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First of all, I'm not a native speaker. When I read the RAZ book with my son, we came across a sentence that puzzled me: Amy is friends with many trees. here. The grammar rule I know is the Subject-Verb agreement,therefore it should be: Amy is a friend with many trees. Why does it use plural noun 'friends'? Thank you!

Andrew Li
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    (Be) friends with is an idiom rather like (be) related to. It's symmetric (if I'm friends with you, then you're friends with me) but unlike related, it's not transitive (if I'm friends with you and you're friends with him, that doesn't mean I'm friends with him). The plural on friends is required on this idiom, and so is the preposition with. – John Lawler Oct 31 '22 at 14:29
  • Amy is a friend of many trees would work and provide the agreement you are looking for – Henry Oct 31 '22 at 14:31
  • So it's "I'm a friend of you" or "I'm friends with you", and it couldn't be "I'm a friend with you". Am I right? @Henry – Andrew Li Oct 31 '22 at 15:10
  • @AndrewLi I would say I am a friend of yours and I am friends with you rather than I am a friend of you. But that is a pronoun usage. And different people say different things: I often talk to people when others would talk with people – Henry Oct 31 '22 at 15:16
  • Hello, Andrew. Does this answer your question? How come "John is friends with Jane"? – Edwin Ashworth Oct 31 '22 at 15:33
  • Thank you so much @EdwinAshworth. It'll take me some time to comprehend. – Andrew Li Oct 31 '22 at 15:38
  • Essentially, 'be friends with' and 'make friends with' are idioms. They show peculiarities. One doesn't say 'I am enemies with Jane' or 'I am acquaintances with Jane'. English has many such idiosyncrasies, which makes it hard to learn for especially intelligent non-native speakers (natives just tend to absorb illogical usages). – Edwin Ashworth Oct 31 '22 at 15:44

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It is a mutual relationship.

It's also common for us to say that "You and I are friends," or "I am friends with her."

"I am her friend" is also acceptable. You could say "Amy is the trees' friend," but that could imply that the trees are a singular group (or organization) that makes decisions together. In your original example, Amy may be friends with some trees, but other trees may dislike her.

RosePumpkin
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    Good answer. It wouldn't hurt to add that friends with is a fixed expression, broken up at risk of death. – Yosef Baskin Oct 31 '22 at 15:02
  • Sorry to bother, but what's the mean of " broken up at risk of death" @YosefBaskin – Andrew Li Oct 31 '22 at 15:12
  • Humorous way of saying don't break up idioms, because they are more than the sum of their parts. They hold together because of how we use them inside the language. Idioms do not translate literally. – Yosef Baskin Oct 31 '22 at 15:28