Is or are

I have a special quality, in that I always toss all the glossy terms out of my head the moment I go out of the exam room. I am unable to use any terms here, but:

I think in the sentence "What secrets is he keeping?" KEEPING is the keyword. Who keeps the secrets? He is. So "He" is the subject and is singular.

If we remove "He" from the sentence, it would become a passive sentence. "What secrets are kept?"

Just my two cents.

Me ain't good at grammar, but I believe the subject is "he." He is keeping what secrets?

You're in Palms Springs? Holy cow, it must be hot out there. I'm in Pasadena and it was already baking when I woke up.

Anyhoo: We form many questions by either "subject-verb inversion" or "subject-operator inversion."

"He is keeping secrets." Subject: "he." Verb: "is."

Invert them.

"Is he keeping secrets?"

That's the simplest type of question. Questions with wh- words (like "what") and questions with "operators" (like "do") are a little more complicated. But the bottom line is that, when forming interrogatives (questions), we often flip positions of subject and verb.

Let me know if that explanation didn't quite cut it.

(Funny how you can go your whole life speaking a language and never stop to think about how you do it! And thinking about it always makes it worse before it makes it better -- like you know perfectly well which of your examples are right and which wrong, but after analyzing them, suddenly the whole language seems more baffling. That's part of what I love about grammar. It's like taking apart a clock and putting it back together again.)

Wow. 117!

I realize I might have added one thing in the explanation:

In "What secrets IS HE keeping," the verb still agrees with "he." They just flipped positions.

He IS keeping secrets.

What secrets IS he keeping?

yup

I have an "is or are" question, too!

In this sentence the person is referring to a handful of people. Handful is singular, but people are plural.
"Yes, there is a handful." or "Yes, there are a handful."

Any advice? I'm usually pretty good figuring it out, but I probably over-thought this one.

-IJedi

A handful of people? I'd rephrase it and the question wouldn't arise.

ImperialJedi said:

I have an "is or are" question, too!

In this sentence the person is referring to a handful of people. Handful is singular, but people are plural.
"Yes, there is a handful." or "Yes, there are a handful."

Any advice? I'm usually pretty good figuring it out, but I probably over-thought this one.

-IJedi

Click to expand...

Is. There is only one handful. Collective nouns (usually) take a singular verb.

Bufty said:

A handful of people? I'd rephrase it and the question wouldn't arise.

Click to expand...

How many people fit in a hand?

Pinky, Middle, Index, Ring - and not forgetting Tom - five!

Oops and the Palmist -six!

FennelGiraffe said:

How many people fit in a hand?

Click to expand...

Thank you girlyswot! Now I even know what to call it: a collective noun.

Thanx for the replies and smiles.

As for the original question, I think of it this way:

What if you changed it from "he" to "they?" It would be "What secrets are they keeping?" Same principle. The verb keeps the tense of the subject, which is "he" or "they."