In this sentence, should I use hit or hits?
I threw a small stone, then I was worried about a car with a driver inside; if the stone hit the car, I would be miserable.
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Sign up to join this communityIn this sentence, should I use hit or hits?
I threw a small stone, then I was worried about a car with a driver inside; if the stone hit the car, I would be miserable.
There are a couple of ways to look at this, to put into context.
(1) Events In Sequence :: [ XX throw stone(s) XX ] [ very short time gap ] [ YY worrying about it YY ] [ short time gap ] [ ZZ stone(s) hitting or missing the car ZZ ]
At moment YY, you could say some something like this:
(1A) I threw a small stone, then I was worried about a car with a driver inside; if the stone hits the car, I would be miserable.
(1B) I threw some small stones, then I was worried about a car with a driver inside; if the stones hit the car, I would be miserable.
This is the Subject Verb Agreement Concept : Singular Verb with Singular Subject ; Plural Verb with Plural Subject.
(2) Events In Sequence :: [ XX throw stone(s) XX ] [ short time gap ] [ YY stone missing the car YY ] [ very long time gap ] [ ZZ talking about it now ZZ ]
Eg, XX was when you were a kid; ZZ is now you talking to a "Consultant".
At moment ZZ, you could say some something like this:
(2A) This occurred ages ago, when I was a kid. I threw a small stone, then I was worried about a car with a driver inside; if the stone had hit the car, I would have been (and would still be) miserable; luckily, the stone missed.
(2B) This occurred ages ago, when I was a kid. I threw some small stones, then I was worried about a car with a driver inside; if the stones had hit the car, I would have been (and would still be) miserable; luckily, the stones missed.
Even here, we have the Subject Verb Agreement Concept, but in the Past Tense, the verb did not change in this case.
Check :
https://study.com/academy/lesson/verb-tense-subject-verb-agreement.html