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Is this correct:

"It's parents who choose kid's future".

"Parents" is plural, but as for me "it's" seems fine here. I don't even know which other verb to use with plural noun here.

This case is completely different from, say, "it's raining" case. Because there it's pretty clear what "is" is refer to, some subject, weather etc. Here we have plural noun, and I wonder is it correct to use "is" with it.

Alex
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  • First off, "it's" is not a verb. Secondly, if it seems fine here, then what is your question? Why do you think it's not fine if you think it's fine? Please elaborate. Oh, and read up on the dummy it in the linked question. – RegDwigнt Aug 05 '15 at 10:22
  • "Parents" is plural but "it" is singular. If you want a plural verb you would have to say "They are parents who choose [their] kid's future". Note that the original sentence uses the impersonal "it". There is no referent. – chasly - supports Monica Aug 05 '15 at 10:33
  • @RegDwigнt First, I know "it's" is not a verb, I meant "is" inside of it as a verb. Second, feeling fine about anything does not mean it's correct. Some completely illiterate people feel fine about all their mistakes, seems to me. That's why I asked this question, for you, profs, to explain the thing to me;) – Alex Aug 05 '15 at 11:32
  • @chaslyfromUK So is it better to use "they are parents" here? Because this structure seems a bit awkward... – Alex Aug 05 '15 at 11:33
  • @Alex: There's a declamatory formal / poetic mode (bordering on archaic, imho) typified by *They are fools who preach almsgiving, and those who maintain the existence of immaterial categories speak vain and lying nonsense.*, where *they* simply means *anyone [who preaches almsgiving is a fool]* (i.e. - *those [unspecified] people*). But you probably don't want to know about that. Just stick to dummy "it". – FumbleFingers Aug 05 '15 at 11:57

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