“I guess it’s the questioning in them. I find these films and the genre itself is about questioning: where we are, where we will be, what’s going on, who we are.” - Keanu Reeves, in OK Weekly, on what he likes about science fiction movies
Keanu has made an error in subject/verb agreement.
In the noun clause “these films and the genre itself is about questioning,” the subject is “these films and the genre itself” and the verb is “is.” A subject that consists of two or more nouns and/or pronouns connected by the conjunction “and” is plural. The plural subject in this clause does not agree with the singular verb. To correct the error, make the number of the verb plural.
“I guess it’s the questioning in them. I find these films and the genre itself are about questioning: where we are, where we will be, what’s going on, who we are.”
Note that the addition of commas around the component of the subject “and the genre itself” would still result in an error in subject/verb agreement because “these films” is plural. To use a singular verb, the subject would need to be singular.
“I guess it’s the questioning in them. I find this type of film, and the genre itself, is about questioning: where we are, where we will be, what’s going on, who we are.”
Since “and the genre itself” is set off by commas, it is not part of the subject.
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