quantity/quantities of | UsingEnglish.com ESL Forum

But "quantities" is plural, so I would keep the plural verb form in both sentences. ... A very large quantity of aid was needed. A huge quantity of oil was ... Home Forums What'snew Members Login Register What'snew Search Newposts Searchforums Help Rules Menu Login Register Installtheapp Install Forums LearningEnglish AskaTeacher Youareusinganoutofdatebrowser.Itmaynotdisplaythisorotherwebsitescorrectly.Youshouldupgradeoruseanalternativebrowser. quantity/quantitiesof Threadstarter joham Startdate Jan16,2010 Status Notopenforfurtherreplies. J joham KeyMember Joined Oct30,2007 MemberType StudentorLearner NativeLanguage Chinese HomeCountry China CurrentLocation China Verylargequantitiesofaidwereneeded. Hugequantitiesofoilwerespillingintothesea. Question1:Couldweuse'was'insteadof'were'inthesetwosentencessince'aid'and'oil'wereuncountablenouns? Question2:Couldwesay'Alargequantityofbookshas/havebeenbought'? Thankyouinadvance.   Sortbydate Sortbyvotes 2 2006 Banned Joined Apr9,2007 MemberType Other NativeLanguage English HomeCountry Canada CurrentLocation Canada johamsaid: Verylargequantitiesofaidwereneeded. Hugequantitiesofoilwerespillingintothesea. Question1:Couldweuse'was'insteadof'were'inthesetwosentences,since'aid'and'oil'areuncountablenouns?But"quantities"isplural,soIwouldkeepthepluralverbforminbothsentences. but.... Averylargequantityofaidwasneeded. Ahugequantityofoilwasspillingintothesea. Question2:Couldwesay'Alargequantityofbookshas/havebeenbought'?Youcoulduseeitherverb. "has"emphasizes"quantity".(theamount) "have"emphasizes"books". Thankyouinadvance. Clicktoexpand... 2006   Upvote 0 Downvote J joham KeyMember Joined Oct30,2007 MemberType StudentorLearner NativeLanguage Chinese HomeCountry China CurrentLocation China Thankyouverymuchforyourhelp,2006.CollinsUsagesaystousesingularverbswith'heaps/loads/masses/tonsof+singularnoun': Massesofevidencehasbeenaccumulated. Is'quantitiesof...'differentinusagefrom'massesof...'? Thankyouagain.   Upvote 0 Downvote S sarat_106 KeyMember Joined Mar19,2008 MemberType EnglishTeacher NativeLanguage Oriya HomeCountry India CurrentLocation India johamsaid: Thankyouverymuchforyourhelp,2006.CollinsUsagesaystousesingularverbswith'heaps/loads/masses/tonsof+singularnoun': Massesofevidencehasbeenaccumulated. Is'quantitiesof...'differentinusagefrom'massesof...'? Thankyouagain. Clicktoexpand... Yes,heap,load,mass,tonareallcountablenounswhereas‘quantity’isusedasboth.Soasexplainedby2006thepluralverbisusedwithpluralformof‘quantity’’ Herethedifferenceiswhenasingularnoun(countable)oruncountablenounfollowafterthesewords,youuseasingularverb.As: Heapsofmoneyislyingonthefloor. Tonsoffoodiscarriedtotheaffectedsite. Massesofevidencehasbeenaccumulated.(evidenceisuncountable) Butifyouuseapluralnounafterthesewords,apluralverbisnecessary.As: Heapsofbooksanddocumentsweredestroyedintheflood.   Upvote 0 Downvote 2 2006 Banned Joined Apr9,2007 MemberType Other NativeLanguage English HomeCountry Canada CurrentLocation Canada johamsaid: Thankyouverymuchforyourhelp,2006.CollinsUsagesaystousesingularverbswith'heaps/loads/masses/tonsof+singularnoun':Thatdoesn'tmakeanysensetome. Massesofevidencehasbeenaccumulated.Iwouldsay... Massesofevidencehavebeenaccumulated. Amassofevidencehasbeenaccumulated. and Fiveloadsofcoalweredelivered. Thankyouagain. Clicktoexpand... 2006   Upvote 0 Downvote J joham KeyMember Joined Oct30,2007 MemberType StudentorLearner NativeLanguage Chinese HomeCountry China CurrentLocation China Thankyouagainforyourhelp,saratand2006.Abouttwoyearsago,IfoundthatCollins'Usagedoesn'tagreewiththeresultsIgotfromsearchingthecorporaandIpostedmyquestiononthisforum,butnobodyresponded.SoI'dbeenwonderinghowtousethesephrasesuntilIread2006'sreply. ThefollowingistheresultsIgotfromsearchingCorpusofContemporaryAmericanEnglish(COCA),inlinewith2006'sideas: MASSESOF[*nn1*]IS/HAS/WAS: 1MASSESOFFOODWAS1 MASSESOF[*nn*]ARE/WERE/HAVE: 1MASSESOFPEOPLEHAVE3 2MASSESOFPEOPLEARE3 3MASSESOFSTUDENTSWERE1 4MASSESOFSPECTATORSWERE1 5MASSESOFPOPULATIONARE1 6MASSESOFPOINSETTIASHAVE1 7MASSESOFPHLOXHAVE1 8MASSESOFMISTWERE1 9MASSESOFMANKINDARE1 10MASSESOFGASWERE1 11MASSESOFCLOUDSWERE1 12MASSESOFARTARE1 13MASSESOFAMERICANSARE1TOTAL17   Upvote 0 Downvote J joham KeyMember Joined Oct30,2007 MemberType StudentorLearner NativeLanguage Chinese HomeCountry China CurrentLocation China MayIaskhowBritishandAustralianspeakerswoulduse'quantities/massesofoil/moneyetc+uncountablenoun'assubject? Thankyouinadvance.   Lastedited:Jan19,2010 Upvote 0 Downvote Status Notopenforfurtherreplies. 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