[Grammar] His boyish good looks is or are ???

[confused123]

1) His boyish good looks is/are an envy of many of friends.

2) His boyish good looks comes/come from the inheritance of his father's genes.


For the above 2 sentences, I hope an English teacher or a native speaker of English could tell me if I should use "is" or "are" for somebody's good looks.


For my last question, please consider the sentence, "He put on weighthttp://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/weight and started to lose his looks." The noun word "looks" in plural form which usually refers to people's physical appearance, can I use it to refer to an object's physical appearance as in this example: "He has bought a new watch and its looks is horrible." Is the sentence grammatically correct?

Thank you in advance for any advice from you all. I'll appreciate a lot. :-D

 

[emsr2d2]

Plural. We don't say "good looks is".

 

[Rover_KE]

Note the correct expression:

His boyish good looks are the envy of many of his friends.

Your final sentence is ungrammatical. It's more natural to say "He has bought a new watch and it looks horrible."

 

[Tdol]

can I use it to refer to an object's physical appearance as in this example: "He has bought a new watch and its looks is horrible."

This doesn't work, and switching the verb to the plural won't really fix it.

 

[confused123]

This doesn't work, and switching the verb to the plural won't really fix it.

Hi Tdol, thanks for the response. Do u mean that the noun "looks" which refers to someone's physical appearance, cannot be used likewise for an object's appearance? Just want to be sure about it. Thanks. ;-)

 

[confused123]

Thanks to emsr2d2 and Rover_KE for your response. I appreciate your replies.

 

[Matthew Wai]

Do u mean that the noun "looks" ... cannot be used likewise for an object's appearance?

'The area has a very seedy look to it.'── quoted from http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/look_2
So I think it is possible to say 'His new watch has a horrible look to it'.

Not a teacher.

Thanks to emsr2d2 and Rover_KE for your response. I appreciate your replies.

Clicking on the 'Thank' button can obviate the need for a new post saying 'Thanks', such is one of the many unwritten rules on this forum.

 

[Tdol]

Hi Tdol, thanks for the response. Do u mean that the noun "looks" which refers to someone's physical appearance, cannot be used likewise for an object's appearance? Just want to be sure about it. Thanks. ;-)

I think that look is mostly used for appearances that can be changed- a person can change their image, and Matthew's example of an area is the same. A watch is fixed and doesn't change.