Amount ... are

[Allen165]

Why "are" instead of "is"?

"After an attack like 9/11 in the United States or 7/7 in London, a massive amount of resources are inevitably deployed to shield the most precious targets, but there is a Sisyphean element to such a task."

Thanks!

 

[shroob]

Why "are" instead of "is"?

"After an attack like 9/11 in the United States or 7/7 in London, a massive amount of resources are inevitably deployed to shield the most precious targets, but there is a Sisyphean element to such a task."

Thanks!

Not a teacher only a native.

'Are' is used because 'resources' is plural.

 

[Allen165]

Not a teacher only a native.

'Are' is used because 'resources' is plural.

But isn't "amount" the noun that the verb refers back to?

 

[Raymott]

But isn't "amount" the noun that the verb refers back to?

You're a native speaker, Allen. What would you say?

 

[Allen165]

You're a native speaker, Allen. What would you say?

I would obviously say yes, but my answer seems to be wrong.

 

[SoothingDave]

Was there a yes/no question somewhere? I thought it was is/are?

 

[Allen165]

Was there a yes/no question somewhere? I thought it was is/are?

In post no. 3 I asked this question: "But isn't "amount" the noun that the verb refers back to?"

 

[SoothingDave]

OK, I read that wrong. I thought he was asking if you would say "is" or "are."

 

[Allen165]

OK, I read that wrong. I thought he was asking if you would say "is" or "are."

I would say "is" because I think "amount" is the "noun of reference." (I just made up that term; I don't know the correct grammatical term.)

 

[shroob]

I would say "is" because I think "amount" is the "noun of reference." (I just made up that term; I don't know the correct grammatical term.)

Not a teacher only a native.

"After an attack like 9/11 in the United States or 7/7 in London, a massive amount of resourcesare inevitably deployed to shield the most precious targets, but there is a Sisyphean element to such a task."

Having read the sentence over and over again, 'is' seems to also fit.

I think this is to do with the 'a' (after London), which makes the 'massive amount of resources' appear as a single noun, but I could be wrong.

If it was just 'After an attack like 9/11 in the United States or 7/7 in London, massive amounts of resources are inevitably deployed....' then 'are' would be the word of choice.

Hopefully an actual teacher will clear things up.

 

[SoothingDave]

I would say "are." I think there's a loophole in the rules somewhere that allows this. It doesn't sound right to my ear to use "is" here.

 

[Barb_D]

A ____ of ____ can be used two ways.

One is to make the A ___ the quantifier, simply telling you how many of the second ____ there are.

Many students are entering the museum
Several students are entering the museum.
A bunch of students are...
A busload of student are...

It only makes sense to use the plural form in that case. I would argue that "A massive amount of resources..." is being used that way.

The other way is when the A ____ is the subject of the sentence and the second ____ is simply telling you more about that noun.

A family of 12 is hard to feed.
A colony of red-tailed warblers is...
A village of people who had never contacted the outside world before was discovered.

 

[emsr2d2]

I'm going to play devil's advocate here:

A large number of people is/are attending the concert tonight?

Which would you say is correct? Is or are?

 

[Allen165]

I'm going to play devil's advocate here:

A large number of people is/are attending the concert tonight?

Which would you say is correct? Is or are?

I'm going to abstain. ;-)

 

[Raymott]

OK, I read that wrong. I thought he was asking if you would say "is" or "are."

No, you read it right.
I'd say "are", since the sense is plural, as it is in emsr2d2's example.

 

[Barb_D]

I would always use plural with "A [large] number of..."

I would use "is" with "The number of... "

A number of questions were raised.
The number of questions raised was surprising.

 

[TheParser]

Why "are" instead of "is"?

"After an attack like 9/11 in the United States or 7/7 in London, a massive amount of resources are inevitably deployed to shield the most precious targets, but there is a Sisyphean element to such a task."

Thanks!

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Hello, Allen:

(1) Here is what some experts have written:

(a) Mr. Michael Swan's Practical English Usage says:

"A large number of problems still have to be solved" is "more

natural" than "A large amount of problems [still have to be solved]."

(b) Mr. L.G. Alexander's Longman English Grammar says we use "A great

amount of" + uncountable noun. His example: "A great amount of money

is spent on research." He tells us to use "A great number of" for

plural countable nouns. His example: A great number of our students are

American.

*** THEN HE ADDS:

"Some native speakers use amount of with countable nouns as well:

A large /great amount of our investments are in property."

(c) Webster's Niinth New Collegiate Dictionary does not discuss the verb

question but it reminds us:

"The less common use of amount with count nouns has been frequently

criticized; it seens to occur most often when the number of things can

be visualized [my emphasis] as a mass <glad to furnish any amount of

black pebbles> or when money is involved <a substantial amount of

loans>.

The bottom line:


If I understand those experts, it seems that the sentence you quoted

should refer to "a massive number of resources are ...."


Sincerely,


James

 

[Offroad]

It's the same as

Brazil play England tonight.

Some people may say plays.

 

[Raymott]

It's the same as

Brazil play England tonight.

Some people may say plays.

No, it's a slightly different concept. You're referring to the problem of whether 'group' or 'team' or 'committee' is treated as singular or plural. There is disagreement here about this.

In the "amount of/number of" case, we all know that 'amount' and number' are singular, yet those of us who are game enough to give an opinion, all say we'd still use 'are'. So, the explanation is different.
It could be that we all instinctively realise that "a huge amount of resources" means "many resources"; "a large number of people" means "many people". The plural verb is correct. If anything, the use of 'amount' and 'number' is wrong - but it's what we say.

Also, I think that when "resources" is changed to something like "apples" (of which the amount can be quantified meaningfully, eg. 4.5 tons), we could say "A large amount apples (4.5 tons) was sent". But to say that 600 tons of resources was sent, when the resources are a heterogenous mix of items and hence are not meaningfully quantified like this, the sense become "many resources".