Question

In the sentence, do I say: this will make the reader think that the ball is red or this will make the reader THINKS....?

in the sentence, do I say: this will make the reader think that the ball is red or this will make the reader THINKS....?

Answer 1

This will make the reader think that the ball is red.

Explanation:

When writing a sentence, it is important to make sure the subject agrees with the verb.

If the subject is singular (the reader), then the verb has to be singular too (thinks).

Example: The reader thinks about good things. (Singular)

The readers think about good things. (Plural)

However, in the sentence

"This will make the reader think that the ball is red," it is important to note that think is not the only verb in the sentence. Therefore, it must agree with the verb that preceeds it.

will make is in the future tense. i.e: will + the base form of the verb.

Hence, the verb that comes after will make has to be in it's base form.

This explains why we say

"This will make the reader think that the ball is red."

No matter what you replace "the reader" with in the sentence above, the verb "think" will not change.

Examples: This will make the readers think that the ball is red.

This will make her think that the ball is red.

This will make them think that the ball is red.