Korean Job Discussion Forums

[xCustomx]

I taught a lesson on prepositions today and a student asked a question about the difference between "What is..." and "What are..."

My question was "What is behind the teddy bear?"
Answer: "There are pillows behind the teddy bear."

She wants to know why we don't ask "What are behind the teddy bear?" since the answer, pillows, is plural. I explained that when we ask "What is.....?" we use the singular "is" because we don't know if there is more than one object or not. She didn't understand why a question with "is" would get an answer with "are." Is there a simple way to explain this?

[spliff]

[icicle]

I think that the reason for the singular is that in asking for "what' is behind .... ? you are effectively asking for which item / which thing is behind it ... And the fact that there may be more than one thing behind it does not change things. You are asking for what "item" or "thing" singular is behind the sofa. The question is asking for one thing - what is there ... The answer using is or are will depend on how many things are actually there ...

[Draz]

"Is" is the default. "Are" is just another form of "is". We use "are" only when we are sure "is" is incorrect.

It sounds like you did a good job explaining, just try rewording it a few different ways.