In the question "What stresses you out?" Why do we say "stresses" and not "stress"?

Question

My students asked this question this evening, and I can still not put an answer to it!

Answer 1

First off, "stress" is used as a *verb* in this sentence, and the sentence is in Present Simple tense.

The subject "what" (a noun) is presumed to be singular, so we say "stresses", which is the proper conjugation for a verb in singular form. Yes, singular, not plural!

The only time you would write "stress" would be if the subject was plural, as in: "What things stress you out?"

Answer 2

I am always a little stressed about the holidays, but over the years I have learned to control my stress more and more so now most people think it's strange when I say I haven't bought anything for the holidays and it's already december 22nd. As far as th backwards spelling of stressed......... I have never heard that before! That's pretty cool! A must share with everyone.

Answer 3

You know that in when you refer to a person that is doing something, the third person (she, he, it), there is an "s" on the verbs (he goes there, she swims etc). But as you can see in the first sentence I used "es" not "s", try to say "gos" it's another word. And to answer your question...it's used "stresses" because it's referring to something (it, she or he) that is the third person, but they are putting the letters "es" not "s" because you will get type of word "stresss". And it's weird, to use only stress you must say "What does stress you?". The "s" is the termination of "do" and not "stress" . I hope this helped you a little.

Answer 4

I cannot believe all the idiots who think that "stresses" is a plural noun in this sentence. I want to jump off a cliff.

"Stresses" is a verb in this sentence and is conjugated to agree with the subject of the sentence. The subject of the sentence is the SINGULAR pronoun "what", therefore the verb in present tense must have an -(e)s. "What" is singular because it is an interrogative pronoun referring to something that is not known. If the subject was to be plural, it would be "what things stress..." rather than the singular "what stresses".

Answer 5

Although I am a foreigner, my mother tongue being Greek, I think that in English most nouns make also verbs. Thus, the so called Stress exerts a force over persons and it acts like a verb! Stress isn't a name or a noun. Stress is the result of suppression, overt or covert, that decreases the defense of the body or the organism and turns someone out to be weak and vulnerable to outside actions or influences.People ignor ing that, speak about "stress". (LRH)
Ciao.....John-John.

Answer 6

I say I am stressed out, which I often was, but I got to the point were I realised nothing is worth the stress so I quit doing it and now I am stress free, maybe they have far too many "S's" in their stress and that is what the real problem is.

Answer 7

Great answers! You may wonder why people argue that just being a native speaker doesn't qualify you to teach the language -- but after looking at these responses . . .

Just my two cents -- you is the object of the sentence so it doesn't affect the verb. "What" is the subject.

The answer may be something like "Work stresses me out."

Answer 8

When you're asking someone to identify something you ask "What?" which is in the third person & the conjugation of the verb 'stress' is as follows:

I stress
You stress
He / she / it STRESSES
We stress
They stress

That is your answer - because you're asking tor a 'thing' which is taken to be in the third person.

Answer 9

we use "stresses" with the ending -es, because we consider it to be 3rd person singular of the Present Indefinite tense.
We can also say "What can cause your stress?" In this case we dont have to use -s (es) ending, because the verb "can" is modal and dont need any endings.

Answer 10

because stresses is the plural of stress, and it asks for things that would create stress in your life. the question is supposed to be meant for more than a one thing stressing you out.