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How should this sentence be written?

  1. The crux of the problem is the two trees in the way.
  2. The crux of the problem are the two trees in the way.
  3. The cruxes of the problem are the two trees in the way.

The third seems grammatically correct, but also the most awkward.

StephenS
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donnyton
  • 149
  • The verb must agree with the subject, so #1. #3 might work if the problem had 2 ‘cruces’ (crosses?), but the idiom normally refers to the (one) central problem. – Lawrence Nov 24 '20 at 00:30
  • Presumably one would have to remove or circumvent the existence of both trees in order to solve the problem. If that is the case then both trees together form the crux of the problem so the plurality of the trees is irrelevant. – BoldBen Nov 24 '20 at 00:37
  • Only the word and or or links two subjects, not the word is or are. – tchrist Nov 24 '20 at 00:39

1 Answers1

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The verb always agrees with the subject, which in this case is “the crux” (singular).

“the two trees” is the subject complement. As you note, it sounds odd when the complement does not agree with the subject, and I would try to avoid that by rewording, but it is acceptable if you can’t avoid it for some reason.

  • The crux of the problem is the presence of the two trees.

Here, a minor addition of a singular noun makes it sound natural without altering the meaning, and the plural noun is safely tucked away into a prepositional phrase—and more distant from the verb.

StephenS
  • 736