is usually that both women and society are focused on a male sexuality.here there is no confusion and both subject and object are clear ( women and society =( S )subject are focused ( V) male sexuality = (O) object
Here it can be not passive since Focused is adjective
Furthermore, all the clause ( but it is usually both women and society) we can consider it as a subject.

Confused on what? this point is perplexing
I know the sentence order in English is ( SVO, SVC) but really I am confused on this sentence

[Hawkman]

delete

[Aylinn]

Yes, SVO is the normal word order for a sentence in English, but tuboludo for some reason put obejct before subject and left verb at the end, thus, I guess, Word spell got confused. Besides, your version 'Male sexuality is focused on by women and society.' is just an example of passive voice. It is exactly the same as 'Women and society are focused on male sexuality.'

[Hawkman]

OK, fair comment. I was wrong about subject object. I checked. Even I can't be right all the time :D nevertheless, "is" is correct.

[Mohammad Ahmad]

Yes, SVO is the normal word order for a sentence in English, but tuboludo for some reason put obejct before subject and left verb at the end, thus, I guess, Word spell got confused. Besides, your version 'Male sexuality is focused on by women and society.' is just an example of passive voice. It is exactly the same as 'Women and society are focused on male sexuality.'

From the first time I stood with you, I am satisfied in your first reply, but why don't you consider Focused as an adjective and it is always so?
Neglect the preposition which itself is the problem in grammar, what say?

[108 fountains]

Hi tuboludo,
Option two is correct. You actually have two places in the sentence where the verb is/are appears, and I think some commenters were confused by that.
In the first part of the sentence, "it is" is correct.
In the second part of the sentence, "women and society are" is correct.
I would suggest re-writing the sentence anyway as, "Or women for that matter, but women and society usually focus on male sexuality."

Sorry tuboludo,
I guess I was confused, too, or maybe just looked at it cross-eyed. Option One is correct. I'm hopeful that you saw that in my explanation: It (singular) is the subject of the phrase "it is usually the male sexuality..." and women and society (plural) is the subject of the phrase "...women and society are focused on."

The original wording is a bit complex in that the phrase "the male sexuality" functions as both the direct object of the sentence and as the understood object of the preposition "on" at the end of the sentence.

[108 fountains]

From the first time I stood with you, I am satisfied in your first reply, but why don't you consider Focused as an adjective and it is always so?
Neglect the preposition which itself is the problem in grammar, what say?

Hi Mohammad,
I was going to disagree with you about "focused" being an adjective in its usage here (I thought it was being used as a verb), but after checkintg, I find that you are right - it is being used as a predicate adjective. Ah, English grammar! - you can always find something that not quite clear-cut.
I also agree that it's probably best to rewrite the sentence to get rid of the preposition at the end, and that can be done in any number of ways.
I don't like ending sentences on prepositions either, but sometimes it's hard to get around it, and sometmes it can actually add effect.

[108 fountains]

:smile5:
I don't like ending sentences on prepositions either, but sometimes it's hard to get around it, and sometmes it can actually add effect.

In other words, a preposition is a part of speech you should avoid ending a sentence on.:smile5:

[Mohammad Ahmad]

Hi Mohammad,
I was going to disagree with you about "focused" being an adjective in its usage here (I thought it was being used as a verb), but after checkintg, I find that you are right - it is being used as a predicate adjective. Ah, English grammar! - you can always find something that not quite clear-cut.
I also agree that it's probably best to rewrite the sentence to get rid of the preposition at the end, and that can be done in any number of ways.
I don't like ending sentences on prepositions either, but sometimes it's hard to get around it, and sometmes it can actually add effect.

Take it easy, still we are learners, because I am translator I focused too much on grammar. Here focused is a verb

[Nick Capozzoli]

Nobody says 'but it are'. The question is whether to use 'are' or 'is' before focused. In this respect you can probably use either. I would use 'are' since the sentence is preceded with 'but it is'. I would also drop 'the' from society to increase the sentence flow.

That seems right.