I have heard about the usage of "be" in specific situations like 2 days, 5 dollars,... For example:
Two days ____ enough for us
Should I use "is" or "are"? I see both of them are appropriate.
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2Is if you're treating the two days as a single length of time; are if you're treating them as multiple lengths of time. – Lawrence Jun 18 '17 at 15:32
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@Lawrence I know that, but what do you think is more appropriate? – hoang Jun 18 '17 at 15:33
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It depends - are you treating "two days" as a single length of time, or as multiple lengths of time? – Lawrence Jun 18 '17 at 15:34
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So both of them can be both correct answers, right? – hoang Jun 18 '17 at 15:35
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Whether either or both are "correct" depends on the context. Both are grammatically sound, though. – Lawrence Jun 18 '17 at 15:37
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Possibly of interest: Singular verb after two noun phrases joined by “and” that can be thought of as a single thing, and Singular or plural verb form where subject includes a “parenthetical” element. – Lawrence Jun 18 '17 at 15:42
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Look at the five units case with 'five cents'. 'Five cents is not much to pay for a bag' would never be used with plural agreement. But 'Five cents are lying in a pile on the table' needs the plural verb-form. // This is a multi-dupicate, but I'll close-vote for lack of research. – Edwin Ashworth Jun 18 '17 at 16:15
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Please include the research you've done. Questions that can be answered using commonly-available references (eg already on ELU) are off-topic. – Edwin Ashworth Jun 18 '17 at 16:17