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




Well, I would simply say "12 bottles of vinegar were stolen so the
thieves could put *some* on their chips". Greedy blighters!
Actually, no thief would steal 12 bottles when one would do, so we can
only assume it was a case of 12, immediately making it singular and,
presumably, resolving your problem.

--
Spider.
On high ground in SE London
gardening on heavy clay