"were" or "was"

Hi,

Should I use "were" or "was" as

There were two hundred rupees in my pocket.

Untaught88 said:

Should I use "were" or "was" [STRIKE]as[/STRIKE] in

'There were two hundred rupees in my pocket'?

Click to expand...

I'd use 'were'.

"Two hundred rupees was enough".

In the above sentence, we have to use 'was'. Can you please explain?

I would use "was". It's a monetary amount, which is considered a single aggregated unit.

"Ten million dollars is a large amount of money."

I am asking that why don't we use "was" when the sentence starts with "there"?

Untaught88 said:

I am asking [STRIKE]that[/STRIKE] why we don't [STRIKE]we[/STRIKE] use "was" when the sentence starts with "there."

Click to expand...

Who told you that?

There was a lot of snow on the ground yesterday.

There were two hundred rupees in my pocket.
Two hundred rupees was enough.

Please read the above sentences and answer my question. In the first sentence, we use "were", and in the second sentence, we use "was".

You can use either "was" or "were." I must say that, just like Rover_KE, I also first thought of "were" instead of "was." I think the reason is that we're not familiar with rupees as a currency (we're not used to it), so we automatically thought of individual rupees (given the word was in the plural) rather than of the money as an amount, which it is, of course.

My immediate reaction was "were" too, because of "rupees". However, I then started to think about what I would say in English about my currency.
I would use "There was ten pounds/a tenner in my pocket" because I think of it as a single amount of money. It doesn't mean I had one single £10 note in my pocket. I would say the same thing if I had a total of £10 made up of, for example, a £5 note, two £1 coins and a collection of smaller change. I would only use "were" if I said "There were ten pound coins in my pocket". In that case, I am referring to the plural "coins".

The important thing, I think, for you to consider is that in your original sentence you are talking about a total amount of money ("amount" is singular).

That means "There was two hundred rupees in my pocket" is correct. And I must use "were" with "coins".

Untaught88 said:

And I must use "were" with "coins".

Click to expand...

That's not what we said. If you want to refer to the individual coins (their count), then use "were", but if you want to refer to the total amount (how much the coins are worth), then use "was."

For example,
I'm sure there were 200 rupees in my pocket, but now I can only find 198. I wonder what happened to the other two.

There was Rs. 200 in my pocket, and that was more than enough to pay for the meal.

"Rupee" is not a coin. One may have two notes of 100 or four of 50.

We could be talking about someone who collects old/rare coins. ;-)