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Would using there are instead of there is be acceptable in utterances that talk about quantity? For example,

  • There are 300,000 dollars in my account.
  • There are 20 gallons of petrol in my tank.
RegDwigнt
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niab
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  • I've looked at the answers posted in the suggested duplicates and I don't believe they really give a satisfactory explanation to this question. For example "In my account I have 300,000 dollars" sounds perfectly acceptable, as does "There are 300,000 dollars..." however if I use the demonstrative determiner, THAT, the context changes and I find myself saying. "That is 300,000 dollars in my account" (I think) it's because I'm looking at a figure/digits printed on my bank statement. – Mari-Lou A Oct 15 '13 at 09:34
  • @Mari-LouA I've looked at the duplicates and the other questions linked from them. The answer seems to be that no-one can agree: there is no 'right' answer; both singular & plural forms are in common use. I'm inclined to suggest that re-opening this will achieve little more that re-iterating the arguments already set out in earlier questions. Basically, it seems to be an opinion-related question. – TrevorD Oct 15 '13 at 12:04
  • @TrevorD I can accept there is no clear cut answer, in English that is often the case. But instead of having several differing opinions, which is a risk, there needs to be an answer that explains both the singular and plural verb can be used in this case. I suppose Barrie England's is, under this aspect, the most correct. But it's a bit dry and devoid of any detail, whereas Shoe's contains a greater number of examples it doesn't directly answer this question. – Mari-Lou A Oct 16 '13 at 14:10

1 Answers1

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It is correct. There are 300,000 dollars in your bank account. Or there is a bag (just one) in your locker containing your 300,000 dollars.

This sentence above is different from this one: There are 20 gallons of petrol (just one) in the tank.

I think it should be: There is 20 gallons of petrol in the tank.

RegDwigнt
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user53849
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    "Gallons" is plural so it's "*there are* 20 gallons". – Ste Oct 10 '13 at 07:34
  • That is true. But it seems as if 'is' refers to petrol. Assume that the quantity is not specified, then: there is petrol in the tank. This is confusing. – user53849 Oct 10 '13 at 07:53
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    People should not put forward answers (whether as 'answers' or 'comments') as being true / the whole truth unless they've done a reasonable amount of research. The fact that the many previous references to this type of problem have so far not been mentioned argues against reasonably well researched answers here. I'll just throw in that I 'd never say "There are 300,000 dollars in my account" and I'd probably use 'There's 20 gallons ..." – Edwin Ashworth Oct 10 '13 at 08:09