what (hwt, hwt, wt, wt; hwt, wt when unstressed) KEY what for
Informal Middle English, from Old English hwæt; see kwo- in
Indo-European roots When what is the subject of a clause, it
takes a singular verb if the word or phrase that completes the
sentence (the complement) is singular, as in I see what seems to
be a dead tree. It is plural if a plural noun or noun phrase
completes the sentence, as in He sometimes makes what seem to be
gestures of reconciliation.·Clauses with what as either subject
or object may themselves be the subject of a sentence, and
sometimes it is difficult to decide whether the verb of the main
clause should be singular or plural. When the what in the what-
clause is the object of the verb and the complement of the main
clause is singular, the main verb is always singular: What they
wanted was a home of their own; when the complement of the main
sentence is plural, the verb is most often plural: What American
education needs are smaller classes, though one also encounters
sentences such