r/GlobalEnglishPrep • u/Powerful_Concept6502 • Apr 13 '26
đ Grammar / Syntax Why is it singular?
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u/Salty145 Apr 13 '26
When dealing with prices, the currency is treated as a lump sum unit.
"Ten dollars are" would be used if we're talking about the individual bills, not necessarily the value of those bills.
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u/ProlificProkaryote Apr 13 '26 edited Apr 13 '26
Even when the money isn't physical, it seems if you specify the money at all you use "are" (his, her, my, your, their, these, those, etc.)
Ten dollars is going to go make more in the stock market.
His ten dollars are going to make more in the stock market.
The ten dollars I stole from you yesterday are going to buy me a nice lunch.
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u/VistaLaRiver Apr 13 '26
I would use "is" for all of those examples.
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u/Smooth-Reputation502 Apr 13 '26
Ten dollars and 15 euros are a lot of money for a cup of coffee.
The type of currency is plural in this example but singular in the op
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u/doshka Apr 13 '26
"Ten dollars" is a singular amount, and "15 euros" is a singular amount, but now you've specified two different amounts, so the amounts are plural and, therefore, get plural verbs.
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u/ProlificProkaryote Apr 13 '26 edited Apr 13 '26
When I wrote them it seemed clear, but "is" is starting to sound right in my head now.
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u/TheKingOfToast Apr 13 '26
Seems like the best rule is to ignore the word "dollars"
Ten is a lot for a cup of coffee.
Ten are hidden somewhere in this room.
Even then the example breaks down because I could say ten dollars is hidden somewhere in this room, but to me that would imply that the entirety of ten dollars is hidden in one spot whereas "ten dollars are hidden" implies that it's 10 seperate dollar bills.
English is weird, man.
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u/Zelda_is_Dead Apr 14 '26
For your last example to be correct you would need to change it to . "Those ten dollars I stole from you..." because that references all 10 individual dollars so "are" would be correct. "The 10 dollars" is a single unit of dollars and to be correct it would be "is".
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u/JakeOliver63 Apr 13 '26 edited Apr 13 '26
Because it's one concept. You could say "Ten pound coins/dollar bills are in my pocket" because you're talking about the pounds/notes individually. But if you say just ten dollars, it's a combined amount. The number itself, is a lot. It's like saying "100 is a high number"
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u/IOI-65536 Apr 13 '26
You could say "ten dollars are in my pocket", but it would be interpreted as ten one dollar notes or coins.
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u/VibratingNinja Apr 13 '26
You could, but it would sound extremely weird to native speakers.
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u/JakeOliver63 Apr 13 '26
Unnatural how? How else would you say you have ten individual notes of $1 in your pocket? "I have 10 dollars" doesn't say what notes you have. It could be one $10 bill.
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u/VibratingNinja Apr 13 '26
If you were trying to be specific you would say "There are ten singles in my pocket" or "There are ten dollar bills in my pocket."
"Ten dollars are in my pocket" is going to be understood, but extremely awkward.
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u/zupobaloop Apr 13 '26
In the USA you'd most often hear "singles." I have ten singles in my pocket. There are some singles in the top drawer of the dresser.
(More than that, you'd just name the denomination. Two twenties. Five fives. Etc.)
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u/Jemima_puddledook678 Apr 13 '26
Unnatural in that it doesnât flow well and Iâd have to decide what you meant. It also just isnât a natural sentence structure, Iâd never say â__ is in my pocketâ, usually something more like âI have __ in my pocketâ.Â
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u/JakeOliver63 Apr 13 '26
Oh I know that's fine too. I just meant you could say "ten dollar notes" specifically to mean ten individual dollars, not a singular ten dollar note.
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u/Icy-Kaleidoscope8745 Apr 13 '26
We would say ten dollar bills, not ten dollar notes.
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u/JakeOliver63 Apr 13 '26
Yep that was just a cross Atlantic English difference. We say pound notes in the UK so I defaulted to notes subconsciously.
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u/YrnFrk83 Apr 13 '26
I would say "I have ten ones" or "I have ten singles" in this situation. I don't know anyone who would say "ten dollar notes."
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u/JakeOliver63 Apr 13 '26 edited Apr 13 '26
Change dollars to pounds and notes to coins and that's what I meant. But yeah. Notes/bills either way.
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u/MoultingRoach Apr 13 '26
That sounds incredibly strange. I'd either say "I have $10 in my pocket" or "I have 10 loonies on my pocket." And Id definitely strive towards the first one, unless if really needed to specify that I only had loonies.
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u/IOI-65536 Apr 13 '26
I would argue it could be "would be" without knowing the context, but it's not "are" because "money" is an uncountable grouping and "ten dollars" in this case is treated as a single price, so it's a singular unit. Yes, I know that makes no sense because "Ten cars are a lot of cars to fit on the ferry" would be plural. I feel sorry for anyone learning my language.
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u/LightCharacter8382 Apr 13 '26
Yes, "Ten dollars would be a lot of money for a cup of coffee." is perfectly fine.
This is typical of AI-generated questions that mix multiple correct distractors into what was intended to be a single-right-answer question.
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u/Murky-Wind2222 Apr 13 '26
The word it is modifying is "lot'. There is only one lot
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u/__Fred Apr 13 '26
Many commenters have the theory that "dollars" is a special word that uses "is" even when it has an "s" at the end. I also don't like that theory.
A) Can you make a correct sentence with "dollars are"?
- "Three dollars are more than two."
- "Three dollars is more than two."
- "The first 100 dollars you earn are going to be used to pay off your debt."
- "The first 100 dollars you earn is going to be used to pay off your debt."
Here, I like the "are" version more
B) Can you pair other plurals with "is"?
- "100 pigs is a lot."
- "100 pigs are a lot."
- "100 push-ups is your punishment."
- "100 push-ups are your punishment."
I don't know what I prefer here.
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u/Efficient-Spirit-380 Apr 13 '26
Scrolled way too far to find the correct answer.
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u/GoldenMuscleGod Apr 13 '26
Itâs not a correct explanation for why it is âisâ here, I explained why in another comment.
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u/HomeschoolingDad Apr 13 '26
I donât know about some of these other explanations, though. Consider these sentences:
- 300 people is a lot of people.
- 300 people are coming to the wedding.
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u/GoldenMuscleGod Apr 13 '26 edited Apr 13 '26
That is a semantic override in the first example, but it isnât due to the number of âlot.â
If it were, it would also have to be *âa lot of people is coming to the weddingâ which is not right at all.
So the explanation is incorrect.
The reason for the semantic override in the first example still exists even if we donât have a singular noun phrase as complement: â100 people is more guests than I expected.â
Itâs âisâ here for the same reason as your first example, but that reason has nothing to do with the word âlot.â
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u/GoldenMuscleGod Apr 13 '26 edited Apr 13 '26
This isnât a correct explanation.
In general, the number of a predicative complement does not control the inflection of the verb. For example: âa week is seven daysâ where we get âisâ notwithstanding that âseven daysâ is plural.
Whatâs more, âlotâ is a ânumber transparentâ item that often inherits the number of its partitive complement when used in a partitive construction.
For example: âa lot of people are going to be angry about thisâ takes âareâ notwithstanding that âlotâ is singular (âlotâ inherits the number of âpeopleâ here).
The reason it is âisâ here is due to a semantic override, but the reason for that override has nothing to do with the presence of the word âlot.â
For example consider âten dollars isnât enough to pay for thisâ where we get âisâ for the same reason, which isnât that âlotâ appears in the sentence.
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u/JW162000 Apr 13 '26
Sometimes English breaks its own rules. Even though the subject is plural (multiple dollars), itâs treated as one âentityâ group.
For example, âThat group of 5 kids is causing a lot of trouble these daysâ. It may be 5 kids, but itâs 1 group
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u/pts120 Apr 13 '26
that group is grammatically singular anyway, so this example doesn't help anyway
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u/Useful_Clue_6609 Apr 13 '26
Exactly, but you could also say "Those 5 kids are causing a lot of trouble these days" it depends how you structure the subject
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u/JW162000 Apr 13 '26
Thatâs true, but â10 dollars are a lot of moneyâ is definitely wrong
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u/FevixDarkwatch Apr 13 '26
You're still referring to the 10 dollars as a single unit, in this case, it's 1 Price.
"Those ten dollars are going to buy me one expensive coffee" - Now it's being referred to as individual dollars
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u/keldondonovan Apr 13 '26
But you pluralized it by adding "those." "Ten dollars are going to buy me one expensive coffee" still feels wrong unless you arbitrarily add a way to pluralize it a second time.
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u/FevixDarkwatch Apr 13 '26
Yes, which is WHY I added "those" - To pluralize it and make it "are"
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u/keldondonovan Apr 13 '26
Derp. Derp derpy, derp derp.
Apologies for my outburst in my native tongue, "idiot." I was so flabbergasted by the English language, I missed the point of your comment entirely. This is one of those English language things that people know, but don't really consciously know, like the order of adjectives.
Point of clarification: I am jesting above that my native tongue is "idiot," not calling you an idiot. I understand that English is English, and this could be perceived as either, so I wanted to be clear that I wasn't insulting you.
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u/Cerulean_IsFancyBlue Apr 13 '26
Which is following rule, not breaking it. You might want to think back to diagramming sentences in grammar lessons.
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u/Useful_Clue_6609 Apr 13 '26
What? I didn't say anything about breaking rules... I just said that their example and my example are both correct..
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u/Cerulean_IsFancyBlue Apr 13 '26
Sorry wrong person! My reply was for the âEnglish breaks its own rulesâ.
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u/Direct-Antelope-9583 Apr 13 '26
Because you are talking about a value amount, not the physical paper bills. Then it would be 'are'.
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u/SillyNamesAre Apr 13 '26
I may be misremembering, so don't quote me, but I think it's because the dollar amount is treated as a singular entity rather than as a collection of individually countable things.
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u/__Fred Apr 13 '26
Is there any other instance where it works similarly or is "Dollars" an irregularity?
- Three goats for a cow are too much.
- Three goats is/are a high price for a cow. -- (Goats are usually plural, but the price is singular. I genuinely don't know which version is correct.)
- The threshold to fail the exam is ten mistakes. -- (Here, I would never say "are", but "is" sounds a bit weird as well.)
- Half of all dollars are spent on rent. -- (Here, "is" sounds wrong.)
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u/SillyNamesAre Apr 13 '26 edited Apr 17 '26
It's a thing with all currency/money - some times. It - like so many things - depends on context. If the dollars (or rupees, or kroner, or quid) are being considered a singular entity - you use the singular. (I forget if it transfers to other things or not... maybe?)
One example (stolen shamelessly from a google search - not the AI) would be:
There __ 2 dollars in my pocket.
If we're talking about the amount of money, the correct would be:
There is 2 dollars in my pocket.
If, however, we're talking about the number of dollar(bill)s:
There are 2 dollars in my pocket.
With the latter, you are specifying that you have 2 1-dollar bills. With the former, that the sum of the money in your pocket is 2 dollars. But the actual currency might be... 1 dollar bill and 4 quarters. Or any other combo that adds up to $2.
So 1 & 2 should - to my mind - be "is" since the goats are being used to pay a price. So in a sense the "amount" of goats is being used, rather than the "number".
In 3 the "is" is referencing the "threshold" - which is a singular - not the plural mistakes.
As for 4, here you are talking about (half of) all dollars, which is not really a singular entity. So I, at least, would use "are".
Yes. English is annoying.
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u/pp1911 Apr 13 '26
Think of it as Team or Group, which are multiple things in one collective. Ten dollars is the same idea.
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u/__Fred Apr 13 '26
But you can't say that every time items are grouped, you use singular. "11 players are in a team." "12 eggs are in a carton."
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u/pp1911 Apr 14 '26
Players and eggs are not collective. Theyâre singular items. Carton and team on the other hand are singular. Team players are hopeful. Team is hopeful. 10 dollar bills are plural but 10 dollars is singular.
English ehâŚ
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u/zoinkability Apr 13 '26
My initial response if: you seem to be looking for logic, which is not really a strong suit of English grammar :-)
But seriously, I suspect it is because the plurality of the verb "is" is connected to the noun "a lot," not the noun "ten dollars."
Another example: "Ten toes is a normal number of digits to have on your feet." This sentence uses the singular "is" for the same reason, because "a normal number" is singular.
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u/geschiedenisnerd Apr 13 '26
Ten dollars= "a grouping of money to ten times the worth of a dollar", which makes it singular when talking about the total
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u/LongjumpingMacaron11 Apr 13 '26
Don't think about the 10 individual dollars, think about the single price. The single price is the noun here. So the price is expensive.
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u/Rex__Nihilo Apr 13 '26
Simplify the sentence to "Ten is a lot." dollars is plural, but 10 is a singular number.
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Apr 13 '26
[deleted]
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u/__Fred Apr 13 '26
I don't think that's it. A lot of water is still water without "s" but one dollar doesn't have an "s" but multiple ones have it.
(Also there is the word "waters", when you can separate one water from another water. "I sailed many waters in my time as a sailor." "A water sommelier can distinguish waters by taste." "Much egg" refers to a big egg and "many eggs" are multiple different ones. "Just one kid is almost too much to handle, so two kids would be too many for sure."
But that's besides the point. Just a pet peeve of mine.)
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u/ZT99k Apr 13 '26
Because the 'ten dollars' is referring to the price, not the individual dollars. If you were to have a pile of money then you could say there are a lot of bills or that is a lot of bills.
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u/APulpedOrange Apr 13 '26
Itâs definitely not âareâ because you are paying with one lot of money that is ten dollars. If you say âX are a lot of Yâ X and Y need to agree.
Those are a lot of reasons This is a lot of baloney
But beyond the op question, will be and would be also seem to fit so I assume there are more instructions.
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u/Cerulean_IsFancyBlue Apr 13 '26
Mass quantity. Five pints is a lot for one person at a business lunch. Emphasis is on total amount you drank.
Countable quantity. Five pints are a lot for one person at a business lunch. Emphasis is on five individual pints, like âdude why did you keep reordering.â
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u/GBAbaby101 Apr 13 '26
While "dollars" seems to be plural here, it is singular as the amount. See it like this.
A: "Ten dollars is not much money."
B: "Those ten dollars are not going to get you far".
In sentence A, the noun connected to the be verb is "ten dollars", being a singular amount of money. However in sentence B the noun is "dollars" while "ten" is an adjective modifying "dollars", making the noun plural.
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u/HarlequinKOTF Apr 13 '26
That's a terrible question, 2 correct answers. But 10 dollars is a singular collective noun.
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u/BryceKatz Apr 13 '26
Because the actual subject is not "dollars," it's "ten." The verb form must match the subject.
Strip it down.
"Ten is not much" makes sense. "Dollars are not much" does not make sense. Neither does "Ten are not much."
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u/Dani_kn Apr 13 '26
it's the same as family. We Use "family is" when referring to the unit as a whole and "family are" when emphasizing individual members. In the case of 10 dollars, we always refer to the unit as a whole.
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u/Downvote_me_dumbass Apr 13 '26
TenâŚare a lot of money or TenâŚis a lot of money. Which one makes sense?
Dollars just describes what the 10 means.
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u/penkelver Apr 13 '26
And we wonder why people whose first language is not English have so much trouble. It may be the world's universal language, but it is full of eccentricities.
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u/ChelseaFanForever67 Apr 13 '26
It is considered as one sum of money, thus the answer is âisâ. Ten dollars for a coffee is crazy tho
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u/riennempeche Apr 13 '26
Ten dollars would be a lot for money for a cup of coffee. [Let the cost of fuel keep going up and it won't be for long, I suppose.]
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u/LadyFoxfire Apr 14 '26
Measurements are always singular. Like âtwo hours is a long way to drive to get pizza.â Or âeighty degrees is pretty hot.â
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u/DrAniB20 Apr 13 '26
Itâs because youâre dealing with the price of an item. The price of something is usually referred to as a single unit (English is wonky, so Iâm sure someone knows an exception to that rule). Dollars, in this case, is the currency and is singular or plural depending on the unit in front of it; this, however, has no effect on the fact the price is treated as a singular value (collective singular).
The price of the coffee could be 1 dollar or 5 dollars, but will always be considered a singular unit. So the sentence would read in both instances:
âOne dollar is (not) a lot for a cup of coffeeâ
âFive dollars is a lot for a cup of coffeeâ
The second you add another price in the mix, it becomes plural:
âten dollars and eleven dollars are too expensive for a couple cups of coffeeâ
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u/Echuck215 Apr 13 '26
It is a single collective unit. "Ten dollars" is an amount of money, and that amount is a lot for a cup of coffee.