[Ads-l] It were

[Laurence Horn]

> On Sep 24, 2015, at 12:01 PM, Cohen, Gerald Leonard <gcohen at MST.EDU> wrote:
> 
> Fwiw, this is a standard construction in German: Es waren...
> G. Cohen 

Or, given the uses of that German construction, you could invoke a Jerry Cohen-style syntactic blend:  "It was Clinton supporters behind it" + "There were Clinton supporters behind it".  (The "there" expletive/dummy in English, like the "es" expletive/dummy in German, takes plural agreement when it stands in for a plural subject.)  On the other hand, maybe it was a typo/thinko.  

LH 
> ________________________________________
> Jonathan Lighter wrote (Thursday, September 24, 2015 5:34 AM):
> Highly paid CNN anchor (slightly paraphrased from memory):
> "It *were* Clinton supporters behind it, though not Clinton or her
> campaign."
> Emphasis in original.
> JL
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