On 16/10/2013 13:00, Baz wrote:
David Hill wrote in news:bc785rF4rhaU1
@mid.individual.net:

Around £10,000 were stolen from a house
Or should it be
Around £10,000 was stolen from a house.

If you regard the money as individual notes then they "were" stolen but
if you regard it as a single unit of money then it "was" stolen.
It's niggling me.


Yes thats a poser. I think you are right.
I think that its 10,000 one pound notes notes WERE stolen.
Thats not the case, £10,000 WAS stolen.

12 bottles of vinegar were stolen so the theives could put IT on their
chips.
A case of 12 bottles of vinegar WAS stolen so the theives could put THEM on
their chips. If it was IT, and not THEM, surely the theives would be
putting the case, not the bottle onto their chips.
WAS it stolen, or WERE they stolen, was it THEM (or those) or IT that was
stolen?

Even more confusing. For me at least. That is my stumbling block.

Baz

None of those Baz, they were just put in the wrong part of the store room.
But I'd have said "A case of 12 bottles of vinegar was stolen so that
the thieves could USE it on their chips".