People was...

[crazyaboutenglish]

Hi,

My friend told me that there is an exception when you can say "people was" but he doesn't know the exception and I don't this you can say "people was". Am I correct?

Thanks

 

[5jj]

In your sentence, the word 'people' was spelt correctly.

That's the only one that springs to mind.

 

[TheParser]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


(1) Could you be more specific? Do you mean "When can the word was follow the

word people?"

(2) It often does so in sentences such as these (which I found at Google books):

One of the people was ....

A steady stream of people was filing into the room.

 

[crazyaboutenglish]

Yes, when can the word was follow the word people is what I mean.

 

[5jj]

Yes, when can the word "was" follow the word "people" is what I mean.

Please quote words you are talking about. Unless you separate such words in some way from the main part of the sentence, the sentence itself is difficult to understand.

 

[TheParser]

Yes, when can the word was follow the word people is what I mean.

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


(1) Well, my two examples suggest this "rule":

The word was can follow the word people when the word people is

not the subject of the word was.

(a) Consider my two sentences. If you remove the prepositional phrase ( "of the

people" or "of people"), you get:

One was .... ("One" is the subject of "was.")

A stream was filing into the room. ("A stream" is the subject of "was.")

The prepositional phrase does not change the "was." For example, you could say:

One (of the elephants) was ....

A stream (of elephants) was filing into the room.

 

[crazyaboutenglish]

So, I was wrong but thanks for your help.