In this particular sentence, is it correct to use "was", or is it correct to use "were":
"All I wore was jeans."
or
"All I wore were jeans."
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You'll be glad to know that the answer is yes, it is. – tchrist Jan 15 '18 at 01:20
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@tchrist hahahah nice catch – haxtar Jan 15 '18 at 01:21
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1"was" -- Compare "All is quiet"; "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth." – Greg Lee Jan 15 '18 at 01:25
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1"Jeans" is even mushier than "pants" when it comes to deciding if it's singular or plural. No doubt there are "authorities" who will tell you that one or the other is the only "correct" way, but "jeans" is really sensitive to context, register, social biases, etc. – Hot Licks Jan 15 '18 at 01:25
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@HotLicks So this jeans looks good on you in your language? – tchrist Jan 15 '18 at 01:28
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@tchrist - No, jeans always look mushy on me. – Hot Licks Jan 15 '18 at 01:32
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@HotLicks The real issue, as Greg Lee has pointed out, is that in English even a linking verb like be must agree only with its subject, not with its complement. The subject is ”All that I wore“, which is singular no matter what follows the verb because here All means the only thing. In contrast, “All (the folks) that volunteered are here now” shows a plural possibility. – tchrist Jan 15 '18 at 01:36