That's/That are a lot of English words.

[diamondcutter]

If you've studied all six Kid’s Box books, you've learnt more than 2,610 words and you've seen more than 260 verbs. That's a lot of English words, but where do these words all come from?

Source: Kid’s Box 6, CUP

I think “That’s a lot English words” could be rewritten as “Those are a lot English words” in this context. Using “that’s...” or “those are...” depends on how the writer sees the words. If he sees them as a whole thing, “that’s...” is used. If he sees the words separately, “those are...” is used. I’d like to read your comments.

 

[jutfrank]

You're thinking very generally in the right way but in this case only That's is right. The writer is referring to 2,610 words as a single total quantity of words.

 

[diamondcutter]

Dear teachers, would you please spare a little time to give me some examples?

 

[Tarheel]

That's a lot of pizza!

Like that?

 

[Tdol]

It's a total of 2,610.

 

[diamondcutter]

Thank you all for your replies.

I'd like to ask one more question. I think “That's a lot of English words” could be reworded as “This is a lot of English words” because it’s the topic of the whole passage. What do you say?

Here’s the whole passage.

If you've studied all six Kid’s Box books, you've learnt more than 2,610 words and you've seen more than 260 verbs. That's a lot of English words, but where do these words all come from?

Like many languages, English uses words from other languages. This started a long time ago when the Romans invaded England. Then it continued when different German tribes, the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, arrived. Some of the words they brought are ‘kitchen’, ‘pepper’ and ‘cheese’. The name ‘England’ also comes from these ‘Angles’, and the country was then called ‘Englaland’. The people spoke a language which we now call ‘Old English’. This is similar to the language of the Vikings, who invaded later. Viking words include ‘egg’, ‘leg’, ‘sky’ and ‘window’. In 1066 the Normans from France invaded England, and English changed a lot.

During the next 300 years, the kings and queens liked speaking French and so English took a lot of words from French, for example ‘art’, ‘mirror’, and ‘dance’. Since the Normans, no one has invaded England.

English didn't take many more new words from other languages until people started to travel more in the 20th century. English now uses many food words from different countries, for example ‘pizza’ and ‘pasta’ from Italian and ‘frankfurter’ from German.

 

[jutfrank]

I think “That's a lot of English words” could be reworded as “This is a lot of English words” because it’s the topic of the whole passage. What do you say?

No, that's wrong. This kind of reference needs that, not this. To try to give you a very simple and practical rule to follow, when you want to make a comment about the size or quantity of something, use That's a lot of ...

 

[Tarheel]

Also:

I don't know who wrote that story, but I like it very much.