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What would be right. Would you say a thousand points of battle damage are inflicted to you or would you say a thousand points of damage is inflicted to you?

Jack atlas
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2 Answers2

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The thread titled Plural/singular verb agreement with units addresses this question, provided one accepts 'points' as being covered by 'units'.

Nobody would seriously argue for

'three miles are too far to walk'

or

'26 kg are too much/many for a healthy young lamb'.

Although there are grey areas, with 'less conventional' units such as points, frames, sets, goals, ends ..., the mass/continuous concept (a distance of 3 miles, a weight of around 26kg, a score of 1000 points) would result in singular agreement being used more often, at least in the UK.

Six goals is a terrific score.

400 runs is a huge first-innings lead.

1000 points is quite a penalty.

There are, however, occasions when plural agreement is necessary:

The three points on this fork are all bent.

Both his goals were superbly taken.

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Edwin Ashworth
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    Your "fork" example is one where only the plural is acceptable, but it might be worth flagging up a true "grey" area, such as "I think three tines on a fork are* quite enough". Some people might think that's the only correct version, and some might only accept "I think three tines on a fork is quite enough"*, but I suspect most people would agree with me that both are fine. – FumbleFingers Apr 04 '14 at 20:03
  • Quite a dilemma. Or not. – Edwin Ashworth Apr 04 '14 at 21:03
  • It depends on what the verb is is referring to - the things that were counted (plural) or the number/count itself (singular). "Three tines on a fork is a sufficient number" "The tines on a fork are meant to be slightly curved" "Six goals is a terrific score." "Six goals were scored." – Jeffrey Kemp Apr 05 '14 at 05:55
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    In general' it's more involved than looking for the possibility of an implied singular group noun. I'd say 'The team was founded in 1896' but 'The team were fighting amongst themselves'. The key question for logical concord is 'Are we looking at the referent as a composite whole or as individual components?' The jury was unrepresentative / the jury were arguing amongst themselves. Bacon and eggs is my favourite breakfast / Bacon and eggs are both overpriced in that shop. And FF correctly identifies an ambiguous example: "I think three tines on a fork is/are quite enough". – Edwin Ashworth Apr 05 '14 at 08:30
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a thousand points of battle damage are inflicted to you

Because 'a thousand points' is plural, the 'of battle damage' doesn't affect that.

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