What is/are surprising are the statistics.

Question

Hmmm, this got me confused. I asked Quentin, who of course knows his language....I guess.... well, but I am surprised, so let me see if I get some more opinions on this.

What is surprising is the answer.------crystal clear

What are surprising are the statistics.

I would not have used that are here, I thought it was like

It's us..., you know, the verb is always singular.

• Good question. You've started a riot! - Goyo Dec 19, 2009
• jejejej,, - Heidita Dec 20, 2009
• yeah.. u get my vote - Valerie Dec 20, 2009
• To make it simple - You can do it both ways and no one would notice..... No problem. - ian-hill Dec 21, 2009

Answer 1

I am not going to address the use of the word "statistics" as used when referring to the scientific discipline as I doubt this was the intended meaning of the sentence. That being said, the word "statistics" is always plural when referring to individual pieces of data that have been sorted and tabulated to present information about a subject

1). The statistics surprise me - plural verb form [correct]

2). The statistics surprises me - singular verb form [incorrect]

3). The statistics are surprising - plural verb form [correct]

4). The statistics is surprising - singular verb form [incorrect]

Now adding the pronoun "what" into the equation you come up with several possibilities:

1). The statistics are those which (what) surprise me (both verbs plural) [correct]

2). The statistics is that which (what) surprises me (Both verbs sing) [incorrect]

3). The statistics are those which (what) surprises me (plural/sing) [incorrect]

4). The statistics is that which (what) surprise me (sing/plural) [incorrect]

The pronoun itself can mean either "that which (sing)" or "those which (plural), but in all cases, the pronoun must agree in number with the antecedent. In all cases the antecedent is the word "statistics." To make this clearer lets observe the effect on the sentences by substituting the definite article with the word "that/those" that is implied by the word "what."

1). Those are statistics which surprise me (Those surprise me - both plural) [correct]

2). That is statistics which surprise me [incorrect]

3). Those are statistics which surprises me [incorrect]

4). That is statistics which surprise me [incorrect]

Now looking at the clause in terms of the word "surprising" it should become immediately evident that one form is correct for the intended meaning of the sentence.

1). The statistics is surprising (plural noun/sing verb form) [incorrect]

2). The statistics are surprising (plural noun/plural verb form) [correct]

Finally, look at the effect that occurs with the following combinations

1). Those are statistics which are surprising (the statistics are surprising) [correct]

2). Those is statistics which is surprising [incorrect]

3). That is statistics which is surprising [incorrect]

4). That is statistics which are surprising [incorrect]

Taking all of this into account, it should now become clear that when the word "what" is used to refer to the plural word statistics, both clauses must remain plural.

1). What (those which) are surprising are the statistics

Let's take one final look at the original options:

1). That which (what) is surprising are the statistics [incorrect]

2). Those which (what) are surprising are the statistics [correct]

Hopefully, it is clear by now that the first sentence represents a grammatical error because the pronoun must agree in number with the referent and this places the demand that both verbs must also agree with the referent. Option 1 above would be the same as saying "The statistics is surprising." Clearly, this would be incorrect to say. Option 2, on the other hand, would be like saying "The statistics are surprising." That leaves us with two possibilities for a proper sentence structure:

1). What (that which) is surprising is the statistic (singular verbs/singular referent)

2). What (those which) are surprising are the statistics (plural verb/plural referent)

In short, I agree with Quentin and probably should have simply said so from the start.

• Forgive me, I read starting from "Let's take on final look..." and I agree with what you say from there till the end. - webdunce Dec 20, 2009

Answer 2

What is surprising are the statistics sounds so much better.

• jejeje I thought so too;) - Heidita Dec 19, 2009
• I agree. - --Mariana-- Dec 19, 2009
• Me too. Maybe it's one of those things, where "the way people talk" is different from "what's correct' jejeje - Valerie Dec 20, 2009
• Sounds better to whom? - samdie Dec 20, 2009
• To me, Marianne, Issabela, Valerie, and Heidita. I think I'm in darn good company! - Goyo Dec 20, 2009
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Answer 3

What is surprising, because the subject of the sentence is actually "what" and the singular verb form of be refers to it

• Pues eso digo yo!! Pero quentin dijo que no, y puso los dos ejemplos de arriba. Nada, de la dunce corner ya no sale nunca más!!!!!!!! - Heidita Dec 19, 2009
• Pero quedate en la dunce corner con nosotros ;)) - Issabela Dec 19, 2009
• Como lo entiendo, siempre hay una fiesta en el dunce corner! :) - Valerie Dec 20, 2009
• Sí, eso estaba pensando. En realidad, son como niños (pero sin el "como") - nila45 Dec 20, 2009
• The crux of the question is whether "what" is necessarily singular. Opinion is divided. - samdie Dec 20, 2009

Answer 4

What is surprising are the statistics.

• Your logic is undenialble. :-) Sort of an Occam's Razor. Get's my vote. - qfreed Dec 19, 2009
• lol :) - sunshinzmomm Dec 20, 2009

Answer 5

Stylistically, you might want to avoid that construction and say something like, "The statistics are surprising."

On the point of grammar, "What is surprising are the statistics" is not correct. Both verbs refer to the same subject--"what,"-- and so they need to agree.

Both "is" and "are" can be correct. It doesn't matter that "statistics" is plural, because neither verb refers to "statistics," they refer to "what." If "what" refers to "statistics," it's plural, but if you're using it as a shorthand for "that which is surprising," it's singular.

• Dad gum it! That's more or less what I was gonna say. - webdunce Dec 20, 2009
• So was I - pintor Dec 20, 2009
• Both verbs do not refer to the same subject. that is the crux of the problem. The noun governing/goverened by "are" is "statistics". - samdie Dec 20, 2009

Answer 6

It's unfortunate that the word "statistics" made it into the discussion since it can (with different meaning) be either singular or plural and some of the discussion has centered more on the sense of "statistics" than on the grammar of the sentence.

When the subject under consideration is singular, any verb governed by the relative pronoun "what" is singular and appears not to cause any confusion among English speakers (and, thus, is not very interesting).

The problems only arise when the referent is (clearly) plural and we'd like to start the sentence with the relative pronoun "what".

• What we need/want are better ideas.
• What are needed/wanted are better ideas.
• What I find are traces of ...
• What are found here are traces of ...
• What you see here are people having ...
• What are seen here are people having ...
• What cause problems are people who ...
• etc.

The consensus (but not total agreement) among grammarians/usage gurus is that all of the above examples are correct/preferred. I mentioned the Merriam-Webster publication in an earlier post. I tried (briefly) to find something on the web but came up empty (it's a fairly obscure/advanced problem).

Answer 7

Grammatically, it is right: What is surprising, is/are the statistics. (But it sounds like tongue twister. "What surprises us is the statistics." or "The surprise comes from the statistics." sounds better.)

The word statistics can either be singular or plural. In its singular form, statistics refers to the mathematical science. In its plural form, statistics is the plural of the word statistic, which refers to a quantity (such as a mean) calculated from a set of data.

In English, it doesn´t matter whether we use "is" or "are", if on one side of the "be" there is a single form, and on the other side there is plural.

• I agree that statistics can be plural or singular, but would not the verbs have to agree? What is, is statistics or What are, are statistics. That was my point. Heidita's cheating a little here. She's locked in the 2nd verb here as""are". - qfreed Dec 19, 2009
• I think, in "What is surprising", there is no alternative to "is" in grammar. - SlowFoxtrot Dec 19, 2009
• The obvious (and accepted) alternative is "what are surprising" - samdie Dec 20, 2009

Answer 8

The word statistics can either be singular or plural

I agree that statistics can be plural or singular, but would not the verbs have to agree? What is... is statistics or What are... are statistics. That was my point.

Heidita's cheating a little here. She's locked in the 2nd verb here as "are". When she posed the question to me both verbs were open to choice. What I gave her were examples showing that the verbs had to agree.

If the second verb is are, then the 1st verb is are. If the 2nd verb is "is" then the 1st verb is "is".

What refers to statistics and can be either singular or plural depending on whether you consider statistics to be singular or plural.

What are the the original 13 colonies? What is plural (despite what someone said here)

What is your favorite meal? What is singular here.

So if statistics is singular, what is singular. If statistics is plural then what is plural.

The point that I made was:

What is/are suprising=noun clause

noun clause=is/ are statistics.

What's on one side of the equation must match what's on the other side of the equation in number.

---

Having said that:

The inclusion of the in the sentence means that statistics is plural and we need are for both verbs.

What is surprising is statistics. (the field)

What are surprising are the statistics.

This isn't Spanish. We don't use the definite article with the singular form. "the statistics" [facts] are plural.

Statistics is my favorite subject. Not the statistics is...

And you cannot say that statistics infers the set of , the collection of, etc. That changes the entire syntax of the sentence.

• The verb need to agree with the sense of the subject. Statistics (like methematicis, economics, etc.) can be used in a singular sense. - samdie Dec 20, 2009

Answer 9

I agree pretty much with what wiffle and Izanoni have said, but I wish to add a few points.

First, the phrase "what is surprising" is so common as to sound odd when stated in the plural as "what are surprising." And, since "the statistics" is felt to be plural (to our mind, whether we are using it in a singular or plural way), so much so that to say "is the statistics" feels wrong to the mind. Therefore, "What is surprising are the statistics" would be a likely way for a native speaker to state this idea. I myself would almost certainly use is for the first verb and I would be as likely to use is as I would be to use are for the second verb.

Second, the phrase "what is surprising" is a noun clause that is acting as the subject of the sentence; thus, no comma would be needed. In fact, to put a comma after the clause would be incorrect.

Now that we know that "what is surprising" as an entire clause is acting as the subject, we can see that "the statistics" is not the subject. However, since we are using a form of "to be" as the main verb, then "what" equals "the statistics" in some way. "The statistics" is definitely plural. So, it seems to follow that "what" is plural, too. But, if we say "what is surprising," then that means that "what" is singular. Is this possible? Yes, it is. Consider the following sentences:

• My favorite exhibit at the zoo is / are the monkeys.
• The monkeys are / is my favorite exhibit.

In the above examples, I put the preferred verb form first, but I put both the singular and plural forms because you will hear people say such things either way. When equating an essentially singular idea to an essentially plural idea, I don't know if we can definitively say whether or not to use a singular or plural verb. I would love to be pointed to an authoritative source that deals with this subject.

• Grammarian normally treat your monkeys/exhibit construction as a different problem form that of the singularity/plurality of "what" as a relative pronoun. - samdie Dec 20, 2009

Answer 10

Okay, all of these arguments are good ones. I agree with everyone who said that "What is surprising are the statistics" sounds more natural (whether it's actually correct or not), and I understand everyone's argument that the verbs have to agree and that what= statistics in this sentence so it should be plural.... but then I got to thinking... What about:

What surprises me are the statistics.

Ok surely this time it has to be surprises (singular), even though what evidently still points to statistics (plural). So now I'm wondering, if perhaps Heidi's original sentence might be correct after all

• "What surprise me are the statistics." is perfectly acceptable (and, to my mind, preferable) - samdie Dec 20, 2009

Answer 11

It is curious. In Spanish, we can it in two ways:

Lo que son sorprendentes son las estadísticas.

Lo que es sorprendente son las estadísticas.

Both of them sound good to me. Then, I suppose that the root of the problem is there.

The statistics are surprinsing.

What = the statistics

It can be seen from two points of view. One the one hand, "what" is "lo que" and admits the singular form, but, on the other hand, "what" is also "statistics" and admits the plural form.

As they share the same verb (to be). In Marianne's example, "what" and "statistics" do not share the same verb.

• Ha, your explanation makes sense to me when applied to the English as well. - webdunce Dec 20, 2009
• Assuming that you mean "lo" and "estadisticas", they don't share the same verb. - samdie Dec 20, 2009
• "lo" is the subject of "es" and "estadisticas" the subject of "son". - samdie Dec 20, 2009

Answer 12

Wiffle is correct in saying, "On the point of grammar, "What is surprising are the statistics" is not correct. Both verbs refer to the same subject--"what,"-- and so they need to agree."

This is simply a faulty analysis of the grammar.The sentence can be easily recast as "The statistics are what is surprising." (although I would prefer "The statistics are what are surprising." Two subjects, two verbs. Obviously the two clauses intend a reference to the same (a single) thing but (and this is, precisely, the point) they have done so in a way that confuses/confounds the grammatical relationships.

Answer 13

What is surprising are the statistics. Although statistics are (sic) plural, what is surprising refers to the "set of" statistics which is singular.

This strikes me as a totally spurious analysis. Any time that the reference is to a grammatically plural subject, one could recast the sentence to use, instead, "a group of", "a collection of", "a set of", etc. (I can't think of a counter example). The fact that the sentence could be expressed differently (with different syntax), in no way implies that all such expressions must be bound by the same grammatical considerations.

Answer 14

OMG !

I hope no one who is learning English has read this thread because it will put them off for life.

To make it simple - You can do it both ways and no one would notice..... No problem.

• kind of funny... - nate12332 Dec 21, 2009

Answer 15

What is surprising are the statistics. Although statistics are plural, what is surprising refers to the "set of" statistics which is singular.