[Boards: 3 / a / aco / adv / an / asp / b / biz / c / cgl / ck / cm / co / d / diy / e / fa / fit / g / gd / gif / h / hc / his / hm / hr / i / ic / int / jp / k / lgbt / lit / m / mlp / mu / n / news / o / out / p / po / pol / qa / r / r9k / s / s4s / sci / soc / sp / t / tg / toy / trash / trv / tv / u / v / vg / vp / vr / w / wg / wsg / wsr / x / y ] [Home]
4chanarchives logo
Hey /lit/, moron learning English here. Which sentence is correct?
Images are sometimes not shown due to bandwidth/network limitations. Refreshing the page usually helps.

You are currently reading a thread in /lit/ - Literature

Thread replies: 17
Thread images: 2
File: 1281131392108.png (340 KB, 600x700) Image search: [Google]
1281131392108.png
340 KB, 600x700
Hey /lit/, moron learning English here.

Which sentence is correct? Google Translate says they're equivalent, but I don't think so.

>We both know what need to be done.

>We both know what needs to be done.
>>
Second one
>>
Second one
>>
The first one if you don't want to be a square.
>>
We both know what need be done senpai
>>
>>7639154
>>7639155

Thought so. But I'm having problems identifying why. I'm at that point where you've internalized enough of the rules to figure out if something seems wrong intuitively, but if I am asked to explain why I'm hard pressed to give a proper answer.
>>
>>7639175
I need
You need
He/She/It needs
They need
We need

For reference.
>>
File: u r a faggot.gif (485 KB, 300x225) Image search: [Google]
u r a faggot.gif
485 KB, 300x225
>>7639175
future tense? i dunno
>>
>>7639184
>I know what need to be done
>>
>>7639189
>fuck
>>
>>7639184
.You know what need to be done
>>
>>7639189
>What as a subject takes 'it' form
>>
>>7639201

that is what I wanted to know. thanks anon.
>>
>>7639201
this is a lie
you're lying to him
>>
>>7639151
>>7639175
The pronoun "what" is the subject of the second clause and is presumed singular in the absence of other context, so "need" has singular number.

Compare: "We both know what things need to be done."
>>
>>7639175
"what" is always singular, and it is the subject of the subordinate clause.
>>
>>7639185
english actually doesn't have a future tense, we only have present and past. we get other temporal references using things other than tense like auxiliaries, circumlocution, and context.
Thread replies: 17
Thread images: 2

banner
banner
[Boards: 3 / a / aco / adv / an / asp / b / biz / c / cgl / ck / cm / co / d / diy / e / fa / fit / g / gd / gif / h / hc / his / hm / hr / i / ic / int / jp / k / lgbt / lit / m / mlp / mu / n / news / o / out / p / po / pol / qa / r / r9k / s / s4s / sci / soc / sp / t / tg / toy / trash / trv / tv / u / v / vg / vp / vr / w / wg / wsg / wsr / x / y] [Home]

All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective parties. Images uploaded are the responsibility of the Poster. Comments are owned by the Poster.
If a post contains personal/copyrighted/illegal content you can contact me at [email protected] with that post and thread number and it will be removed as soon as possible.
DMCA Content Takedown via dmca.com
All images are hosted on imgur.com, send takedown notices to them.
This is a 4chan archive - all of the content originated from them. If you need IP information for a Poster - you need to contact them. This website shows only archived content.