I'm having a hard time going with this sentence here, because I'm not sure which verb I should use...or if I should just reword the whole sentence...?
"I won't hit you because scum like you (isn't, aren't, or something else...?) worth my time."
Would you say?. --
You is smart.
or
You are smart.
I hope you said You are smart. The correct verb with you is are.
So -- "scum like you aren't worth . . ."
"
I would've said "aren't," but for some reason when I read it out loud, it sounded funny! Thank you!
You're welcome.
Of course it sounded funny. "like you" is just a prepositional phrase. The real clause is
Scum ... isn't worth my time.
Oops! I goofed! Steve, of course, is right.
Based on the context of the sentence, the correct verb to use would be "isn't." Here's an explanation of how to determine the appropriate verb:
In this sentence, the subject is "scum like you," which refers to a singular entity. Although the word "scum" may sound plural, it is being used as a collective noun in this context. When a collective noun is used to refer to a group of things as a whole, it is considered singular. In this case, "scum like you" is being treated as a single entity and therefore requires the singular form of the verb.
Here are a few ways to rephrase the sentence to make the subject-verb agreement clearer:
"I won't hit you because you (singular) are not worth my time."
"I won't hit you because people like you are not worth my time."
Remember that subject-verb agreement is important in ensuring that your sentence is grammatically correct.