In one of the previous videos we were talking about subject-verb agreement. You know that the form of the verb must agree with the subject. In many cases there’s just one verb form, but sometimes there are different forms in singular and in plural, like for example in the Present Simple tense, where we add the ending –s in third person singular.
Today we’ll be talking about an exception to the subject-verb agreement rule. If the noun denotes a measurement of distance, weight, time, amount or any other physical quantity, we use the singular form of the verb, even if the noun is in plural.
Here are some examples. Let’s start with measurements of distance.
8576 kilometers is way too far to travel by car.
2117 kilometers that separates us from Rome seems a long distance.
Now some weights.
Ten kilograms was too much for him to lift.
Five and a half kilograms has been his greatest achievement so far.
Here’s an example with time.
Three hours flies by when you’re on vacation.
Three hours feels like eternity if you have to wait and have absolutely nothing to occupy yourself with.
Finally, amount.
Twenty-five dollars is not enough to buy the book.
Two hundred dollars was sent to his family to pay the rent.
