If I want to ask what days that a restaurant opens to public, which the following sentence is correct?
What days are the restaurant open?
What days is the restaurant open?
The answer is Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
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Also of english.stackexchange.com/questions/266440/….– Teacher KSHuangCommented Jan 9, 2017 at 12:12
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By the way, any reason you used a comma in "2,"? I would have used a period. Is this common where you're from?– Teacher KSHuangCommented Jan 9, 2017 at 12:12
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2 Answers
I would choose two. The subject is the restaurant, not days.
If you simplify, you'll will see this better.
When is the the restaurant open?
If you answer the question, it also becomes clearer.
The restaurant is open Mondays through Thursdays.
answered Jan 9, 2017 at 12:11
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One way to test this: "What day is/are the shops open?" or try, "What time does/do the shops open?" However, the truth is native speakers mess this up all the time, and it doesn't sound that odd to ask, "What time does the shops open?"– AndrewCommented Jan 9, 2017 at 23:49
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@Andrew Really? I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around a native speaker saying something like that. Meanwhile, I think Henry Wang's issue here had been not understanding what the subject of the sentence had been. Do you mean if he had pluralized it, he would have been able to discern more clearly for himself? Commented Jan 10, 2017 at 7:38
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I didn't say it was correct, mind you. You seem to have an optimistically high opinion of native speakers. Many (if not most) don't speak perfect grammar, or change their minds halfway through a sentence so that there are anomalies. It's all part of the evolving nature of the language that how some of us currently speak would seem intolerably crude even 50 years ago.– AndrewCommented Jan 10, 2017 at 16:55
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My test asks you to change the different parts of the sentence from singular to plural. If you feel the verb must change to match, then that part of speech is the subject. For example: "To the store walk/s the men" -- Walk or walks? "To the store walks the man.", "To the stores walks the man", "To the store walk the men".– AndrewCommented Jan 10, 2017 at 16:59
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@Andrew Ah, I see. What I should have said was, "But it does sound odd to hear that." Commented Jan 13, 2017 at 10:26
In my opinion the two sentences are grammatically wrong , it's better to rephrase the question with " Do you know which days the restaurant opens? but Number 1 is wrong because he is talking about the restaurant which is only one restaurant and a singular quantity so it takes is.
