What to use, is or are?

[FONT=&quot]when we talk about structures, the first thing that comes to our minds is the buildings
[/FONT][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]when we talk about structures, the first thing that comes to our minds are the buildings

which one is correct?[/FONT]
[/FONT]

Not a teacher
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"...the first thing that comes to our minds is the building." is correct. Notice that the subject, thing, is singular. All associated verbs (comes, are) need to be singular as well.

Glizdka said:

Not a teacher
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"...the first thing that comes to our minds is the building." is correct. Notice that the subject, thing, is singular. All associated verbs (comes, are) need to be singular as well.

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But I want to say buildings. as in my original post. You modified it to say building. If building yes I know what to do and no need to ask here

ketanco said:

But I want to say buildings. as in my original post. You modified it to say building. If building yes I know what to do and no need to ask here

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Sorry, my bad. I'm a bit careless when I'm typing.

It doesn't matter if it's building or buildings; the subject, thing, is singular, and all associated verbs need to be singular as well.

"...the first thing that comes to our minds is the buildings."
"...the first thing that comes to our minds is the building."

Glizdka said:

"...the first thing that comes to our minds is the building." is correct.

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No, it isn't.

Notice that the subject, thing, is singular.

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thing is not the sentence subject here. It's merely the head of the entire subject noun phrase.

What ketanco wants to say is this:

When we talk about structures, the first thing that comes to mind is buildings.

You can also (more properly) say it like this:

When we talk about structures, the first things that come to mind are buildings.

ketanco said:

When we talk about structures, the first thing that comes to our minds is the buildings.
When we talk about structures, the first thing that comes to our minds are the buildings.

Which one is correct?

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You have received good responses in previous posts. However, please note my important corrections above. You must capitalise the first letter of every sentence, and you must use one appropriate punctuation mark at the end of every sentence.

ketanco said:

when we talk about structures, the first thing that comes to our minds is the buildings
when we talk about structures, the first thing that comes to our minds are the buildings

which one is correct?

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I'd use the second, but would accept both.

Tdol said:

I'd use the second, but would accept both.

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The second is ungrammatical and incorrect. The verb are doesn't agree with the singular thing.

Also, the definite article is wrong in both sentences.

Is the sentence referring to the process of construction or the result?