Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- An obsolete form of -es.
- The third person singular present indicative of the verb be. See
be . - An obsolete form of -es.
- A northern, and especially Scottish, form of -ish, as in
Scottis (contracted Scots) for Scottish, Inglis for Inglish (English), etc. - An abbreviation of
island .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb The third person singular of the substantive verb
be , in the indicative mood, present tense. Seebe .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb Third-person singular simple present indicative form of
be .
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word is.
Examples
-
We have remarked, that it is no mystery why the decision should have gone pretty uniformly in favour of the ancients; for here is the dilemma: -- A man, attempting this problem, _is_ or _is not_ a classical scholar.
The Uncollected Writings of Thomas de Quincey—Vol. 1 With a Preface and Annotations by James Hogg Thomas De Quincey 1822
-
This misses the point that, to a large extent, the west *is* much better at capitalism than the BRICs... the infrastructure we have by way of UK company law, or the big-4 accountants, or the magic circle law firms is simply much more developed, and offers better scrutiny and outcomes than anything else on offer; and we are rightly world leading in many of these areas.
The optimists of Davos past now face a world whose script has gone awry | Timothy Garton Ash 2011
-
We must hear the sound of a whistle blowing, � demanding that freedom is our right, that liberation is� our right.
Remarks by Bella Abzug at the 42nd Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women Jewish Women's Archive 2010
-
Word on the street is that the New York Times (we won't name names, although we got 'em) is looking to identify NGD.
-
As you say though, and this *is* where the Millite liberal principle comes in – the job of our Home Office speaker most definitely is to stand up for that principle and there is nothing in what Chris said that suggests he is in any way opposing the idea of prohibition, despite his previous statements about tabloid editors and government advisers.
What did Evan Harris actually say? Alix Mortimer 2010
-
Word on the street is that the New York Times (we won't name names, although we got 'em) is looking to identify NGD.
The New York Times Does Next Gen Dems Room Eight 2010
-
• The PSCAI is intact and the ___________is very active in it.
-
We must hear the sound of a whistle blowing, � demanding that freedom is our right, that liberation is� our right.
Remarks by Bella Abzug at the 42nd Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women Jewish Women's Archive 2010
-
One option, which is being used in some areas of the spill, is to burn the oil before it reaches shore.
As Oil Hits Gulf Shore, White House Moves to Dampen Political Danger 2010
-
But hey, this is soap opera, just like the books by Charlaine Harris on which� "True Blood" �is based.
uselessness commented on the word is
Which is proper: "There are a bunch of kids in the theater" or "there is a bunch of kids in the theater"? Supposedly, the latter is more grammatically correct, but it just sounds wrong. What's a respectable pedant to do? I guess it all depends on what the definition of "is" is. ;-)
January 16, 2008
reesetee commented on the word is
*trying to figure out whether those are rhetorical questions*
January 16, 2008
uselessness commented on the word is
Go ahead and answer, if you're man enough. ;-)
January 17, 2008
reesetee commented on the word is
Easy. "Is." Even if it sounds wrong. All the respectable pedants are saying it. :-)
Sincerely yours, A Crusty Old Editor
January 17, 2008
uselessness commented on the word is
So it applies to all groups: a ton, a plethora, a multitude, a lot? If you say so, dude, if you say so. But my inner writer, the part of me concerned with sentence flow, doesn't want to agree.
January 17, 2008
sionnach commented on the word is
What reesetee said. "is" is correct - if "are" doesn't sound wrong to you, maybe you're not trying hard enough.
January 17, 2008
uselessness commented on the word is
I guess I fail at Wordieing...
January 17, 2008
reesetee commented on the word is
Nah, you don't fail. It does sound funny, but yes, in general collective nouns go with "is." Now, "lot" doesn't follow that. You wouldn't say "A lot of people is going to the concert," for example, but you could say "A lot of antique lamps is going to be auctioned tomorrow" (defining lot here as a distinct parcel of merchandise.) Depends on what the definition of "lot" is.
English ain't for sissies. ;-)
January 17, 2008
yarb commented on the word is
Okay, editors and editrices, what about when I'm talking about a team? In the UK, teams are plural. So the England football team are a laughing stock. Arsenal were lucky on the weekend. But in North America, teams are singular, so the Canadian soccer team is a perennial underachiever. The American hockey team isn't any good. To my ears this sounds so, so wrong. But is it?
Is one of these technically gramatically right and the other wrong, or is this a case of a legitimate transatlantic double standard?
January 17, 2008
reesetee commented on the word is
You could make the case either way, yarb. In fact, The Chicago Manual of Style, the guide many U.S. book editors follow, actually maintains that when used in a collective sense, such a noun may take either a singular or plural verb form. The difference depends on whether you want to emphasize the group or the individual members. Examples given: "The ruling majority is unlikely to share power" and "The majority of voters are satisfied" are both correct. The only proviso noted is that the writer keep the verb form consistent for each noun to avoid confusion. So by this standard, if uselessness wanted to, he could make the case for "There are a bunch of kids in the theater," although generally collective nouns take a singular verb in these here parts.
What say you, sionnach? Any UK editors out there want to weigh in? ;-)
January 17, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word is
On the first few seasons of "MythBusters" (Discovery Channel), the narrator kept saying "The build team are working on..." and it drove me *batshit* crazy. I figured someone must have emailed them about it or they switched writers or something, because they suddenly started going for the subject-verb agreement and saying "the build team is..." Chained_bear happy.
January 17, 2008
yarb commented on the word is
Damned limey writers taking American jobs!
January 17, 2008
tbtabby commented on the word is
Means "ice cream" in Norwegian.
July 13, 2009
alexz commented on the word is
Bill Clinton "It Depends on what the meaning of the word is is"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4XT-l-_3y0
February 23, 2013