Hello to Italki community!

Can you help me please to sort it out ?

There is a question: "Have you ever threatened to throw away a piece of technology that failed working?"

And the answer is: "Yes, it was my AirPods"

My question is: can use plural (AirPods) after "it was"? If not, what shoud I say instead?

Question

Hello to Italki community!

Can you help me please to sort it out ?

There is a question: "Have you ever threatened to throw away a piece of technology that failed working?"

And the answer is: "Yes, it was my AirPods"

My question is: can use plural (AirPods) after "it was"? If not, what shoud I say instead?

Answer

Albert: In English, the verb agrees with the subject, not with the predicate nominative. The noun before the verb (or immediately after, if we’re using inversion) is the subject, while the noun after the verb is the predicate nominative. In your example, the subject of the main clause is “it”. Even though “it” is a dummy subject, it still governs the verb. The fact the word "AirPods" is plural is irrelevant in English.
Note: We don't say "failed working" (as a phrase), but rather "failed to work" (or simply "failed").

Answer

I agree with Phil's answer.
Also, Spangola's answer is what I would say myself in most cases.

Good luck!

Answer

We would just say: "Yes, my AirPods."

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